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Here's a look at everything you need to know about the Ohio Bobcats ahead of tonight's game against Rutgers Football.

Rutgers Football is all set to open up the 2025 season this week with a Thursday night showdown against the Ohio University Bobcats inside of SHI Stadium. Before kickoff happens, let’s take a look into this year’s Ohio program.

The Bobcats is coming off a strong 11-3 season last year, where they ended up winning the MAC Championship 38-3 over Miami (OH). They would then go on to play Jacksonville State in the Cure Bowl and defeated them 30–27 to finish the year with 11 wins.

Despite the strong season, Head Coach Tim Albin made the decision to leave for Charlotte, but left the program in the hands of a very familiar face in Brian Smith.

WHO / WHEN / WHERE / SPREAD

WHO: Rutgers Football versus Ohio Bobcats

WHEN: Thursday, 6:00pm ET

WHERE: SHI Stadium (Piscataway, NJ) OR Big Ten Network

SPREAD via BetMGM: Rutgers -15.5pts || Over/Under set at 49.5pts

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Head Coach Brian Smith

Salary: $850,000

Overall Record: 1-0

Record at Ohio: 1-0

This upcoming season with Smith’s first as a full time head coach, with his lone game as the head man in charge being that same 2024 Cure Bowl. However he’s very familiar with the program, going from Pass Game Coordinator / running backs coach in 2022 to Offensive Coordinator in 2024 and now head coach in 2025. So this upcoming season will be his first as a head coach at any level.

Offensive Coordinator: Scott Isphording (1st year)

2024 Season Stats

Points Per Game: 29.3
Yards Per Game: 405.6
Passing Yards Per Game: 192.4
Rushing Yards Per Game: 213.1

Defensive Coordinator: John Hauser (2nd year)

2024 Season Stats

Points Allowed Per Game: 18.1
Yards Allowed Per Game: 303.1
Passing Allowed Yards Per Game: 212.6
Rushing Allowed Yards Per Game: 90.6

All-Time Series History – Ohio versus Rutgers

This game will mark as the third time ever that the two programs have met on the gridiron, with Ohio winning the first game back in 1937. Rutgers would go on to win the next two in 2006 and 2011.