COLUMBUS -- After a second off week in the first half of the season, the Ohio State football team has begun preparing for its first visit from Rutgers on Saturday.
As much as anything, though, the 13th-ranked Buckeyes have spent most of this season working on their own deficiencies after losing a week two showdown with Virginia Tech.
They bounced back with three straight wins by double digits, but exactly how much progress they have made is hard to pin down thanks to the level of competition. Kent State (final score against Ohio State: 66-0), Cincinnati (50-28) and Maryland (52-24) are a combined 6-11 on the year.
By scoring more than 50 points in three consecutive games, the Ohio State offense has left no doubt it has taken major steps since managing only 21 against the Hokies. That improvement has come while breaking in four new starters on the offensive line, two new starters at wide receiver, a new running back and a new quarterback. It figured the squad would take time to jell, and the new group is succeeding in different ways than the 2013 offense that set numerous school records for yards, points and touchdowns.
"We're a young team that's getting older, and you anticipate that, but sometimes it doesn't happen," head coach Urban Meyer said Monday. "You see a lot of maturity starting to show."
While last season's success was built mostly on the running game, the 2014 Buckeyes have gotten it done by land and by air with a multitude of players touching the ball on a regular basis instead of quarterback Braxton Miller and running back Carlos Hyde handling most of the load behind a powerful offensive line.
Instead, redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett has been at the controls of a team with six players who have caught at least eight passes and four players with 20 carries or more. Despite all the newness, the Buckeyes are fifth in the nation in scoring at 44.6 points per game and 12th in total offense (523.6 yards per game).
"I wouldn't mind having what we had last year," Meyer said. "As long as there are good players to work with, which you should always have at Ohio State, it's up to the offensive staff to develop around them.
"It's a much different offense than it was last year it's because there's a void (so) we're using skill. Ezekiel Elliott is a little different player than Carlos was. Dontre (Wilson) and Jalin (Marshall) have developed to gives us a little bit more of a perimeter run game."
As for the Buckeye defense, more evidence is yet to be gathered. While Ohio State is in the national top 30 in both passing yards allowed and pass efficiency, those numbers are somewhat skewed by opening-week opponent Navy.
Big plays plagued the Buckeyes the past two weeks -- more so against the Bearcats than the Terrapins -- but Meyer sounded content with how the secondary is developing while implementing a new scheme under assistant defensive coordinator Chris Ash.
Rutgers figures to test Ohio State's young-and-developing offensive line as well as the secondary.
Linemen Darius Hamilton and Kemoko Turay headline a pass rush that is third in the nation in sacks while senior quarterback Gary Nova leads the nation in passing yards per completion (17.2). Nova is second in the Big Ten in passer efficiency and passing touchdowns, trailing only Barrett in both categories.
"You can see the development and growth (Nova) has made from last year to this year," said Ash, who faced Rutgers as defensive coordinator at Arkansas. "Their receivers are good. They have a system and a philosophy that they believe in, and I believe they are executing it well."
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