The Rutgers Football team is seeking its first 4-0 start since 2012 as it hosts Iowa on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at SHI Stadium in Piscataway.
The feat has been done 12 times in the past, and Rutgers is looking to make it 13 against an Iowa team that is 2-1, but coming off of a 27-0 win against Nevada.
“Iowa is a different program,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said on Monday. “They are an established Big Ten program. Coach (Kirk) Ferentz is certainly the dean of the league, but he's one of the best coaches in America, period, and his program continually, there's consistency year-in, year-out, and you know exactly what you're going to get. They play very hard. They are physical. They are technically sound. So it's a great challenge for our guys, a great challenge for our coaching staff. You put all that together and throw it in this Saturday night, wearing red to the game and packing the place, that's what college football is all about.”
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Saturday’s contest will mark the third game all-time on the gridiron between the Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights. It is also the third time the two teams have been the Big Ten opener in a season for both sides. The last time out Rutgers fell to then-No. 20 Iowa, 3-0. The Hawkeyes won in 2016, 14-7, even though Rutgers outgained Iowa that day, 385-355. Iowa scored the go-ahead touchdown with 8:35 left in the game.
Rutgers’ one win against a Ferentz-led team was a 40-17 victory over Maine in October of 1991.
“Big home game this week. Opens up Big Ten play,” Schiano said. “We just take every game one game at a time. We are trying to be 1-0 at the end of this week. We are just here to chop the moment.”
This season, Iowa again boasts one of the elite defenses in the nation. It is the No. 2 scoring defense (4.33 points per game, 13 total), No. 2 red zone defense, No. 4 total defense (194.0 yards), No. 6 in passing efficiency defense, No. 10 in least number of first downs allowed (37), No. 15 in rushing defense (77.0 yards), and No. 59 in third down defense. The Hawkeyes also have nine sacks and three interceptions as a team.
“Very fundamentally sound,” Schiano said of the Iowa defense. “They know exactly what they want to do. Very physical. Typical Iowa defense.”
“They’re a very good defense,” added wide receiver Shameen Jones on Tuesday. “They’re very technically sound. They have older, veteran guys on the defense. Those guys are very advanced up to speed with what’s going on. They know what they are doing and what works for them.”
Rutgers’ offense struggled mightily this past weekend in its 16-14 win at Temple. It didn’t have a turnover, and Rutgers is 8-0 since Schiano came back when the Scarlet Knights don’t have a turnover, but it had just 201 yards of offense including only 59 passing. Rutgers averaged 3.5 yards per pass and 3.5 yards per rush.
“There are several,” Schiano said on what needs to be fixed offensively. “You know, I think some things happened that part of it was technical and part of it was schematic. And when I say ‘technical,’ I mean technique. And part of it was cultural. So throw all three things together, and you had kind of a perfect storm. But we are moving. We are learning from it and we are moving forward and we need to because we have an opponent with as stout a defense as there is in the country.
“Saturday was a tough, tough outing, but we are getting better. I see it every day, and I'm confident that the path we are going on is going to get us where we need to be. What I'm proud of is that our team found a way to win three weeks in a row, and that's very important. I said it after the game, but you know, when you don't play your best game and you still find a way to win, that's something to be said for your guys, for your team, for your teammate, for your coaches, for everybody. I know exactly the challenge that's ahead of us this week and if we play anywhere close to the way we played offensively this week, it will be a lot worse. So we all know we have to improve. But I think that improvement will come.”
Jones knows in order for the Scarlet Knights to play on offense like it did against Boston College (322 yards) and Wagner (585 yards), players out there need to be working together and doing what they are supposed to do. It also comes down to executing the plays that are called a high rate.
“As a team we just have to execute and play one play at a time,” Jones said. “Whoever has the opportunity to make a play we have to make it.
“Everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror and take in what they did wrong. Can’t point fingers on what went wrong and what didn’t. Just have to execute better on every play.”
As it stands, right now Evan Simon is the only healthy quarterback on scholarship. Veteran Noah Vedral has missed the last three games due to an injury, and redshirt freshman Gavin Wimsatt limped off in the first quarter this past weekend.
Both Vedral and Wimsatt are game-time decisions.
“Gavin will be a game-time decision. We'll know as the week goes on,” Schiano said. “Noah is going to be a game-time decision as well. It's kind of unsettling, you have two quarterbacks that are game-time decisions. Thank goodness Evan is healthy. We'll just prepare, as I said after the game on Saturday, we'll prepare for whoever we have that the doctors tell us are going to be able to play.
“I certainly have confidence in Evan. He knows what he’s doing and he’s a good player. He’ll be fine. Hopefully we’ll have more than one guy healthy. We have some walk-ons who will be ready. We’ll play who we have.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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