Buckeyes return vs. Rutgers after final respite

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It only seems as if No. 13 Ohio State has been out of action more than it’s been in action the past few Saturdays.

After two bye weeks in the last month, the Buckeyes play on the next seven Saturdays to complete the regular season. How things turn out will determine if they’re busy an eighth consecutive weekend at the Big Ten championship game.

The Buckeyes (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) are tired of sitting around and watching other teams play.

”Oh, yeah, man. I’m glad it’s here,” wide receiver Evan Spencer said of this week’s game at home against Rutgers (5-1, 1-1). ”Going through the bye week and having bye-week practices, it’s always good to refine some skills. But game weeks are always different. Everybody’s excited to kind of get going and get back in the groove.”

Since coach Urban Meyer has never had so many byes so early in a season, he’ll challenge his team – today and for the days to follow.

”If you have a bad team and guys that don’t quite listen to you, then you have to create things,” Meyer said on Monday. ”(But) I’m going to talk to (our players) like grown men, and I’ll say, ‘This is where we’re at, this is what we have to do, you’ve had three days off, let’s pick up and go.’ I’m anticipating that they’ll answer.”

The teams have a lot in common, even though the Scarlet Knights are a novelty in their first year in the Big Ten. They also are coming off a bye week and have also won their last three games.

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