PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano and the Rutgers football have been busy since the Scarlet Knights’ blowout loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.
There was a lot that needed to be fixed.
“It’s been kind of a tough 45 or so hours since the game,” coach Greg Schiano said Monday as he reflected on his team’s 42-7 loss to the Badgers. “But as I said Saturday, I’ll say it again that was unacceptable. Our performance, my coaching, and really, tried to look at everything we possibly could all the way till about midnight last night and moved on to UCLA.”
Rutgers will host the Bruins on Saturday at SHI Stadium (noon, FS1) looking to snap its two-game losing streak, but for that to happen it’s going to have to get back to being productive on offense, regain its form on defense and eliminate the type of mistakes that piled up against Wisconsin.
After a game in which the Scarlet Knights only had 271 total yards of offense but surrendered 549 on defense, the coaching staff had plenty to dissect and re-evaluate.
“What basically the findings are is there’s no one major thing,” Schiano said. “It’s a bunch of little things. Details of execution. Details of coaching. And when you have a lot of change like we have in the last three weeks, you really got to double down on the details to make sure that everybody is on the same page, everybody is doing things with the same precision, and we did not do a good job and I did not do a good enough job of guaranteeing that happens.”
How confident is Schiano that it can be fixed?
“We have got a great group of players here,” Schiano said. “They are steadfastly committed to what we are doing. Yesterday was a humbling yet sobering experience to go. We talked through it all as a team, as a staff and we went out and had a good practice and our guys will be ready to go and we’ll have a great week of practice.”
Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano: ‘Can’t be fooled’ by UCLA’s record
The Bruins fell to 1-5 this season after losing at home 21-17 to Minnesota on Saturday. Their only win came against Hawaii (16-13) in the opener before losses to Indiana (42-13), LSU (34-17), Oregon (34-13) and Penn State (27-11).
UCLA’s schedule to this point has been a gauntlet.
“You can be fooled by the record,” Schiano said. “Don’t be. When you look they have played a very, very competitive schedule and really, really tough schedule and have played and been competitive in each of the games.”
Schiano said it looks like the Bruins are starting to “find themselves” with the coaching staff, led by head coach DeShaun Foster, making some adjustments since earlier in the season.
That said, the Bruins still rank at the bottom of the Big Ten in several major categories, including total yards per game (272.8), total defense (358.2 yards surrendered per game) and pass defense (265.7 yards per game).
UCLA’s run defense, yielding 92.5 yards per game, has actually been solid, ranking seventh in the Big Ten.
Schiano highlighted defensive back Bryan Addison and Kain Medrano as “active playmakers behind a big, strong D-line which is going to be a huge challenge for us.”
Schiano also praised UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers, who in five games is 92-of-153 passing (60.1 percent) for 1,101 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions.
“He can throw well on the run and throw from the pocket,” Schiano said.
Rutgers football ‘not in a great spot with our health right now’
The Scarlet Knights already were banged up, then they suffered more injuries against Wisconsin, including defensive end Aaron Lewis, running back Sam Brown and tight end Kenny Fletcher.
Cornerback Robert Longerbeam and linebacker Tyreem Powell were unavailable for the game. Linebacker Mohamed Toure is out for the season and so is offensive lineman Bryan Felter.
“We are evaluating everything right now with medical, and yeah, we are not in a great spot with our health right now,” Schiano said. “But that doesn’t matter. We need to make sure that whoever takes the field, the 11 guys who take the field at a time are prepared and ready to play their very best. If they do that, that’s all you can do.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Greg Schiano previews UCLA
