Greg Schiano said that his Rutgers football team’s locker room was “frustrated” following Saturday’s loss at Michigan. Rutgers showed flashes and had moments of consistency on both sides of the ball but ultimately, fell short against No. 2 Michigan.
After a week where there was some quiet buzz that Rutgers football (3-1, 1-1 Big Ten) could put Michigan (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) on upset alert, the Scarlet Knights didn’t get the job done. They took an early lead, one that didn’t last long before Michigan began rolling in a 31-7 win.
Rutgers took a 7-0 lead on their opening possession via a 69-yard touchdown link-up between quarterback Gavin Wimsatt and wide receiver Christian Dremmel.
Some untimely penalties, including a very questionable holding call on Hollin Piere (that negated a 25-yard run by Kyle Monangai), played a part in the Rutgers loss. Schiano, however, wasn’t ready to blame anyone for the loss, let alone the penalties.
“You can never let that become the issue. It’s us. We have to do better,” Schiano told reporters following the game.
“We have to be more, more detailed. We have to coach better, we need to play better, we need to just do better. And some of it is maturing. Like I said we’re not there yet. We’ll get there but we’re not quite there yet. I think Michigan as a program is there. So they’re a little bit ahead of us right now. But we’ll get there.”
Rutgers had five penalties for 30 yards in what was by no means a sloppy game. Whether self-inflicted or poor calls (as some fans see it), the timing of the whistles played a role in the outcome of the game.
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Michigan, however, is a dominant team in college football. That Rutgers once again battled the Wolverines is a good sign for the program despite the Scarlet Knights landing their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon.
But there is still a developmental gap between the two programs, a point that was not lost on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
Big picture for Rutgers, this looked and felt like a more complete game than last year’s home loss to Michigan. It was also a better, more comprehensive performance than say the road losses at Minnesota and Maryland from a season ago.
Following the game, Schiano was asked about his message to his team. In his answer, he revealed the direction and trajectory of his team as it stands when going up against the best teams in the Big Ten and college football.
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“It’s always between me and the guys but I think if you guys talk to them, you’ll sense they’re very frustrated because they fully expected to win today,” Schiano said.
“They didn’t come out here to look good or keep it close. They came here to win. We didn’t do that. So we have unfulfilled expectations. And there’s frustration, but I love this team.
“We’re going to go back to work. We’re going to get better. We got a Big Ten slate – first we got a game with Wagner and then we have the rest of the Big Ten. So we’ll tackle one thing at a time as we say we’ll ‘CHOP’ it, one ‘CHOP’ at a time.”
Scroll down and check out the best photos from Saturday’s game between Rutgers and Michigan!