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The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes will be welcoming a familiar face back to The Horseshoe tonight as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights come to town. Under first-year (this time) head coach Greg Schiano, Rutgers is 1-1, following a season-opening victory over Michigan State and a hard-fought loss to Indiana.
The former OSU defensive coordinator originally coached the Knights from 2001-11 before heading to the NFL to fail miserably with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since Schiano was last leading the boys from Piscataway, they have joined the Big Ten conference and begun the yearly tradition of getting absolutely waxed by the Buckeyes. In their six all-time meetings — annually since 2014 — Ohio State is 6-0 winning by an average score of 54.5 to 8. OSU has failed to score 50 points against Rutgers only once, in 2015, when they won 49-7.
In 2020, Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral has completed 61.9% of his passes on the season, but has amassed only 299 yards in two games, to go along with three touchdowns and four interceptions. Isaih Pacheco leads the Knights’ rushing attack, but is averaging only three yards per carry. However, in just one game of action — last week against IU — sophomore Kay’ron Adams went for 63 yards and a TD on just five carries. Bo Melton leads the receiving corps with eight catches, 98 yards, and two scores.
On the defensive side of the ball, Rutgers is led by two senior linebackers Olakunle Fatukasi — who was the B1G’s co-defensive player of the week following the season opener — and Tyshon Fogg. Fogg has 20 tackles on the season while Fatukasi has 19 to go along with a pair of fumble recoveries. In the defensive backfield, former Buckeye Brendon White is leading the way at safety. He has 15 tackles and an interception through two games.
When is the game and how can I watch?
Game Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Columbus, Ohio
TV: Big Ten Network
Online: FOX Sports Live
Radio: 97.1 FM/1460 AM
Where is “Game Day” this weekend?
ESPN’s “College Game Day” is currently in South Bend, Ind. ahead of tonight’s No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Notre Dame contest, despite the fact that the game will be broadcast on NBC tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. Even though Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence will miss his second straight game following a positive coronavirus diagnosis, I imagine that more eyeballs will be on that game than on the titanic struggle between OSU and Rutgers.
Over on FOX, the Big Noon Kickoff show will have a very different feel today, as the entire team of Rob Stone, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Brady Quinn, and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer are currently in COVID protocols. We have heard that the FOX NFL Sunday crew will be in the studio in place of them, but there have also been reports that the normal Big Nude Noon team will be a part of the show remotely as well.
What’s the rest of the Big Ten up to today?
The Big Ten slate will kick off at 12 noon ET with No. 23 Michigan visiting No. 13 Indiana on FS1, undefeated Northwestern hosting Nebraska — who is finally back in action — on BTN, and Iowa looking to get its first win of the season when Michigan State visits on ESPN.
Then at 3:30 p.m. ET, Penn State looks to break its two-game losing streak to start the season as Maryland comes to Happy Valley and either Minnesota or Illinois will get their first victory of the season. Both of those games will be available on BTN.
Join the conversation
Below is your Ohio State - Rutgers GameThread. Be respectful, be kind and as always, keep it classy. If you like GIFs, lay ‘em on us. In all, be good fans, cheer for your teams, be cool to each other (even if somebody else isn’t) and everyone wins. Let’s kickoff the season strong!