Both teams were idle last week giving them extra planning and adding new wrinkles to their respective offenses, which have been quite good.


Let's start with Rutgers and its excellent quarterback Gary Nova. He's averaging close to 270 yards passing a game with a 60 percent completion rate and 13 touchdown throws. He has two reliable running backs in Paul James and Desmon Peoples.


Ohio State's secondary is suspect. I see Nova hooking up frequently with Leonte Caroo and taking advantage of that.


On the flip side, Ohio State quarterback T.J. Barrett is coming on. He's more than adequately replaced injured Braxton Miller. Barrett set a school record with a 14-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his last three games. Like Miller, Barrett can both pass and run. He's completed a Big Ten-best 66.2 percent of his throws and also is the team's second leading rusher with 276 yards.


Thanks in large part to Barrett, the Buckeyes have put up three consecutive 500-yard games. They are the No. 5 scoring team in the country at 44.6 points per game.