Rutgers football loses at Nebraska: What went wrong?
The Rutgers football team suffered its first defeat of the season to Nebraska in a low-scoring affair on Saturday afternoon. The 14-7 loss was close the whole way, but the Scarlet Knights' (4-1, 1-1) questionable decision-making and missed opportunities were ultimately their demise.
Here's what went wrong in the loss.
Too much passing
For a team whose identity is running the football and controlling time of possession, dialing up just 22 run plays for its excellent running back tandem just isn't enough — and only three of those carries went to junior running back Samuel Brown V, who has stepped up big time in the last few weeks.
On a day where the game was within one or two scores the entire way and senior running back Kyle Monangai rushed for 64 yards in just the first quarter, pounding the rock should have been a much more prevalent part of the offense for all four quarters. The run game was working to perfection early on but was completely abandoned by the second quarter and never quite returned the rest of the way.
Can't take advantage of short fields
Considering Rutgers forced two blocked punts and one interception on the Cornhuskers (5-1, 2-1), and 9 of the Knights' first 10 offensive possessions went into Nebraska territory, just 7 points from the offense is unacceptable.
The most glaring example of this issue was when Rutgers blocked a punt, returned it to inside the Cornhuskers' five-yard line, and still walked away with 0 points afterward. Monangai may have been robbed of a touchdown in this instance when he was ruled short of the endzone, but instead of getting the referees to review the play, the Knights hurried back to the line and tried to score again and could not get it done, ultimately leading to a failed fourth down conversion.
"They review every play. I said to (the referees), 'Why isn't that a touchdown?'" head coach Greg Schiano said when asked about his decision not to challenge the play. "I'm not going to waste a timeout in the second half if they tell me it's not a touchdown."
While this was perhaps the biggest example of Rutgers not taking advantage of its field position, it happened numerous other times throughout the game.
Kaliakmanis' big mistakes
Senior quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis definitely had the deck stacked against him today, with one of his most trustworthy receivers, sophomore Ian Strong, limited due to injury and the announcement before the game that senior offensive lineman Bryan Felter is out for the season with an injury.
But a primary key coming into this game was Kaliakmanis not turning the ball over, and ultimately, he did it twice, throwing two interceptions. The consistency that Kaliakmanis has brought at the quarterback position led the Knights to their first four wins. He will have to find that again for Rutgers if it wants to rise up the standings in the Big Ten.
"He kept getting up, answering the bell. Some of those deep balls he threw were really, really good balls," Schiano said of Kaliakmanis' performance. "He's a competitor, and he'll be back."
The Knights return home looking to get back in the win column next Saturday, taking on Wisconsin at SHI Stadium on Busch campus. It's a noon kickoff, and fans are encouraged to wear scarlet for the "Scarlet Out."
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