PISCATAWAY, N.J. — In his first home start in the Big Ten, Gavin Wimsatt took his team to a halftime lead over one of the top teams in the nation. He also threw three interceptions in the third quarter of a 51-17 loss to No. 5 Michigan
For Wimsatt, it was the proverbial good, bad and the ugly in what is another learning moment in his still young career.
Wimsatt, who turned 19 years old last week and was making just his third collegiate start, had some understandable struggles against a good Michigan pass rush. But he also delivered some moments that point to his growing importance in the Rutgers offense.
In a drive that started late in the first quarter and ended with a Jude McAntamney 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter, Wimsatt had some nice throws.
He connected nicely on a go-route with Sean Ryan for 37 yards and on the next play, hit Aron Cruickshank for 16 yards. Rutgers went into halftime up 17-14 on Michigan.
“I think he made some young quarterback mistakes in the second half. Literally, in like a minute-and-thirty-second time period. Things that are definitely correctible but I guess inopportune time,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said after the game.
“But he’ll get it. Just a matter of time. It was good learning experience for him. Unfortunately it was part of — it wasn’t all of it. It was part of — a big part, but it was only part of.”
That was the good. The bad and the ugly came in the second half, in particular in the third quarter.
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Wimsatt threw three interceptions, all in the third quarter, as the Rutgers offense got shutout in the secon half. The Scarlet Knights had just five first downs in the game.
The sophomore quarterback finished 14-of-29 for 166 yards with a touchdown and the aforementioned three interceptions.
“The ball is the program here. Turning over the ball – you can’t allow that to happen,” Wimsatt said after the game.
“It starts with me. Just go back, watch it on tape. So what went wrong, make sure it doesn’t happen again.”