#Rutgers battles but is no match for Ohio State and Justin Fields

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rutgers pulled out every trick in the book, but Justin Fields threw five touchdown passes and ran for another score to help No. 3 Ohio State beat the Scarlet Knights 49-27 on Saturday night.

Fields, a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2019, added to his already gaudy 2020 resume, completing 24 of 28 passes for 314 yards.

Rutgers (1-2) had a promising drive early to answer Ohio’s State’s first score but had to settle for a 30-yard Guy Fava field goal. Trailing 35-3 at halftime, Rutgers came out and outscored the Buckeyes 24-14 in the second half.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. He said he felt “kind of flat” after jumping out to the big lead and then not being able to contain Rutgers in the second half.

Wilson caught six passes for 104 yards for Ohio State, and Fields completed passes to eight other receivers. Running backs Master Teague III, Steele Chambers and Trey Sermon pieced together 174 rushing yards, and Teague had a touchdown.

Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral, a graduate transfer from Oklahoma, was 22 of 33 for 168 yards. Bo Melton caught seven passes for 86 yards.

Ohio State rolled up 517 yards compared with 373 by Rutgers.

Schiano, a former Ohio State assistant in his second stint running the team, had the Scarlet Knights playing aggressively. They played a tough second half but couldn’t climb out of the hole they dug early.

“We played the measuring stick in our league, in the Big Ten Conference, and we didn’t quite measure up,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “I thought we did some good things.”