COLUMBUS – As an Ohio State fan, we know you're not going to miss a snap of the Buckeyes this season. But we'll be with you along the way to follow along with updates and analysis. On Saturday, the second-ranked Scarlet and Gray (1-0) welcome Rutgers (1-0) to Ohio Stadium. It is the Big Ten opener for both teams after wins on the opening weekend of college football. For the second consecutive game, Ohio State will not have Urban Meyer on the sideline as the head coach serves his second of a three-game suspension. Ryan Day will step in as acting head coach after guiding the Buckeyes to a 77-31 win over Oregon State last week. We will provide live updates, analysis, news, notes and much through the matchup of the Scarlet and Gray and the Scarlet Knights, which will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Fourth quarter TOUCHDOWN (8:18) Ohio State 52 Rutgers 0 Martell with a ridiculous 47-yard run. He had some good blocks but that was good vision from the QB. Martell now back in. Chris Chugunov now in the game at quarterback. Martell jogged across the field. Shaun Wade intercepts Rescigno. That's the first career interception. Following the play, Chase Young ran out on to the field to celebrate and gets his second personal foul penalty. He is ejected. We've reached the point where the teams are just running out the clock. Rutgers will likely try and throw but Ohio State is not looking to put up 60 in this game, despite my score prediction. Third quarter Credit to Ohio State's defense today after struggling last week. The tackling has been better and coverage has been good. As we enter the fourth quarter, the Scarlet Knights have just 103 yards of total offense. FIELD GOAL (3:19) Ohio State 45 Rutgers 3 With the backup offense in, Ohio State drives down the field nicely but gets bogged down in the red zone. Rutgers is able to contain Martell on third down. Good practice for Sean Nuernberger as he connects from 21 yards out. Looks like Haskins' day is over. Martell back in for OSU. — Dave Biddle (@davebiddle) September 8, 2018 Rutgers gets it's points and now has to deal with Martell again. He has the longest play from scrimmage of the day. The rest of the second-team Ohio State offense is also in the game. FIELD GOAL (8:02) Ohio State 42 Rutgers 3 And Rutgers finally gets on the board against the Buckeyes. It's the first time in 11 quarters between these two teams that the Scarlet Knights have scored. This comes on a 41-yard field goal. Rescigno is putting together a decent drive here for Rutgers. For the second straight week, the Buckeye defense looks a little too relaxed coming out of the locker room. Giovanni Rescigno in for Rutgers at quarterback. Sitowski is on the sideline in street clothes. TOUCHDOWN (12:49) Ohio State 42 Rutgers 0 Dixon with another play as he burns another defensive back and streaks into the end zone. A great throw of 44 yards right on the money by Haskins. This kids has changed Ohio State's offense. Dixon with the kick return to open the second. He returns it 16 yards. He also landed on his head and walked off the field slowly. Halftime: Ohio State 35 Rutgers 0 Halftime stats for Ohio State and Rutgers. pic.twitter.com/JiphJLTrUq — Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) September 8, 2018 Second quarter Bosa destroys Sitkowski to end the half. The quarter back was slow getting up and then stayed on the bench for a while before walking off with trainers. I would be surprised to see him the second half. Chase Young absolutely destroyed Sitkowski. He comes up with the ball but it's called down. He spikes the ball and gets an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Kendall Sheffield with the interception. Ball as tipped by the receiver and Sheffield had to reach behind him to make the catch. TOUCHDOWN (5:00) Ohio State 35 Rutgers 0 Dobbins carries into the end zone from two yards out for his first touchdown of the 2018 season. Haskins just threw a pass into the defender's back and, it looked like, he knew he would get the pass interference call. He did. The Buckeyes force another three and out and Haskins is back in the game. Martell's touchdown pass wasn't enough to win him the starting job (sarcasm). TOUCHDOWN (11:05) Ohio State 28 Rutgers 0 Martell has plenty of time and goes deep. Terry McLaurin's stutter move loses his defender and leaves him open to make the catch and walk into the end zone. That's the first career passing touchdown by Martell, who showed off his arm on that one. Tate Martell in at quarterback on the fifth offensive possession. TOUCHDOWN (13:28) Ohio State 21 Rutgers 0 The Buckeyes are just toying with Rutgers. Haskins finds Luke Farrell on the outside for a nine-yard touchdown. It's a rare tight end score at Ohio State! First quarter The Buckeyes run a running back draw play. Interesting. We haven't see that in a long time. The Buckeyes are moving at a slower pace this week for sure. Ohio State went really fast for the first half last weekend. I wonder if it has to do with the weather conditions. TOUCHDOWN (3:22) Ohio State 14 Rutgers 0 A good job from Parris Campbell to sit down in the open space and Haskins sees it. Hits him for a 16-yard touchdown. Tuf Borland in at middle linebacker on the third defensive series of the game. He will likely play more than the 10 snaps last week, although Greg Schiano said he would still be on a snap count. Ohio State waits until he first quarter of the second game of the second game to give up their first sack. Thayer Munford got beat by an inside move but still impressive from a young offensive line. Notes: Isaiah Pryor starting at safety and wearing 12 this week....Tyreke Smith in for Rushmen package — Alex Gleitman (@alexgleitman) September 8, 2018 C.J. Saunders now back as the punt returner after McCall fumbled on the first return attempt. You would think with Meyer back in practice this week, the Buckeyes would have the special teams more figured out. But they don't. Shaun Wade coming into the game on the obvious throwing situation. Last week, that was Jeffrey Okudah. Fuller already making a difference. Recognized the toss play to the running back and got to the outside to make sure there was no big play. TOUCHDOWN (10:57) Ohio State 7 Rutgers 0 Johnnie Dixon runs right by the defensive back and is open for the 38-yard scoring reception. Dixon didn't have a catch last week but got one quickly today. Mike Weber starts at running back. He had a huge day last week and has been reportedly doing very well in practice. Nice of the Buckeyes to reward the redshirt sophomore. After not starting last week, Demario McCall is the punt returner today. He muffs the punt. First play from scrimmage and Robert Landers makes a three-yard tackle for a loss. That kid may not be big but he is very good. Pregame Today’s Ohio State game captains are Nick Bosa, Jordan Fuller, Terry McLaurin and Parris Campbell. Buckeyes win the toss and defers to the second half. Rutgers will receive the opening kickoff. The Buckeyes take the field and we're five minutes from kickoff. Rain continues to fall pretty steadily. If you weren't paying attention, Purdue just lost to Eastern Michigan. The Big Ten has not had the best start to the year. Well, there you go. Isaiah Pryor is wearing No. 12 (not No. 14). Pryor is starting at safety alongside Fuller. — Dave Biddle (@davebiddle) September 8, 2018 Fuller and Isaiah Pryor take first-team reps in warmups. Looks like the #Buckeyes will have all their starters today. — Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) September 8, 2018 Safety Jordan Fuller was out warming up early. No indication yet if he will play after missing last week with a hamstring injury. It has been constant rain all morning in Columbus.<doc-sep>There is not a prolonged history between No. 4 Ohio State and Rutgers, and when these two teams have squared off, let's just say it has not been especially pretty. The Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights have played four times in their history, all since Rutgers joined the Big Ten. Ohio State has won all four contests ... by an average of 48.8 points per game. In the last two years alone, the Buckeyes have outscored the Scarlet Knights 114-0. It has not been pretty. At all. Viewing information Date: Saturday, Sept. 8 | Time: 3:30 p.m. ET Location: Ohio Stadium -- Columbus, Ohio TV: Big Ten Network | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free) Storylines Ohio State: Urban Meyer is back at practice with the Buckeyes this week, but his suspension will keep him off the sideline for this week's game, just like it did last week. Also like last week, odds are it won't have much of an impact on the outcome of the game. Ohio State put up 77 points against Oregon State last week with Dwayne Haskins throwing for 313 yards and five touchdowns. Now, some of those touchdowns came on fly sweeps that were really elaborate handoffs, but still, the Buckeyes offense looked explosive. Rutgers: If anything, Rutgers should just be hoping to keep this game respectable. Ohio State has dominated it since it joined the Big Ten, and even with a 35-7 win over Texas State last weekend, Rutgers is still a ways away from being in Ohio State's class. Still, there are reasons to be encouraged after rushing for over 200 yards against the Bobcats and holding them to 169 yards of offense. Game prediction, picks It seems insane to pick Rutgers to cover here given the history between these two teams, but with a huge game against TCU coming up for the Buckeyes next week, I could see a situation where Ohio State keeps things simple and gets some key players out of the game during the second half. Pick: Rutgers +35.5 So which teams should you back in Week 2 of the college football season? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected final score for every FBS matchup, all from the model that nailed its final seven picks of the 2017-18 season and has returned over $4,000 in profit to $100 bettors over the last three seasons.<doc-sep>It's a rainy day at Ohio Stadium, but that didn't stop our beat writers from heading down to the field – well, the tunnel just outside of the field – to preview today's game. As Ohio State prepares to face Rutgers in its second game of the season this afternoon (3:40 p.m., BTN), Dan Hope and Derrick Webb give their final thoughts on how things could play out today at the Shoe. RELATED Preview: No. 4 Ohio State Seeking Fifth Straight Win Against Rutgers Hear how they think the weather could affect today's game, their predictions on the outcome and more in the video above.<doc-sep>
No. 4 Ohio State will host Rutgers for the Big Ten opener at 3:30 p.m. Eastern today at Ohio Stadium. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network. Click here to participate in our OSU-Rutgers Game Day Thread on the Front Row message board. As always, we have our Ten Pressing Questions feature to prepare you for today’s game. We will provide the answers in our First Look column. Here we go: * 1. What will Dwayne Haskins do for an encore? – Haskins became the first Ohio State quarterback to throw for 300 yards and five touchdowns in his first career start with last week’s win over Oregon State. He was 22 of 30 passing for 313 yards and did have an interception in that win. * 2. Can the Buckeyes continue to keep the hammer down with the running game? – OSU’s running back tandem of Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins paid huge dividends in the opener as the Buckeyes rushed for 375 yards. It was a career day for Weber with 20 carries for 186 yards and three TDs, while Dobbins carried 15 times for 74 yards. * 3. Which receivers will come to the forefront? – It was a big opening game for Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell, Austin Mack and K.J. Hill. Will it roll toward Binjimen Victor and/or Johnnie Dixon this week? * 4. Which freshmen will continue to shine? – No fewer than 14 true freshmen saw action in the opener. DE Tyreke Smith was in on the third play as a pass rusher. TE Jeremy Ruckert caught a pass, while RBs Brian Snead and Master Teague each had touchdown runs. * 5. Can the Buckeyes make life uncomfortable for Rutgers freshman QB Artur Sitkowski? – Sitkowski debuted in last week’s win over Texas State. But this is a big step up in class going against the Ohio State defensive line, led by DE Nick Bosa and DT Dre’Mont Jones. They each had two sacks in the opener. * 6. How will the Ohio State linebackers fare against Rutgers? – The Buckeyes gave up two long touchdown runs to Oregon State last week. Rutgers rotated three quality running backs in its opener as the Scarlet Knights had 218 yards rushing. OSU is waiting for Tuf Borland to return to full go. In the meantime, the Buckeyes need other linebackers to step up. * 7. How will the OSU safeties fare? – The Buckeyes missed starting safety Jordan Fuller, who sat out the opener with a hamstring issue. Jahsen Wint and Isaiah Pryor had a few struggles last week, including an early 49-yard touchdown pass by Oregon State. * 8. What will the cornerback rotation look like? – Starters Kendall Sheffield and Damon Arnette seemed to do fine. Jeffrey Okudah had a pair of pass interference penalties and there is some talk that Shaun Wade could rep at safety to help out there. * 9. Can Demario McCall spark a big play in the return game? – It looks like McCall is Ohio State’s top option in the return game. Could he get loose in the open field? * 10. Can Rutgers make a game of this? – Ohio State has outscored Rutgers 219-24 in the first two meetings, including 58-0 and 56-0 the last two years. If Ohio State posts a third straight shutout against Rutgers, that would be notable on many fronts. * Bonus Question 1: What impact will the weather have? – It began raining overnight and figures to continue most of the day. We will see if has any kind of impact on the game. * Bonus Question 2: Is Ohio State ready to go down to Texas and face TCU? – This is the last chance for the Buckeyes to work out the kinks before the season’s biggest nonconference game. That game could go a long way toward determining if Ohio State can be a College Football Playoff contender this season. We will let you know how they do. Enjoy the game and check out Bucknuts.com later today for all of the coverage.