11/14/2020 football Edit

More on Rutgers Football's close 23-20 loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini

Richie O'Leary • TheKnightReport

Publisher

The Rutgers Football program took to the field inside SHI Stadium today as they took on a tough Illinois football team and suffered their third straight loss of the season. The Scarlet Knights saw struggles all throughout the game, as they were unable to get anything going on offense and the defense gave up big run plays left and right as the Illini snuck by with a 23-20 victory over the Scarlet Knights.

The Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano addressed the media after today's hard fought loss.

"That was a tough one that's for sure," Schiano said in his postgame press conference. "A lot of things went into It. We ended up on the wrong end of the stick."

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As stated previously the Scarlet Knights offense struggled, starting quarterback Noah Vedral threw three interceptions on the day giving Illinois plenty of chances to try and run up the score.

Head coach Greg Schiano offered some thoughts on Vedral's play.

"I thought it was a little bit of ups and downs," said Schiano. "A little bit of inconsistency, but we made some big throws too and that's the hard thing. We are making some plays and giving some up. If you sum it up then that's the game. We did not play consistently well enough to win that game."

Along with the struggling offense, Rutgers also had a ton of trouble stopping the run game as the Illinois duo of QB Isaiah Williams and running back Chase Brown combined for 325 yards on the ground today.

"It was a different kind of run defense," he said. "Our run defense has actually been pretty decent, up until this game. This is option football with a very elusive option quarterback and he did a great job. He really was electric and we kind of contained him in the first half semi, but you know what happens when a guy with that ability, it doesn't take much. If there's a little drop off, a little fatigued or even a little banged up. That's the way it is In college football. I mean guys are going to have players like that who will jump in there. We do it differently with Johnny Langan, but he's very productive for us. We kind of had a suspicion that was what we were going to get, but you never know for sure, he is an elusive guy."

However the one bright spot on the day came from senior wide receiver Bo Melton who had himself a day. The former four-star athlete finished the game with five receptions for 150 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

"I though Bo again showed up made plays and did his job," said Schiano. "He has become a consistent performer for us in the first four games. We need to keep that going and need to add some more guys with him. We need to throw and catch better."

Next up for Rutgers Football they will welcome a struggling Michigan team to town as coach Schiano and crew hope to get their first win against the Wolverines since 2014 when the Scarlet Knights managed to snag a 26-24 victory.

"We will get better, go back to work," Schiano stated. "It's a hard one, there is a lot of hurt kids down there and coaches. You feel like one got away, but I tell you I've been in that other locker room and Illinois doesn't feel like it got away, they feel like they earned a win. That is what competitive sports and competitive college football is about. You got to reload and get ready to go next week."