Sunday, October 2, 2022

Day squares off vs Schiano in OSU rout.

    Ohio State's feared passing attack never seemed to find its groove but the ground game behind Miyan Williams more than carried its weight as Ohio State pummeled another sad sack league bottom feeder in a 49-10 rout of Rutgers at Ohio Stadium.

Williams finished with 189 yards rushing and rushed for five touchdowns as Williams received more carries with TreVeyon Henderson sitting the game out due to an injury.

C.J. Stroud threw two touchdown passes but was held to only 154 yards passing with an interception in what could be noted as a dreary game.

Ohio State moved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten and will travel to East Lansing next Saturday against a slumping Michigan State Spartans team that has dropped its two most recent games but will be entering the game off an open week,

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1) TreVeyon Henderson aggravated his injured foot in pre-game warmups and sat out the game, which I thought was an excellent decision by Ohio State.

I'd hate to see a nagging injury that lasts longer than it should (as is happening with Jaxon Smith-Njigba)  and affect the team against tougher challenges.

2) The Henderson injury gave Miyan Williams the ball more often and Williams responded with 189 yards and five touchdowns on twenty-one carries.

The five touchdowns tied the Ohio State record held by Pete Johnson (1974) and Keith Byars (1984).

For all of Henderson's abilities and publicity, Miyan Williams has been his equal thus far this season and while some of that is due to the injuries that have hampered Henderson a bit, Williams has played well enough to at least consider the thought.

3) C.J. Stroud just seemed a bit out of sync and it showed with an average day that he might not have gotten away with against better teams.

Every Heisman candidate will have average games, the key is to avoid them when the stage is largest and not cost your team a game.

4) The player that has shined most under Jim Knowles in his first season as Ohio State's defensive coordinator has to be linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, who has shown the ability to be a three-down linebacker that can occasionally rush the passer.

5) And the biggest news on this day was the nose-to-nose screaming match between Ryan Day and Rutgers's head coach Greg Schiano.

Day and Schiano were on Urban Meyer's staff together and are friendly but after a fake punt in the fourth quarter by punter Jesse Mirco (Day said afterward that was a read by Mirco, not a called fake), Mirco was drilled well out of bounds by Rutgers WR Aron Cruickshank for a roughness penalty.

6) After the play, Cruickshank and several Buckeyes began pushing and shoving with Schiano running across the field to try to help keep things calm but instead Day and Schiano went at each other with the type of confrontation that looked to be far more serious than just a little screaming.

7) Both men shook hands after the game and didn't rip the other, both stating that they understood that the other was only defending their team with no hard feelings.

8) I could understand Rutgers being ticked about the fake but watching the replay, Rutgers had their punt block on and overloaded one side of the line, Mirco saw the alignment and ran around it for the big gain as it was evident that Rutgers would have an excellent chance of blocking the punt.

9) Rutgers did lead seven-nothing after their first drive stalled but Emeka Egbuka fumbled the punt with Rutgers recovering and scoring their only touchdown on a fourteen-yard touchdown pass.

10) Ohio State would tie the game on their next drive, so the few minutes during that drive is only the second time all season that Ohio State has trailed.

The other?

Against Notre Dame, trailed 3-0 and 10-7 at the half. 

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