Compared to one year ago, this is a staggering change. In 2018, the Buckeyes surrendered 23 such runs in 14 games, showing a marked improvement in a category which largely forced the ouster of 4 defensive assistants last winter.
Despite entering the game as a massive underdog, Rutgers found a relative amount of success on the ground against the first-team OSU defense. While the Scarlet Knights were mostly toothless through the air, they were able to break off a few chunk plays thanks to a run game that schematically resembled the one seen in Columbus over the past half-decade.