Rutgers fell to Minnesota 31-28 in their first road game of the season. The mistakes they made showed a lot of parity to the mistakes they have been making all season, as the Scarlet Knights were once
again plagued by poor defense and special teams. In addition, much like the last game, the Rutgers offense failed to come through in the clutch.
The Knights started off the game looking very good on offense. They drove right down the field on their opening drive and almost punched it into the end zone, but settled for a field goal attempt. The play calling down near the goal line was questionable, but a good drive nonetheless. Except for the fact that Kicker Jai Patel had his field goal attempt blocked. This is the third game in a row where Rutgers has had a field goal attempt blocked.
Despite the setback, Rutgers would score on their next two drives to take a 14-0 lead. Then, in a four-minute span, Minnesota would toss a deep ball and land inside the Rutgers 3-yard line, score, intercept quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, and score again. Blink once, and the game was tied. Rutgers would score once more before the end of the half to take a 7-point lead.
Minnesota would score 10 unanswered points in the third quarter before Rutgers would add one more touchdown to take the lead. Minnesota would answer with a touchdown of its own.
Rutgers would take the ball back for one final drive with a lot of their bowl hopes on the line. The Knights would move the ball to the Minnesota 26 before disaster struck. The snap went off before Kaliakmanis was set, causing a mad scramble for the ball in the backfield and a loss of 15 yards for the Knights. Rutgers would get a few yards back on third down, but would have to settle for a 56-yard field goal attempt. Backup kicker Dane Pizarro was called in to kick for the first time this season. His kick had the leg but not the aim and was no good.
Rutgers was plagued by the same mistakes it had made in previous games. The special teams had a kick blocked and missed another field goal. The defense surrendered 324 yards and three touchdowns to a freshman quarterback. The offense made a terrible blunder when it mattered most. Bundle those together like last week, and you have the same result as last week.
One bright spot from this game was Antwan Raymond, who had his number called multiple times on third down and converted. He ended the game with 161 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.
With Rutgers’ loss here, their chances of making a bowl game were dealt a major blow. Now they will likely have to pull off an upset somewhere to reach the six win mark.
