Ohio State comes from behind to beat Rutgers

Gavin Wimsatt’s pass over the middle for Kyle Monangai was tipped up into the air by safety Josh Proctor, and Jordan Hancock grabbed it out of the air and returned it 93 yards for a touchdown to instead put Ohio State on top 14-9.

The top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) never trailed after that, but Rutgers (6-3, 3-2) hung around until the middle of the fourth quarter.

Ohio State added to its lead when Kyle McCord completed a pair of passes to Carnell Tate, and TreVeyon Henderson finished the 71-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown over left tackle.

“I feel like this team finds a way,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said. “They don’t panic. They keep swinging. They keep fighting. We’ve been at halftime of these games and said we wanted to play better in the second half. That was a big part of our offseason. I keep saying we could play better in the first half so don’t have to be in these situations, but the No. 1 goal is to win games.”

Rutgers answered early in the fourth quarter when Wimsatt connected with JaQuae Jackson for a 19-yard touchdown with 14:07 left. That capped a 75-yard drive that took only six plays. The big play before the touchdown was a 35-yard pass from Wimsatt to Christian Dremel, who got away from Hancock in the slot then broke a tackle attempt by Malik Hartford, who was in the game in place of Proctor.

Proctor, who appeared to take an inadvertent helmet to the chin from Monangai on the interception, did not return to the game after that play.

The Ohio State offense answered with its own 75-yard drive Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with a 4-yard TD catch from McCord, but the big play was a 65-yard catch-and-run by Henderson on a third-and-9.

Rutgers moved the ball to the Ohio State 6 on the following drive, but the Scarlet Knights couldn’t get the ball in the end zone, thanks in no small part to Hartford, a true freshman from Lakota West High School.

Hartford was involved in incomplete passes on second and third down before Ty Hamilton sacked Wimsatt on fourth down to end the scoring threat.

Ohio State tacked on another touchdown with two minutes left when McCord and Harrison hooked up again, this time from two yards out.

“You’re in the meat of it so every time you go on the road back-to-back weeks, physical weeks, you have to bring it,” said Day, whose team won 24-10 at Wisconsin last week. “It isn’t just you can roll your helmet out there and win a game. It doesn’t work that way, and I think our guys understand that.”

Rutgers scored twice in the final 2:03 of the second quarter to pull ahead 9-7 on Jai Patel’s 20-yard field goal.

Ohio State scored first when McCord hit Gee Scott Jr. in the end zone with a low-trajectory throw the tight end had to snatch away from from a defender and secure as he went to the ground.

The 14-yard score gave Ohio State a 7-0 lead with 8:35 left in the first quarter.

The Scarlet Knights got on the board midway through the second quarter when Patel connected on a 22-yard field goal. That was set up by a 45-yard run on fourth-and-1 by Monangai, who scampered around end on a fake quarterback sneak after Wimsatt passed the ball to him through his legs.

After forcing a three-and-out, Rutgers got the ball back at the Ohio State 32-yard line when punter Jesse Mirco kept the ball and unsuccessfully tried to run for it on fourth-and-5.

The Scarlet Knights advanced to the 2-yard line, but they had to settle for another short field goal when Proctor made back-to-back tackles on second and third down, first for a loss and then no gain.

The hosts quickly got the ball back again in Ohio State territory when Mohamed Toure intercepted McCord near midfield, and they were able to get a first-and-goal at the 2 thanks to three quick passes by Wimsatt before settling for a third short field goal of the half.

Day said that was a good read, but McCord needed to put more air on the throw to get it over the linebacker.

McCord finished 19-for-26 passing for 189 yards and three touchdowns while Harrison had four catches for 25 yards.

Henderson was the man of the match for the Buckeyes, finishing with 128 yards on 22 carries and another 80 yards receiving on five catches.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Michigan State at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m., NBC, 1410