1. TreVeyon Henderson was once again the hero.

After surpassing 200 all-purpose yards against Wisconsin a week ago, the junior running back was Ohio State’s most productive offensive player again Saturday against Rutgers.

He rushed for 128 yards on 22 carries and caught five passes for 80 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

“Once he gets to the second level, he becomes dangerous,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said. “Once he gets out in the open field, it goes from good to great fast.”

2. The Scarlet Knights stifled Ohio State’s passing attack and Marvin Harrison Jr.

After four straight 100-yard receiving games, Harrison had only four catches for 25 yards, but he hauled in a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the Buckeyes put the game away.

Rutgers entered with the No. 8 pass efficiency defense in the country and showed why.

Coach Greg Schiano’s team did so primarily by playing two deep safeties to take away the deep ball but also contesting many of Kyle McCord’s throws in the red zone.

He ended up completing 19 of 26 passes for a season-low 189 yards and three touchdowns.

For the second week in a row, he threw a late second-quarter interception that prevented Ohio State from building momentum to end the half. This time it also led to a field goal.

Day said McCord made a good read — he was trying to get the ball to Harrison on a deep out — but did not put enough air under the ball to prevent linebacker Mohamed Toure from snagging it.

3. Rutgers dominated the second quarter.

Rutgers’ three scores in the first half were set up by a 45-yard run on a fourth down trick play, a botched Ohio State fake punt and Toure’s interception.

That turned Ohio State’s early 7-0 lead into 9-7 deficit, the first time the Buckeyes trailed at halftime this year.

It could have been much worse if not for the defense stiffening inside the 10 on three consecutive possessions.

“It’s a team game, but the first half just gutsy, tough,” Day said of his defense. “Hanging in there in some bad spots. Those guys are playing hard across the board, and we were down a couple of guys. The front and Tommy (Eichenberg) and Proc, to make that play, he poured it up in there on that one. He didn’t break stride. Rutgers is physical. Coming off their bye they were fresh and ready to go. They played us hard.”

4. The defense got dinged — and dinged up.

Rutgers ran for a 232 yards, the most for an Ohio State opponent this season.

Running back Kyle Monangai had 159 yards, while quarterback Gavin Wimsatt added 49 on the ground.

The Scarlet Knights were able to dictate tempo at times against an Ohio State defense that began the day without starting cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Lathan Ransom then lost its other starting safety, Josh Proctor, early in the third quarter.

Proctor appeared to take an inadvertent hit to the head from Monangai while breaking up a pass that ended up being intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Ohio State’s Jordan Hancock.

That gave Ohio State the lead back for good early in the third quarter.