Despite losing 28-21 on Friday night to the Nebraska Cornhuskers to finish their 2020 season, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano only expressed pride in his team in his final post-game press conference on the season.
“You know, a lot of guys started going down and missing and different combinations and we just weren't able to coach well enough or play well enough to win tonight. But you know, I'm really, really proud of them.”
Is how Schiano opened up his press conference, “We're one of two teams in our league that played every game. You know, every single day we talked about our No. 1 opponent was COVID and if we were able to defeat our No. 1 opponent as a program, that we would have the opportunity to get better” Schiano added in his opening statement.
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Schiano has a reason to be proud of how his Rutgers team fought and played this season, as they were just one of two Big Ten teams to play all nine games this season. The Penn State Nittany Lions are the only other program with their ninth game scheduled to be played Saturday afternoon against Illinois. To do so, everyone in the program had to make sacrifices for the better good of the program and Schiano was sure to note that.
“I'm very, very proud of our players and of our coaches, everybody involved in the program. Everybody worked very hard to be able to play a complete season. Sacrificed quite a bit to be able to play a complete season.” He later added the following about his players and their sarafice; “These kids sacrificed so much, so when two out of 14 teams are able to play all nine games, I think they worked really, really hard to play the game that they love to play and to play it together.”
The 2020 season despite all its challenges can’t be deemed anything but a success for the Rutgers program. The Scarlet Knights may have gone just 3-6, but arguably with a few plays over the course of the season, a 4-5 or 5-4 season was certainly on the table and Schiano knows the team let an opportunity slip through their fingers on Friday.
“Again, there was enough chances for us to cash in to win this game. We just couldn't do it. You know, that also was part of growing up as a program.” But as Schiano would go on to note, they were just lucky to have just had the opportunity to play this season. “But you can't put a value on these games we got to play. To play nine football games this year, when we didn't think we were going to play any, that's really going to pay off for us going forward.” The 2020 season also allowed the program’s younger players to get plenty of experience without worrying about eligibility going forward. “A lot of guys got valuable experience that moving forward is going to be very beneficial.”
While one of their goals was to win four Big Ten games, something no Rutgers team has yet to do since joining the conference in 2014, Schiano still seemed rather pleased with their season and understandably so. “So we didn't get there. We won three. So we'll go back to work after like I said, we take a rest, get back to work and keep building this thing. But I'm really pleased with our guys and looking forward to the future.
As they build towards the future, on the top of the list of things to accomplish early this offseason will be getting those banged up healthy which includes getting surgeries done sooner than later, with surgeries set for this upcoming week. “We'll have some surgeries that have to get done this week, so that's a big thing that has to happen, and we actually have quite a few. You know, that's what a nine-week physical season bears on a team. A lot of guys played through pain”.
Also on the list of things to do for Schiano is starting to figure out what next year’s roster will begin to look like but he won’t rush players into decisions. Especially, his seniors who now have a free year of eligibility remaining thanks to the NCAA’s eligibility rules regarding this season;
“Everything in our program is very much out on the table. It's very much like a family. We discuss it all, but then every single person has to make the decisions they feel are best for themselves”. But if they do choose to return, Schiano will want to make sure that they’re fully invested, “It's not a half-foot in, half-foot out. You have to be all-in to be successful in our program.”
Once he completes his exit interviews with his players and the players finish up their finals, it will be a time for a bit of a break for the staff and the team. After finals are over on Tuesday, it will be time for the program to take a breather for time since the summer. But once they return in January from this small break, it will be time to get going again for Greg Schiano and his staff.
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