Greg Schiano blamed for Rutgers’ no-show loss to Wisconsin | Politi

The boos started with 19 seconds left in the first quarter, and honestly, you have to give Rutgers fans credit for waiting that long. It was clear long beforehand that Greg Schiano didn’t have his team ready for that crucial game against Wisconsin and that the Scarlet Knights were headed for a performance that would cast serious doubt on the direction of his program.

It’s not just that a Big Ten star had beaten Schiano’s team on its home field. Paying customers are used to this. That was a beatable Badgers team — hell, Rutgers was favorited! — Back on the sidelines in Schiano’s fifth year. This was to be an afternoon that this team had long since relegated to the background.

Instead, for three and a half painful hours, the Scarlet Knights looked like they were meeting in the parking lot for the first time Saturday afternoon in that 42-7 loss. They seemed unprepared. They seemed borderline untrained.

The dropped passes. The exposed reports. The clown car replacements. Rutgers was down two touchdowns before the offense managed its second touchdown down first of the game. This scene sums it up: Schiano was running his offense on the sideline just before his defense made two great plays for an easy touchdown in the third quarter.

The head coach was rightfully angry. But he should have screamed into a mirror, and after the game he admitted it.

“I wish I knew,” Schiano said when asked why the team wasn’t ready to play. “I know it’s my job to know that, but I can’t ignore the fact that we weren’t ready to play. My mission over the next 48 hours is to find out. Sometimes you throw a trash can. That was a bummer.”

Although there are some worthy competitors, this is Schiano 2.0’s worst loss. The reason lies partly in expectations. This season was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the perfect combination of an experienced Rutgers team and a manageable schedule. Instead, it looks like Rutgers will be lucky to spend the holidays in Detroit.

This is only the halfway point of the season, so the Scarlet Knights will have six opportunities to prove that statement wrong. They don’t play a single dominant team during that period, a fact that remains the primary reason to believe that something is still possible for a program that, quite frankly, has no excuses bowl game at a baseball stadium.

“The team couldn’t chew gum all day and run as a group at the same time,” Schiano said. “We just couldn’t manage to train, play, anything.

“But step back, no, I’m not ready to sit here in a game and say, oh, the sky is falling. You know what, we’ve got work to do and we’re going to get it done and we’re going to get back on track. I think the challenge will be deciding what needs to be adjusted and then adjusting it.”

These problems were visible to everyone. Rutgers’ playmakers seemed determined to fend off every pass thrown near them, while quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis (12 of 32 for 103 yards with one bad interception) made sure several others weren’t in danger of being caught. Kirk Ciarrocca is lucky that Schiano already played his card on Sean Gleeson three years ago by firing the offensive coordinator midseason.

Meanwhile, the defense wasn’t much better. Rutgers allowed five plays of more than 30 yards in this game, meaning this defense has allowed 17 of them in six games. Only 13 games were played in the entire last season. Even the most fundamental personnel changes seem to be a challenge. Rutgers had 10 men on the field for one play in the second quarter, with a defensive tackle running onto the field after the snap.

This is inexcusable. The offense received two delay-of-game penalties early in drives after Wisconsin touchdowns. These are also basic things. This is coaching.

“We’re not there yet,” Schiano said a year ago when the Scarlet Knights lost on the road to Wisconsin. He still put the emphasis on the word, but the team that lost 24-13 in Madison seemed far closer to beating the big boys than the team that was embarrassed in Piscataway on Saturday.

This is a gut-check moment for this team and its head coach. UCLA, probably the 17th-best team in an 18-team conference, comes to New Jersey next weekend, then Rutgers has a five-game stretch that will determine where this season ends.

This stretch starts with a talented Southern California team on the road, but then it’s Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan State. These are all coin toss games, the kind of days where preparation and effort can make the difference between victory and defeat. Rutgers had none of those against Wisconsin, and in year five that’s inexcusable.

Rutgers heard the boos early and often on Saturday afternoon. But something even worse hit Schiano as he ran through the stadium tunnel after the game ended. As time expired on this crucial Big Ten game, there was only silence. All the angry fans had already gone home.

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Steve Politi can be reached at [email protected]