The Ohio State Buckeyes are a different team without their star wide receiver duo of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. While everyone hoped last week was a fluke with the Buckeyes' offense in the second half against UCLA, it was clear on Saturday that this was not the case.

Without the top two wide receivers in the country, Ohio State's offense is almost unrecognizable. 

The play calling was extra conservative, along with the quarterback play. Ohio State's offensive line play was inconsistent, and for the first time all year, the Buckeyes looked like a more normal team than what we are used to. 

Sayin finished the day completing 13 of his 19 attempts for 157 yards and two touchdowns. The leading receiver on the day was Max Klare, who finished with seven catches for 105 yards and one touchdowns.

It is very clear in the first half that there is a lack of trust between the play caller and the wide receiving corps. Ironically enough, this group is led by offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.

At the half, Sayin had nine completions, and just three of them went to wide receivers, one of which was a three-yard check down to Brandon Inniss. The other receiver who logged a catch was David Adolph, who finished with two catches for 23 yards. 

The second half was more of the same. It was a heavy dose of tight ends and very little action to the wide receiving corps. 

Looking elsewhere, the Buckeyes' run game was a bit of a roller coaster. The highs were very high, such as Bo Jackson's 15-yard first-quarter touchdown scamper. The lows, however, were very low. 

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On first and goal from the 2-yard line in the first quarter, Jackson tried to punch one up the middle but was denied. After the initial hit, the ball popped free, and Rutgers recovered for a touchback. 

Jackson is clearly the lead back for the Buckeyes, as he finished with 19 carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns. 

While the offense struggled against Rutgers, the Buckeyes defense was up to their normal tricks. 

Ohio State's defensive efforts were led by their senior leaders, Sonny Styles and Caden Curry. Styles was the steady hand for the Buckeyes, and he is constantly in the right place making the right play. He finished the game with six tackles and one pass defliction.

Rutgers' offense was fairly effective moving the ball between the 30 yard lines. While the Buckeyes were playing with a ton of fear and trepidation, Rutgers was playing with no fear at all. Quarterback  Athan Kaliakmanis wasn't overly effective, but he was not afraid to stretch the ball down the field. 

Their willingness to push the ball downfield on the Buckeyes' defense in order to create space to run the football, even just a little bit. 

Curry put any concerns around the game's result to bed midway through the third quarter. Rutgers dialed up a pass play from their own 11-yard line, and Kaliakmanis waited long enough in the pocket for Curry to fly around the edge.

Curry got his outstretched arm on the football and jarring it loose, however; he wasn't done just yet. 

The ball bounced to the one yard line where Curry scooped it up, giving the Buckeyes the football first and goal from the one. Ohio State actually ended up needing four plays for Klare to get cut loose and to haul in the 11-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 21-3.

The main takeaway from this game today is that without the two superstar wide receivers, Ohio State is a completely different football team. They look like a runaway freight train when they are totally healthy, but when they are beat up like they are now, they have flaws.

This is not the vibe that Day and the program wanted to take into The Game week. There is enough pressure on their shoulders to beat The Team Up North, but going into it with this bad taste in their mouth will either fuel them or hurt them.