Ohio State Buckeyes: What to know about Saturday’s game at Rutgers

Where: SHI Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey

TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/1410

Series history: Ohio State leads 7-0 in a series that began in 2014. The Buckeyes are 3-0 in Piscataway.

Last game: Justin Fields threw five touchdown passes and ran for a score as the Buckeyes beat Rutgers 49-27 last November in Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes led 35-3 at the half then let their foot off the gas.

Coaches: Ohio State’s Ryan Day is 26-3 three seasons, including 16–0 in the Big Ten. Greg Schiano of Rutgers is 74-74 as head coach of the Scarlet Knights, the only college program he has led.

Ohio State notes: The Buckeyes have never scored less than 49 points in a game against the Scarlet Knights… 19 true freshmen have seen game action for Ohio State this season… True freshman TreVeyon Henderson leads the nation with six plays of 30 yards or more… Ohio State has won 19 consecutive Big Ten games… After struggling to make plays in the first three games, Ohio State had nine sacks, 12 tackles for loss and a pair of interceptions last week against Akron… Ohio State has signed at least one player from New Jersey in the past five recruiting classes, including starting safety Ronnie Hickman (DePaul Catholic) and linebacker Cody Simon (St. Peter’s Prep)… With four receptions, Chris Olave will pass Springfield South grad Dee Miller to move into the top 10 in career receptions at Ohio State. Miller caught 132 passes as a Buckeye… 2021 is the 100th season of football at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State is 455-113-20 in the Horseshoe.

Rutgers notes: The Scarlet Knights scored 27 points total in the first five meetings with Ohio State but have 48 points in the last two… Schiano was defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 2016-18. The Buckeyes finished sixth, ninth and 72nd in total defense those seasons… The Scarlet Knights are No. 7 in the nation in scoring defense (13.5 points per game), third in third-down defense and fourth in turnover margin… Three Scarlet Knights are from Ohio: Brendan Bordner and Shawn Munnerlyn of Columbus and Kevin Toth Jr. (Hudson)… The Scarlet Knights are No. 53 in SP+, an advanced metric that takes into account play-by-play success and explosiveness. That includes the No 75 offense and No. 24 defense and makes Rutgers the second-best team Ohio State has faced so far with Minnesota plummeting to No. 56. Oregon is No. 17, Tulsa is ranked 66th and Akron is No. 127.

Quoted: Schiano on the potential atmosphere for the game: “This is a college football team at an awesome university. I want our students to have something that they can come here and first be proud of what we do on the field but enjoy the day. We got a great student section. They’ve gotten here, we’ve had some early games. I like going through our warmups and seeing them up there. That’s what we need.”

Next game: The Buckeyes will return home to play Maryland at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 9. The Scarlet Knights will play host to Michigan State at noon that same day.

Prediction: Ohio State 35, Rutgers 21