11/22/2020 football Edit

Rutgers QB Noah Vedral turns the page, responds with big game

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

A week ago, Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral threw three costly interceptions in the team's last second lost to Illinois to make seven in four games.

The Scarlet Knights were sitting with just one win.

Fans were calling for a change as the results just weren't there, but head coach Greg Schiano said on Monday that Vedral was going to remain the starter.

Saturday, Vedral responded with a clean game, taking Michigan into triple-overtime and completing 29-of-43 passes (67.4 percent) for 378 yards and three touchdowns. His one interception was on the game's final play as he was trying to tie the game and set up the game-winning two-point conversion.

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"I thought I did a better job being accurate for my team today. But ultimately, it just came down to doing my job and doing my job as often and as consistently as I could," Vedral said after the game. "And that's what every player is asked to do and what coach Schiano asks us to do is chop and that's doing your job 100% of the time. I have to get better from this game, I have stuff to learn from so it's not perfect and we'll get those things fixed and continue to improve as best we can."

"I thought Noah played great, I thought Noah played really well," Schiano added. "Certainly statistically that played out. But just everything, I thought he was very focused, executed well."

Vedral was asked if he proved some doubters wrong, and he just talked about improving.

"I'm just gonna do my job," he said. "And I'm going to do it to the best of my ability every week, every down. And I need to continue to get better at that. Hopefully I will get better next week. We're just continuing that climb. It's a it's a week to week thing. One week season so that'll be the focus."

Rutgers is on the climb up now.

In 2016, Rutgers lost a laugher to Michigan, 78-0. Last season, former head coach was fired after a 52-0 defeat in the hands of the Wolverines.

But just one year later, even with a Michigan team that is down per its standards, Rutgers took it to triple-overtime. The next step is figuring out how to win these close games.

"Staying together. This is hard. A lot of guys are disappointed. There were good things in the game that we can learn from, but the first thing comes down to staying together," Vedral said. "Showing up tomorrow with treatment and getting right, continuing to watch your film to do tape. Continuing to pay attention to the details. I think that's gonna continue to be the next step and coach Schiano knows that and he's communicated with us and we know that as a team, so we'll focus on that and we'll get better at that."

Facing a fourth-down late in the game down by eight points, Vedral stepped up in the pocket to evade two edge rushers and threw a touchdown to Aron Cruickshank to make it 35-33. He then ran in a draw for the two-point conversion to tie the game. On the play, he kept his legs moving and was able to get the ball across the end zone line.

"Coach (Sean) Gleeson had talked to us on the sideline about it, kind of coming up to it, and when it was called we talked about the motion and stuff like that and kind depend on our o-line. We went for it and they were playing a lot of man so it was a good," Vedral said. "It was a good situation and really it kind of came down to a little bit of willpower and just offensive line getting a little bit of push and moving some guys out of the way and then firing forward."

This season, WR Bo Melton has played at another level. He was added to the Fred Biletnikoff Award Watch List a couple days ago and he made seven receptions for 109 yards, including a 61-yard touchdown against Michigan. Shameen Jones also had seven grabs for a team-high 127 yards and Cruickshank had eight catches for 80 yards and an important touchdown with 27 seconds left.

The offense has come a long compared to what it has been.

"That's a cool thing about games together. Practice is incredibly valuable, but games give you that really under the fire, those real pressure tests, and it helps a lot," Vedral said. "You get to bond really well with your guys and there's a lot of trust found in those situations and the more games we play together, the more and more trust and understanding there is between I feel like myself and the wide receivers and the running backs in the line and the offense as a whole. I think you can see us improving. It's not where it needs to be.

"We got stuff to fix, but we're continuing week to week to do our best to improve and continue to to fight and get better."