Ohio State has lackluster second half in victory over Rutgers
By Ryan Stano
Ohio State was able to beat Rutgers 49-27, but the second half was an absolute disaster for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State started out the first half a little slowly, only scoring 7 points in the first quarter. In fact, they only led 7-3 after one quarter. Then the offense got going in the second quarter and exploded for 28 points. They ended up leading 35-3 after the end of the first half.
Justin Fields was the main reason for that. He was brilliant yet again, accounting for 6 touchdowns, with five of them passing and one rushing. Fields was 24/28 for 315 yards and the main reason the Buckeyes were able to move the ball.
Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson were great once again. Wilson caught 6 balls for 104 yards and a touchdown while Olave caught 5 passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Both continue to get open whenever they want. Jameson Williams also caught a touchdown in the first quarter.
The story of this game though was the second half. The Buckeyes were absolutely atrocious in the second half. They allowed Rutgers to score 24 points while they only scored 14. They had no juice at all in the second half and let Rutgers succeed on all kinds of trick plays.
The offensive line was also a mess. Harry Miller got called for three holding penalties and also got beaten for a sack. Josh Myers also allowed a few tackles for loss. They had no push up front in the running game either. Steele Chambers fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter as well.
If Ohio State sleepwalks through another game like this in the second half, they might get bit in the butt. If they do that against Indiana, they might end up losing the game. If they do something like that against a team in the CFP, they will lose. It’s as simple as that.
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Ryan Day will not be happy with the effort in the second half or the number of penalties committed. They got called for 9 penalties in the game. They missed tackles too. It was a game that Day will roast his team on film. He better dig into his guys and make sure nothing close to this happens ever again.