Last year Ohio State beat Rutgers 58-0, so a 56-0 win this season over the Scarlet Knights isn’t necessarily surprising.
But this year’s Rutgers’ defense was supposed to be much improved. Heading into the game they were the highest-ranked S&P+ defense that Ohio State has faced so far, at 23rd overall — and that’s an opponent-adjusted ranking (with the caveats of limited data and still ~50% preseason projections factored in). Their run defense was especially strong, ranking 37th in opponent rushing success rate.
However, an injury to their top corner definitely did not help their already-shaky 78th-ranked pass defense (in passing success rate).