COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Buckeyes will wrap-up a five-game homestand as they host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium.
Head coach Ryan Day along with secondary and cornerbacks coach Tim Walton and tight end Mitch Rossi spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon ahead of this week's matchup.
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OHIO STATE VS. RUTGERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
*Info provided by Ohio State Athletics
Quick Hitters
- The Buckeyes have had five-game home stands twice before in Ohio Stadium: in 1999 the team went 4-1 with wins over UCLA, Ohio, Cincinnati, a loss to Wisconsin and a win over Purdue. In 2003 the team went 5-0 with wins over Washington, San Diego State, North Carolina State, Bowling Green and Northwestern.
- Ohio State won its ninth consecutive game against Wisconsin with a 52-21 win last Saturday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
- The duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams was dominant out of the backfield. Henderson ran for 121 yards on 21 attempts, while Williams had 11 totes for 101 yards and two first-half touchdowns.
- Since managing just 21 points in a season-opening win against Notre Dame, Ohio State is averaging 58 points in its last three contests.
- Ohio State, which has finished nationally 1st, 7th and 4th in total offense the last three years under Ryan Day, is currently second in the nation with an average of 558.8 yards per game. Ohio State is two offensive yards shy of No. 1 Tennessee heading into this week’s games.
- Ohio State is the only team in the nation averaging at least 300 yards per game passing and at least 200 yards per game rushing.
Stroud Stats
- Last week, quarterback C.J. Stroud became just the third player in program history to throw at least 60 career touchdown passes.
- Three TD tosses on Saturday would tie Justin Fields for No. 2 on the all-time list(63). Only J.T. Barrett is ahead of Fields and Stroud with an Ohio State and Big Ten record 104 TD passes.
- He ranks first nationally in TD passes (16), 2nd in efficiency (207.5), 4th in yards per completion (15.47) and 13th in yards per game (305.5).
- And that’s not all. He’s also No. 2 in passer efficiency rating (207.5), No. 4 in yards per completion (15.4) and No. 13 in yards per game (305.5).
Scouting the Scarlet Knights
- This is the ninth consecutive year that Ohio State and Rutgers have played. All the games in this series have occurred since Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference for its initial season in 2014.
- After scoring just 27 points in its first five games vs. Ohio State, Rutgers has battled the Buckeyes and put up 61 points the last three meetings.
- Rutgers got off to a 3-0 start thanks to wins over Boston College (22-21), Wagner (66-0) and Temple (16-14) before suffering a 27-10 loss to Iowa last Saturday night.
- The Scarlet Knights bring a stout run defense into Saturday’s game. They currently rank second nationally allowing an average of just 56.5 yards per game on the ground.
- On offense, quarterback Evan Simon has completed nearly 62 percent of his passes for 566 yards and three touchdowns.
- His favorite target is WR Aron Cruickshank, who has 18 receptions for 156 yards (39.0 yards per catch) and two TDs.
- Head coach Greg Schiano is in his second stint as Rutgers’ head coach. From 2001-11, he built the Scarlet Knights into a perennial bowl team. They made six postseason appearances in a seven-year span from 2005-11.
- While serving at Ohio State’s defensive coordinator (2016-18), Schiano coached 10 players who were NFL Draft picks, five of whom were first-round selections during his three seasons.
- The Buckeyes were one of just three programs to rank in the top 10 in total defense in both 2016 and 2017.