Rutgers dropped its second consecutive game after a 3-0 start to the season, this time on the road at Minnesota. With the Scarlet Knights finding themselves in an eerily similar situation to the Iowa game,
up 28-24, they were able to get the ball back this time. However, Rutgers was unable to take advantage, giving the ball right back to the Gophers, allowing a touchdown, and having a horrendous mistake push them out of Jai Patel’s field goal range. Dane Pizarro, the team’s long-range kicker, missed from 56 yards in a last-ditch attempt to tie the game, and the Scarlet Knights’ bowl hopes took a serious hit. Here are my takeaways from the devastating loss.
Passing Offense Has Mixed Results, Falls Short In Big Moments
Athan Kaliakmanis returned to Minnesota after playing there for three seasons and had mixed results today. Kaliakmanis and the Scarlet Knights started the game on fire, with Athan completing his first nine passes and 10 of 13 to start the game. Although the first drive stalled inside the 10-yard line (three straight run plays did not help) and Patel’s field goal was blocked (more on that later), Rutgers built a 14-0 lead with lengthy drives resulting in Kaliakmanis finding DT Sheffield and KJ Duff in the end zone.
However, things went downhill from there, with Athan completing only 11 out of his last 21 pass attempts. He had an interception that set up the Gophers at Rutgers’ 8-yard line and led to an easy touchdown that tied the game at 14 in the second quarter. According to PFF, he put the ball in precarious positions at least three times yesterday, with Minnesota’s defensive backs failing to make an interception in all but one of those cases.
For as great as the offense has been this season, they have largely failed to deliver in the clutch moments. Against Iowa, Rutgers had a chance down 31-28 to answer back, but Kaliakmanis threw a gut-wrenching interception that took all the excitement out of SHI Stadium.
The only clutch moment the offense has had was when they prevented Ohio from seeing the football again to hang on for a 34-31 win in the season-opener, a game that, despite Ohio’s prowess against Power Four competition, should not have been that close (especially with Rutgers building a 17-point lead and taking a 14-point lead into the break. Yet just as Ohio did, Iowa and Minnesota made the right halftime adjustments while Rutgers did not, and in the Big Ten, that is just not good enough to win.
And today, the offense made an even bigger mistake, with Gus Zilinskas snapping the football too low for Kaliakmanis with Rutgers already in field goal range. It appeared that communication was off between Athan and his center, with the noise at Huntington Bank Stadium playing a role in the mishap. With the snap being both too low and too early, Rutgers lost 15 yards and was forced to kick a game-tying field goal from outside Patel’s range.
Poor execution in all three phases of the game has done the Scarlet Knights in twice now. While the offense may be the least to blame, they are not absolved of criticism when they cannot get the job done in big moments.
Antwan Raymond Has A Career Performance In The Loss
After the passing game rightfully had all the headlines for the first four weeks, Antwan Raymond gave it back to the run game this time around. Raymond had a career-high 161 yards on 26 carries, rushing for over six yards a carry with a long of 23 and two touchdowns.
With Minnesota taking its first lead of the game entering the fourth quarter, Raymond had a legacy drive for the Scarlet Knights, with rushes of 17, 10, 20, 7, and a four-yard score to cap it off. Defenses have to respect Kaliakmanis and the three-headed monster at receiver of Strong, Duff, and Sheffield, but they also have to respect Raymond on the ground.
Although CJ Campbell is out for the season and the rest of the ground game looks anemic, Raymond looked like Kyle Monangai or Isiah Pacheco out there. He made big blocks in pass protection, broke tackles, and almost single-handedly moved the Knights down the field on that go-ahead scoring drive. Raymond can pick up third-and-short or break a big run at any time, giving Rutgers a versatile offense.
Sam Brown V also saw his first action since 2024, gaining 12 yards on five carries with a long of nine yards. With CJ Campbell Jr. out for the season, the assumption was that the lead duo would be Raymond and Benjamin, but Benjamin did not record a single carry in this game. In this game, there was no need, but in the future it will be interesting to see how Damiere Shaw divvies up the carries between Benjamin and Brown behind Raymond.
Gophers Have A Sack Party, Push The Tempo On Offense
For all that Rutgers did wrong in this game, Minnesota did a lot right to win it, and it would not be fair to leave that out of my analysis, both to credit the Gophers but also to highlight what Rutgers has been struggling with.
On defense, Minnesota had a party in the backfield, getting to Kaliakmanis seven times in his homecoming game. Protection from the offensive line was not great and broke down, while Athan also continued to hold on to the football for too long, failing to throw the ball away and live for another play. His lack of mobility also took away the ability for him to escape using his legs.
Star pass rusher Anthony Smith had 1.5 sacks, with players on all three levels of the defense joining the sack party. Even safety Koi Perich came all the way up and got to Kaliakmanis, showing the Gophers’ tendency (and ability) to blitz successfully. With Rutgers dealing with injuries on that offensive line, the left tackle spot has looked particularly concerning for two straight weeks now.
On offense, Rutgers really struggled with Minnesota’s tempo. When Drake Lindsey made a big play, he quickly guided the team upfield and communicated the next play to the offense so they could keep Rutgers on their heels. His veteran-like demeanor was impressive, especially as a redshirt freshman, and the Gophers’ offense continuously took advantage of Rutgers’ poor coverage.
Defense Shuts Down The Run, But Porous Against The Pass
The defense HAS shown improvement, but it tends not to show since it has also been awfully bad in the worst ways and at the worst times for the Scarlet Knights. Minnesota took the top off Rutgers’ defense, with Lindsey beating the safeties over the middle for a 78-yard pass to Jalen Smith, leading to the first Gophers’ touchdown.
The troubling trend of allowing big plays in the middle and deep parts of the field continued, with Minnesota allowing completions of ten-plus yards to seven different players (six not including the pass to Smith). This included tight ends over the middle, receivers downfield, and even finding running backs in space. The Knights are allowing open space even after the catches, while struggling to bring players down in the open field. Even when a big play is made, it often gets negated because of a penalty, which was seen again in this game.
Even worse, Rutgers only had two sacks (both of which came from Bradley Weaver), hardly pressured Lindsey, and failed to record a turnover. The Scarlet Knights have three turnovers in five games, and two of those came against a heavily overmatched Norfolk State team with one win and multiple FCS losses.
On the bright side, the heavily maligned run defense tightened up, allowing just 38 rushing yards. It helped that Minnesota was down its top two backs, but for a Rutgers team that has allowed everyone (including the Spartans to a large extent) to run on them, this was a welcome sign.
Robb Smith’s unit forced two three-and-outs on Minnesota’s first couple of drives and gave Rutgers the ball back late in the first half by stuffing Cam Davis for no gain on back-to-back plays in Rutgers territory. The Scarlet Knights’ offense took advantage with a 63-yard touchdown drive in less than a minute to head to the locker room up 21-14 at halftime.
However, when the defense was bad, it was porous, allowing consecutive 20-plus yard completions to Minnesota with the Gophers trailing 28-24 in the fourth quarter. Tracy capped off the drive by extending over the goal line and giving Minnesota a 31-28 lead it would not relinquish.
Special Teams Mistakes Doom The Knights (Again)
This is the part that frustrates me the most. It just seems like this team continues to make the same mistakes while also creating new ones. One week after Patel’s kick got blocked against Iowa, his opening field goal attempt is blocked in Minnesota. This can be attributed to both the poor protection, which continues to get leaned on, but more so due to Patel’s low arc on his kicks, which Schiano mentioned as a problem.
Rutgers also caught a lucky break for the second straight game in the return game. After Iowa scored on its opening kickoff and nearly scored again on another lengthy return from Kaden Wetjen, Koi Perich returned the last kickoff of the first half for 56 yards with 18 seconds left, beating most of the Knights’ kickoff return coverage to get into field goal range. Fortunately, Brady Denaburg missed his 50-yard attempt to end the first half, but Minnesota still won a three-point game in a game where Patel’s first kick was blocked.
Schiano discussed the troubling kicking situation during his press conference, saying that “The first kick (from Patel) was not a good kick. It is what it is, and that is a concern because that’s been an issue the last couple of weeks. I think (Patel) worked on it during the game, and he improved and kicked well. The end of the game — that’s a 56-yard field goal — that’s not in Jai’s range. So we’ve always had a long-range kicker and that’s what Dane was.”
Just to make it clear, Jai Patel was not benched for Dane Pizzaro. As Schiano said, the 56-yard attempt was not in Patel’s range, and that is why the team brought out Pizzaro to attempt the game-tying field goal. Pizzaro’s kick had plenty of leg, but sailed wide to the right. Needless to say, this game is not on Pizzaro, as that was an incredibly difficult situation to attempt his first field goal, in a road environment, and from a very long distance.
Injuries Continue To Add Up For Rutgers
Moses Walker was announced as out for the season, with the starting linebacker the latest casualty on the injury report. Abram Wright started in Walker’s place opposite DJ Djabome, which was his first collegiate start. In addition, reserve offensive lineman Nick Oliveira and true freshman Braxton Kyle were also announced as out for the year in the pregame injury report.
During the game itself, Colin Weber left in the first quarter but came back for the second half. The Scarlet Knights cannot afford to continue to lose players week to week, while several others get banged up every game. At least in this contest, no serious injuries came out of this game, and now Rutgers will have a bye week to recover physically and mentally before heading out to Washington the following Friday night.
Bowl Hopes In Serious Jeopardy
With all of the X’s and O’s being discussed, it is time to look at where the season stands. Rutgers had to find a way to win one of the three games between Iowa and Washington to have their best shot at six wins, in addition to defeating both Purdue and Maryland and sweeping their nonconference schedule.
Although the Scarlet Knights succeeded in the first part despite a big-time scare from the Bobcats, they are now 0-2 in the second part. This was their prove-it opportunity, to showcase that Rutgers can at the very least defeat teams in its own weight class. Yet both times, they failed to deliver, with self-inflicted mistakes and a poor defense being exposed again and again.
They may have barely gotten away with it against the class of the MAC, but in the Big Ten, those things are the difference between winning and losing football games, as Schiano himself alluded to in his press conference. Both Purdue and Maryland look much improved as well, and it would not be inconceivable for the Scarlet Knights to lose one or even both of those games this season.
Even if Rutgers wins both of those games, as is still the hope and expectation, they will need to find a way to spring an upset somewhere else to get to six wins. While that is certainly possible, there are no other “easy” opponents on the schedule. The Scarlet Knights will be underdogs in all of the other remaining games, and double-digit underdogs in most of them.
The most likely chance is probably at Washington after the bye, and with Rutgers flipping a switch after their dismal October with a resounding win over Minnesota, the hope is that the Scarlet Knights take advantage of their opportunity to rest and reset and surprise the Huskies.
But do not let that 24-6 loss to Ohio State fool you, that Buckeyes defense is elite, and the seemingly suspect Washington defense largely kept the Buckeyes in check for as long as they could. They could easily slow down the Scarlet Knights in front of what should be a much more partisan crowd than yesterday’s mix of red and purple.
Against Rutgers’ struggling defense, Demond Williams Jr., Jonah Coleman, and Denzel Boston will likely have close to a field day if they do not get one. It will be up to the Rutgers offense to keep pace, as they have attempted to do in several Big Ten games now. If not, this could be a long season for the Scarlet Knights, as not only has the team failed to get its signature win, but it has now taken a step back by failing to defeat a team on its own level.
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