Three takeaways from Rutgers football's defeat to No. 1 Ohio State
With the odds stacked against them, the Rutgers football team was able to compete with Ohio State in the first half of Saturday's game at SHI Stadium on Busch campus.
The Scarlet Knights (6-3, 3-3) could not keep their foot on the gas pedal as the Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0) flipped the script in the second half and took the 35-16 win. Here are three takeaways for Rutgers' performance this weekend.
First half momentum
To much of the nation’s surprise, the Knights held a 9-7 lead over No. 1 Ohio State heading into halftime. A lot of that was due to costly Buckeyes mistakes.
Ohio State was able to drive up the field in its second offensive possession of the game as Kyle McCord found his rhythm and delivered a touchdown strike to Gee Scott Jr. to put the Buckeyes up 7-0 early in the contest.
After three straight three-and-outs for Rutgers' offense, it finally put points on the board with a field goal from sophomore placekicker Jai Patel.
On the ensuing drive, Ohio State attempted a fake punt on fourth down that the Knights were able to stop, putting their offense at the Buckeyes 32-yard line. Rutgers knocked home another field goal to cut its deficit to 7-6.
The Ohio State offense turned the ball over again after senior linebacker Mohamed Toure intercepted McCord. With the clock ticking down and on fourth down within the five-yard line, the Knights elected to kick their third field goal of the game to give themselves a two-point lead at the half.
At this point in the game, momentum had shifted to Rutgers.
Wimsatt throws another costly pick-six
The momentum flipped back to the Buckeyes in the second half after junior quarterback Gavin Wimsatt lofted an errant pass intended for junior running back Kyle Monangai. The pass was deflected into the air by Ohio State's Josh Proctor and found the hands of Jordan Hancock, who returned it 93 yards for the pick-six.
It was the third game this season where a Wimsatt pick-six altered the course of a game. The first came in a 31-7 loss against Michigan, and the second came two games later in a 24-13 defeat against Wisconsin.
While the Knights did their best to stay in the game, touchdowns by TreVeyon Henderson and Marvin Harrison Jr. proved to be the straws that broke the camel's back. A Buckeyes sack of Wimsatt on fourth and goal in the middle of the fourth quarter put the game away.
"We've practiced it and, again, credit to the safety making a great play, but I just gotta put the ball where it needs to be," Wimsatt said of his pick-six.
Red zone inefficiency
While Rutgers was winning heading into halftime, the team squandered its chances of having a bigger lead.
All of the Knights' three first-half field goals came on different fourths and goals within the Ohio State five-yard line. Each time, head coach Greg Schiano elected to take the points instead of keeping the offense on the field to try and get a touchdown.
In a game against a tougher opponent, putting points on the board is always a good thing. But by the end of the game, those decisions were put in question.
After the contest, Schiano spoke about his decision to go for the field goals instead of trying for touchdowns.
"Trust me, I wanted to. You got to do everything in your power not to be the fan and go for it," Schiano said. "Analytics are great, but they’re dangerous 'cause they’re dead numbers. They happened already. You're living it right then and there, and you got to know how this game is going. And I thought we made the right decision. In retrospect, who knows?"
Monangai knows that the red zone offense has to capitalize more often.
"We definitely got to be better in the red zone, that’s for sure," Monangai said. "I thought we did a good job getting there, but we got to put up seven's instead of three's."
It wasn't just in the first half, as both the pick-six and fourth down sack came with the Knights driving into the red zone with chances to take or extend their lead. If Rutgers wants to defeat ranked opponents, it must capitalize with touchdowns when it is in the red zone.
The Knights will look to bounce back when they travel to face Iowa next weekend.
Schiano concluded his press conference by saying he's proud of his players but recognized that there are no moral victories and the team must now focus its attention on the Hawkeyes (7-2, 4-2).
"We got to get our guys ready, and (Iowa is) a good football team," Schiano said. "Much like us, they’re going to play nose to nose, so we got a huge challenge ahead of us next week. We got to lick our wounds a little bit here and get back to work."
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