PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The newly minted No. 1 team in the country didn't look the part for most of Saturday's game against Rutgers.

But even if Ohio State's offense often fails the eye test, its defense and overall tenacity has been enough to keep the Buckeyes undefeated.

Against the Scarlet Knights, the Buckeyes trailed at halftime for the first time all year and looked to be in genuine trouble when Rutgers drove to the Ohio State 20-yard line to open the second half.

But Jordan Hancock returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown, and the Buckeyes' offense then ignited for a 35-16 victory in front of 53,703 at SHI Stadium.

“I feel like this team finds a way,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “They don't panic. They keep swinging. They keep fighting.”

Having a healthy TreVeyon Henderson sure helps. The junior running back ran for 128 yards and a touchdown and turned a short pass into a 65-yard gain to set up another.

“When he's healthy, I don't think there's a better back in the country,” said Ohio State quarterback and New Jersey native Kyle McCord, who completed his first 11 passes and threw for three touchdowns, two to Marvin Harrison Jr.

Ohio State (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) had beaten Rutgers by an average of 42 points in their previous nine meetings and never by fewer than 22. But the Scarlet Knights, coached by former OSU defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, were 6-2 this season and had last week off.

Ohio State football: QB Kyle McCord sets school record with most consecutive pass completions

“Every time you go on the road back-to-back weeks – physical weeks – you have to bring it,” Day said, referring to the 24-10 win at Wisconsin last week. “It isn't that you're just going to roll your helmets out there, and you're going to win a game. It doesn't work that way, and I think our guys understand that.”

But slow starts have been an issue this season, and that continued against Rutgers.

After scoring a touchdown on its second possession, Ohio State's offense came up dry the rest of the first half. Even though Kyle McCord completed his first 11 passes, none of OSU's other drives gained more than 24 yards against a Rutgers defense intent on taking away OSU's downfield passing game and containing Harrison, who was held to four catches for 25 yards.

The Buckeyes' defense got three-and-outs on Rutgers' first three drives and then proved stout at the goal line on three second-quarter Scarlet Knights' drives once they awoke, forcing field goals.

A trick play – quarterback Gavin Wimsatt took the snap and hiked the ball to Kyle Monongai on fourth-and-1 from the Rutgers' 43 for a 45-yard gain – gave the Scarlet Knights their first scoring chance. But OSU's then forced a field goal.

It did the same with a goal-line stand after Rutgers stopped Jesse Mirco on a fake punt that Day said was not the designed play.

Ohio State football: Are No. 1 Buckeyes the best team in college football? Why Kirk Herbstreit says no

The Buckeye defense again rose to the challenge after Rutgers moved to the OSU 2 at the end of the half following an interception by McCord.

“We have a lot of confidence,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said of red-zone situations. “Obviously, we wouldn't like to let them down there. But the guys know what to do. We work on it. They practice it. They understand the system, and it showed up.”

Still, the field goals gave the Scarlet Knights a 9-7 lead. Rutgers then took the second-half kickoff and moved to the red zone when safety Josh Proctor and Hancock made the game's biggest play.

Wimsatt stepped forward to fake a run and then lobbed a pass to Monangai. But Proctor read the play and crashed into Monangai as the ball arrived. Hancock caught the deflection at the 7 and had a wall of blockers to run untouched to the end zone on his first career interception.

“I was just saying we have to get a turnover,” Hancock said, “and the first possession of the second half, we got a turnover.

“They did a little pop pass, and he was open a little bit, but Proc came down and smacked the dude. We always say, tips and overthrows, we've got to have those.”

Proctor was injured on the play and did not return in a secondary unit already without injured cornerback Denzel Burke and safety Lathan Ransom. True freshmen Jermaine Mathews and Malik Hartford filled in.

Ohio State extended the lead to 21-9 with a 71-yard touchdown drive capped by a 9-yard run by Henderson.

Rutgers followed with a touchdown drive, only to have Ohio State answer. After Henderson turned a short catch on third-and-9 into a 65-yard gain, Harrison scored on a 4-yard touchdown catch to build the lead back to 12.

The victory was sealed when Ohio State defensive tackle Ty Hamilton sacked Wimsatt on fourth-and-goal from the 6 on Rutgers' next possession.

The Buckeyes tacked on the final score with 2 minutes left on another touchdown pass from McCord to Harrison. McCord completed 19 of 26 passes for 189 yards.

Rutgers outgained Ohio State 361-328.

“Rutgers is physical,” Day said. “They were coming off their bye, and they were fresh and ready to go. They played hard.

“We've had multiple weeks now – Penn State, Wisconsin and these guys – that have been physical weeks. But our guys are playing hard. They're playing physical, and we're playing good football down the stretch.

“We're wearing teams down in the second half. But certainly, we'd like to play better in the first half.”

Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State rebounds from sluggish first half to top Rutgers 35-16