Buffalo beats Rutgers, 42-13
The Rutgers football team fell to Buffalo on Saturday, 42-13, in font of 34,574 at HighPoint.com Stadium in Piscataway.
Buffalo’s offense couldn’t be stopped and Rutgers struggled to get much going on the afternoon. It had nine three-and-outs on the day.
Rutgers kicker Justin Davidovicz gave the Scarlet Knights a 3-0 lead to cap an eight-play, 40-yard first quarter drive, but Buffalo outscored them, 42-10, the rest of the way.
Future NFL quarterback Tyree Jackson had all day to throw. He torched Rutgers for 263 yards on 14-of-28 attempts and three touchdowns and two interceptions. The Bulls dropped a few balls, including one that fell into the hands of cornerback Isaiah Wharton, but fellow future NFL receiver Anthony Johnson caught two passes for 101 yards. He was on the other end of a beautiful throw from Jackson that went right into his bread basket hands for a 42-yard touchdown.
Jackson also threw a 53-yard score to Charlie Jones and a 9-yard score to Tyler Mabry as well.
Safety Damon Hayes also made a nice interception on a deep ball in the fourth.
The Bulls' running backs also found room once again as they gashed the Rutgers defensive line. Jare Patterson scampered for a 42-yard touchdown on the ground in the first quarter. He finished with 104 yards. Kevin Marks also had 63 yards Johnathan Hawkins tallied 23 yards on five carries. The Bulls ran for over 200 yards on the day.
This season, Rutgers has given up 12 plays of over 30 yards. Buffalo tallied 443 yards of offense.
For Rutgers, Artur Sitkowski got the start at quarterback and was ineffective once again. He threw for just 39 yards on 6-of-13 passes. Senior Gio Rescigno entered the game late in the second quarter and provided a jolt after the break.
Stop if you heard that before.
Rescigno led the Scarlet Knights on a scoring drive between the third and fourth quarters. Running back Raheem Blackshear capped a six-play, 70-yard drive with a 14-yard rushing score.
The co-captain signal caller finished 12-for-24 for 129 yards. No Rutgers quarterback threw an interception.
On the receiving end, tight end Jerome Washington caught three passes for 62 yards. Bo Melton also caught three passes and Eddie Lewis, Shameen Jones, Blackshear, and Daevon Robinson all caught two apiece.
Running the ball, Blackshear was effective as he had 15 attempts for 69 yards and the one score. Jonathan Hilliman got 10 carries for 36 yards. Isaih Pacheco had four carries for 15 yards.
Davidovicz was a bright spot for Rutgers as he made two field goals (31 and 34 yards) and converted his only extra point.
For Rutgers fans, the loss was yet another painful one this season. The 2018 campaign was supposed to a positive one. The schedule set up nicely with a chance to reach a bowl game in head coach Chris Ash's third season.
Instead, Rutgers dropped two of its three non-conference games and fell to 1-3 thus far. The fanbase was on fire after the Scarlet Knights fell last week at Kansas but a wide margin. But now? Could it be worse?
Rutgers needs better line play on both sides of the ball and the for the offense to get out of its own way. Once that happens, the defense will be (should be) more rested and pay better.
But, for now, it's not good.
It'll be really interesting to see who starts at quarterback next week for Rutgers.
More to come shortly.