Ohio State Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2018
By Shane Lunnen
An early Big Ten game awaits Ohio State in week 2 as Rutgers travels to Columbus. The Scarlet Knights doubled their win total from 2016 to 2017 and are now looking to take the next step into bowl consideration this year.
Rutgers coach Chris Ash had the tough task of rebuilding after the disastrous end to the Kyle Flood era. Ash was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State before getting the head gig at Rutgers and this will be the third meeting against his former team. The first two meetings were not pretty as Ohio State outscored Rutgers 114-0. Third time’s a charm, right? Not in this case.
Ohio State just has too much firepower to expect Rutgers to have any shot in this one. Dwayne Haskins will have another great game, topping 250 yards again and throwing for three scores while the ground game with JK Dobbins and Mike Weber goes crazy, combining for three scores as well. The Buckeyes retooling defense overwhelms Rutgers for the most part, but the Knights do score a late touchdown in garbage time. Baby steps for the Knights and an easy victory for the Buckeyes.
Final: Rutgers 7, Ohio State 48 (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten)