Rutgers coach Greg Schiano and Ohio State coach Ryan Day have been friendly coaching colleagues since the time both were on Urban Meyer’s staff when he coached the Buckeyes.
But they were far from friendly on Saturday.
Schiano got into a yelling match with Day after No. 3 Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) pulled off a fake punt in the fourth quarter of the Buckeyes’ 49-10 blowout win over Rutgers (3-2, 0-2) in Columbus.
With Ohio State holding a 39-point lead, punter Jesse Mirco saw a hole in Rutgers’ special teams coverage and ran out of bounds for a first down — before he took a huge, late hit from Scarlet Knights receiver Aron Cruickshanks on the Buckeyes’ sideline.
After the hit, a scrum ensued between the two teams and Schiano ran across the field to help break it up. But Schiano, clearly not enthused that Ohio State had run a fake punt on his team, also had a few choice words for Day, who jawed right back at him.
Schiano and Day both drew unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Cruickshanks was ejected from the game and will have to miss the first half of Rutgers’ home game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Friday night.
After the game, Day, who apologized to Schiano for the play during a postgame handshake, insisted that he didn’t call the fake and that Mirco had decided to run on his own.
Both coaches downplayed the confrontation.
“One coach defending their side, one coach defending their [side]. No hard feelings,” Day said. “I told him that after the game.”
Schiano also said after the game he has the “utmost respect” and is still “friends” with Day, agreeing that both coaches were just defending their respective players
When Meyer retired at the end of the 2018 season, Day was named head coach. In February 2019, it was announced that Schiano would not return to Ohio State and, in December of that year, he was named the head coach at Rutgers.
Williams got the opportunity for a career-high 21 carries when TreVeyon Henderson became a late scratch because of an unspecified injury. Williams, a third-year back, exploded for a 70-yard TD romp in the third quarter and also had four short scoring plunges.
Rutgers jumped out a 7-0 lead after Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka fumbled a punt return after the opening drive. That set up a 14-yard TD pass from the Scarlet Knights’ Evan Simon to Sean Ryan. It was the first time the Buckeyes had trailed in a game since falling behind 3-0 early in the opener against Notre Dame.
But Ohio State dominated the rest of the way.
“We didn’t do enough things right in the end to be in the game,” Schiano said.
“Just not our time yet. Now the word ‘yet’ is the operative word.”
Williams stepped up with the best game of his Ohio State career on a day when quarterback C.J. Stroud wasn’t as sharp as usual. Stroud, the Heisman Trophy favorite, completed 13 of 22 passes for a career-low 154 yards with two touchdowns and an interception as the Rutgers defense keyed on taking away the pass.
Stroud said he wasn’t bothered.
“I think that we just want to win,” he said. “ If that means I don’t throw for a lot of yards, I don’t throw for a lot of touchdowns, I can’t really care less. I’m here to win.”
— with AP
