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 PISCATAWAY, NJ -- Ohio flourished in its first three games, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on mistakes made by opponents. This week, however, OU became the victim of its own mental lapses as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights used four fumble recoveries and a balanced offensive attack to secure a 38-26 victory over the Bobcats at High Point Solutions Stadium.
“You can’t come here and beat yourself against a good team like this,” quarterback Tyler Tettleton said. “If we don’t turn it over as much as we did, we have a really good chance to win the game.”
For the second consecutive week, Ohio’s defense was matched up against a true freshman quarterback. Chas Dodd maintained his composure against the turnover-hungry Ohio defense, however, completing 21 of 32 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns. He had no problem finding his favorite target, Mohamed Sanu, who pulled in a Big East-record 16 receptions for 176 yards and 2 TDs.
“We’ve got to give credit to him; he’s a good player,” Ohio safety Xavier Hughes said of Sanu. “But the mistakes killed us. We have got to get those things corrected.”
Rutgers began the game driving down the field with ease until Savon Huggins mishandled a handoff at the Ohio 9-yard line. The fumble was recovered Alphonso Lewis.
A bad snap by the Ohio offense on their own 29 put the Knights back in business, though, and set up Dodd’s first touchdown pass of the day to Sanu. It was the first time Ohio trailed all season.
The Bobcats got their first big play of the day from Xavier Hughes, who intercepted Dodd with four minutes remaining in the first quarter at the Rutgers 26. That set up a Tettleton pass to LaVon Brazill in the back of the end zone to make it 7-7.
Rutgers later engineered its second touchdown of the day, picking apart the Ohio defense on a 60-yard scoring drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Savon Huggins.
The Knights appeared to break the game open when they forced a LaVon Brazill fumble on a punt return. It was recovered by Marcus Cooper, who returned it for the touchdown, making it 21-7. Ohio’s Matt Weller tacked on a field goal as time expired in the half to cut the Rutgers advantage to eleven. The field goal was the 39th of his career, an Ohio record.
Faced with a deficit at halftime for the first time all season, Ohio came out with urgency in the second half. Tettleton completed a 23-yard pass to LaVon Brazill to set up a 31 yard touchdown pass to Donte Foster. That cut the score to 21-17 before two minutes had gone off the clock.
Rutgers counter-punched with a score on the ensuing drive as Dodd hooked up with Sanou again on a 9-play, 62-yard drive that stopped the Bobcat momentum.
Ohio chipped away as Weller added another field goal and the Bobcats defense got a stop on the ensuring drive. But with the offense driving, running back Ryan Boykin fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Ryan Logan of Rutgers at the Ohio 45.
A San San Te field goal, and Dodd’s third touchdown pass of the game in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach for the Bobcats.
Among Ohio’s problems on the day was getting stops on third down. Rutgers was 11-18 on third down, including six on third-and-eight or longer.
“Their formations caught us lined up improperly,” head coach Frank Solich said. “They were able to take advantage of that in key third-down situations.”
Ohio’s offense struggled at times and was one-dimensional without injured running back Donte Harden. The ‘Cats were only able to gain 65 rushing yards.
Tyler Tettleton had yet another solid game to pick up the slack, going 23-for-36 for 339 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Ohio (3-1) will look to get back on the winning track when it host Kent State at home Saturday in what will be the MAC opener for both teams.
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