Ohio State Football: Three thoughts on the Rutgers game

The Ohio State football team took care of business Saturday afternoon with a 49-10 victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Here are three thoughts on the game.

The Ohio State football team did not look their sharpest against Rutgers on Saturday in Ohio Stadium. But that’s okay because they played Rutgers. Not playing their best still resulted in a 39-point beating.

The defense looked good, however. The young corners are getting meaningful reps, the pass rush was solid, and Jim Knowles is proving that he’s worth the nearly $2 million annually that he’s getting.

Here are three thoughts from the game against Rutgers:

1. The linebacker unit is back.

The Buckeyes have lacked at the linebacker position for a few seasons now. Or maybe it was just a lack of scheme? Either way, this unit is back for the Silver Bullets. Steele Chambers was all over the field yesterday with 11 tackles and an interception.

Tommy Eichenberg had another solid performance with nine tackles of his own and now leads the Buckeyes with 42 tackles on the season.

Defensive End Zach Harrison has taken notice of Eichenberg’s impact, via Eleven Warriors:

"“Tommy’s been that dude,” Harrison said. “He’s kind of like a quarterback out there for the defense. He’s a leader. He’s a guy that all 11 guys are like, ‘Tommy’s got our backs.’”"

It’s so refreshing to see an Ohio State defense with linebackers that read and react which reminds me of the A.J. Hawk-James Laurinaitis days for the Buckeyes.

2. Jesse Mirco fears nobody. 

The Buckeye punter had a play that will be remembered from yesterday’s game. With Ohio State up big in the fourth, Mirco took a snap to punt but he noticed a free first down and decided to take it.

Instead of running out of bounds after the sticks, Mirco decided to get a few more yards before he scampered out, leaving open the possibility of getting knocked out cold by a Rutgers defender. Well, that’s exactly what happened, which led to a little skirmish between the players and even the head coaches.

He apparently didn’t fear what his head coach would say either, from Eleven Warriors:

"“Yeah, I just grabbed him. I said, ‘What happened?’ And he said, ‘I rolled out to the right,’ he goes, ‘nobody was on me.’ I said, ‘Okay. Anybody tell you to do that? He says, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Okay, we’ll talk about that tomorrow.’”"

Looks like Day will have a chat with Mirco on Sunday about this, but it’s good to know that Ohio State has a punter that isn’t afraid of getting a little dirty.

3. Miyan Williams deserves first-team reps.

Running back Miyan Williams came into the game Saturday and started for the injured TreVyon Henderson. He had a great day rushing for 189 yards and five touchdowns. And just by the eye test, Williams seems to be the more effective back for Ohio State thus far this season.

Ryan Day and running backs coach Tony Alford shouldn’t be afraid to give Williams the bulk of the carries when Henderson returns.