5 things to know about Ohio State’s 52-3 win over Rutgers

1. Buckeyes reach milestone. 

Ohio State improved to 900-324-53 in 129 seasons of college football. Only two teams have reached the 900-win plateau, and they know each other quite well: The other is Michigan.

“Nine hundred wins in Ohio State football history is humbling to be part of a tradition like that,” said interim coach Ryan Day. “To see our student section out there, to all the Buckeye Nation coming out to a game like this in the rain in the fourth quarter, the student section on both sides is going crazy, chanting and they're staying in there having a blast.

“Again, really honored to be representing such a great university and a great football tradition. I thought our guys came out and played hard today on both sides of the ball. Defensively they were smothering their offense so we got in a rhythm early in the game and thought we came out playing fast.”

2. How about that deep ball? 

One of the few questions for the offense after Ohio State throttled Oregon State 77-31 in the season-opener a week ago was when will the Buckeyes try to push the ball down the field with golden-armed quarterback Dwayne Haskins?

They did not wait long Saturday.

Haskins connected with Johnnie Dixon from 38 yards out to start the scoring. He later floated a beautiful bomb to Dixon that covered 44 yards.

Backup quarterback Tate Martell got in on the act, too, hitting Terry McLaurin for a 51-yard score.

3. Welcome back, Jordan. 

The Ohio State defense enjoyed a bounce-back performance after giving up 31 points and getting gashed for seven plays of 25 yards or more in the season-opener.

The Scarlet Knights’ longest play was 15 yards, and they had only three that went for more than 10.

“Last week we got the win, but we definitely walked off the field with a bad taste in our mouths,” said Fuller, a New Jersey native who was credited with three tackles and a pass breakup against Rutgers. "We felt like we had something to prove to ourselves and to the whole country. I feel like we took a step today.”

Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano called Fuller “a stabilizing force.”

"And what Rutgers does offensively with all the shifts and motions, there’s a lot of adjusting to do,” Schiano said. “That’s pro football right there… and our guys did a good job of adjusting.”

4. What’s with all those flags? 

On the downside, 11 penalties against Ohio State were accepted for 120 yards.

That included a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on sophomore end Chase Young, who was ejected from the game as a result.

“I love the emotion and the fever that he plays with,” Schiano said. "We’ve just got to make sure it doesn’t get in the way of us winning a tight ball game. It was a shame to lose Chase. He understands. He’s a young guy but he plays with great emotion. He’s a really good player. He’s really hard to block. It’s not going to be a big thing. We’ve just got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

5. Attendance streak snapped. 

Ohio State entered with a streak of 114 consecutive games with an announced crowd of at least 100,000 at Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes will have to start a new one Sept. 22 when Tulane comes to town after the announced attendance for the Rutgers game was just 93,057.

Previously, the only other announced crowd below 100,000 since the stadium was rededicated following a multiyear renovation completed in 2001 was Sept. 7, 2002, when the announced attendance for a 51-17 win over Kent State was 98,689.

The attendance figure was the lowest since 92,008 saw the Buckeyes beat Illinois in the season finale in 1997.