Greg Schiano preached all week that Ohio would be a tougher opponent than your normal non-BCS school. He was worried about their high-octane spread offense. It was offenses like those that torched Rutgers defense all last season.
Fortunately for Schiano and his team, their most explosive player — Mohamed Sanu — had a historic afternoon. The 6’2” 215 pound receiver had a Big East record 16 catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-26 win.
“Any time you catch as many balls as he did, it’s very impressive,” said Ohio head coach Frank Scolich. “He ran good routes. He has size and he’s an excellent receiver. Obviously, that showed tonight. We knew going in that we would have to slow him down a little bit, and we weren’t able to do it.”
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Whether it was the preparation prior to the game, or the in-game adjustments, Sanu had his way with Ohio’s secondary in the.
”I saw some different things,” Sanu said of the changes he saw during the game. “They had two DB’s over there and I would just go out and use my technique.”
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Sanu started the scoring frenzy with a 7-yard touchdown off a pass from Chas Dodd, that was set up by a catch and run by running back Jawan Jamison (29 carries for 129 yards).
The drive was set up by the first of five turnovers first by the Scarlet Knights. Ohio (3-1) quarterback Tyler Tettleton mishandled a high snap. The lose ball was recovered by Ka’Lial Glaud. For the first fumble recovery of his career and the first of four for the Rutgers (2-1) on the day.
Rutgers was able to capitalize on the turnovers unlike their last game against North Carolina. They’d score 17 points off five turnovers after mustering up just 12 points off six turnovers against UNC.
While the defense gave up 404 yards, that production only resulted in 26 points for the Bobcats. Many of those yards resulted from big plays by the defense, as Rutgers time of possession was two to one.
Despite their defense staying on the field much of the game, Ohio hung around with Rutgers until five minutes were left in the game. That’s when Dodd — 21 of 32, three touchdowns and one interception — found tight end Paul Carrezola in the back of the end zone to put Rutgers up 38-20.
But what this game came down too was Sanu’s dominating performance.
“He did a great job catching the ball and if he keeps doing that he’s going to keep getting the balls,” Dodd said.
And defenses will keep scratching their heads trying to figure out how to slow Sanu down.
