It’s Week 5 of the 2022 college football season and Ohio State is embarking on the next step of a journey it hopes will end in some pretty special things. To keep things going, the team will need to not fall prey to the old letdown week and keep things cranking against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
The Buckeyes are a significant favorite in this one, but we’ve seen funnier things happen just in this season of college football, so they must battle it out on the field in the ‘Shoe.
Each week we provide you with several things to look for with the game and we’re giving you five reasons why Ohio State should take care of business against the Scarlet Knights when it’s all said and done.
Ohio State is the Alpha Dog
You have to beat the best to be the best, and Rutgers is clearly chopping a significant amount of wood against Ohio State. The Buckeyes may have succumbed to Michigan for league supremacy last year, but the Big Ten has had a scarlet and gray hue to it for a couple of decades now.
The Scarlet Knights look like they are headed in the right direction under Greg Schiano, but this is a whole different level from where the program is. OSU has more talent and depth and it’ll show up Saturday.
Injury concerns at quarterback for Rutgers
It’s one thing to try and slay the beast at full strength. It’s another to do it without the most important position fully healthy. That might be what Rutgers is dealing with on Saturday because two quarterbacks sat out last week nursing themselves back to health.
Noah Vedral has yet to play a game this season, and the quarterback of the future, Gavin Wimsatt didn’t play last week either. They both might be ready for action Saturday, but how healthy are they?
C.J. Stroud is on a roll
C.J. Stroud is the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman at this point in the season and for good reason. He hasn’t played a full four quarters aside from one game but has still tossed 16 touchdowns, slung it around for 1,222 yards, and is second in the country in total QBR.
The weapons are plentiful for Stroud, and that’s even with some injury concerns that he’s had to deal with with the skill positions. He’s operating on a different level right now and it’s hard to see that changing this weekend.
A healthier offense
Speaking of getting healthier, we think we are going to see a healthier offense against Rutgers. Jaxon Smith-Njigba may be sidelined again, but hopefully, Julian Fleming and TreVeyon Henderson are closer — if not all the way — to 100%. Extra weapons should make the offense much more dynamic and varied.
Ohio State is still operating at a high level on that side of the ball, and getting all of its weapons back would make things even more explosive and almost impossible to stop for the Rutgers defense.
The magic of the 'Shoe
The last time Ohio State lost a Big Ten game at home was during the 2015 season against Michigan State. The last time the Buckeyes dropped a game at all in the Horseshoe was vs. Oklahoma in the nonconference in 2017. That’s quite the run.
If a team is going to come to Columbus and win, it has to have a lot going for it against this team in 2022. First, the talent has to be there. That has to be combined most likely with some breaks and one whale of a game plan. Don’t expect that to be the case this fall Saturday on the banks of the Olentangy.
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