Ohio State welcomes the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to town on Saturday for a Senior Day game that should be another walk in the park.
If history is any indicator, the Ohio State Buckeyes should be able to make easy work of its final home opponent of the 2025 regular season, the Rutgers Scarlett Knights.
In a year that the Buckeyes haven't been challenged since the last week of August, they won't get a challenge on Saturday afternoon inside the Horseshoe.
Rutgers comes to town with a 5-5 record and very little to be excited about this season. Three of their five wins came in the first three weeks of the season against two MAC opponents and Norfolk State. They had to wait over six weeks before their next win against the Purdue Boilermakers and last week they pulled away from Maryland.
Outside of those five games, The Scarlet Knights have been crushed by nearly all of their Big Ten opponents. Saturday will likely be more of the same as Rutgers is thoroughly outmanned against the Buckeyes. This reality isn't far off from how this matchup has gone historically.
Saturday's matchup marks the 11th matchup between the Buckeyes and the Scarlet Knights, and it has been all Buckeyes.
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Ohio State is a perfect 10-0, and they will not leave their undefeated record up to chance this year. The average margin of victory is nearly 50 points, 51.2-5.1. During those high-scoring affairs, Ohio State has outscored Rutgers 512-51.
On six different occasion, the Buckeyes four quarter total be enough to defeat Rutgers decade total.
The first matchup between the two programs was in 2014 in Columbus, where the Buckeyes rolled to their inaugural 56-17 victory. In the following season and Ohio State's first trip out to Piscataway, the Buckeyes cruised to a 49-7 win.
No matchup has ever been closer than 19 points, and the fewest total for Ohio State was the 35 points scored in 2023 with quarterback Kyle McCord at the helm. From 2015 to 2019, Ohio State outscored Rutgers 215-10.
Saturday's matchup will be more of the same for the Ohio State Buckeyes. They are currently 34.5-point favorites, and that might not be enough to demonstrate the difference in these two programs.
One silver lining for Rutgers is that Ohio State should be resting its two best offensive players. The incredible playmaking duo of Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith have recently come down with lower-body injuries, both appearing to be significant.
The lasting image from Saturday's win over UCLA was Smith having a significant limp as he left the field. Many would be surprised and confused if Smith took the field against Rutgers, with the same being said for Tate if he suited up.
The Buckeyes will not need their two lead horses on Saturday, and it won't matter. This one is weighted heavily in Ohio State's favor, and they need to take care of business before turning their attention to The Game.