PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Greg Schiano is standing by his quarterback, the Rutgers football head coach saying that a change is not in the offing when it comes to Gavin Wimsatt.
After a strong start to the season, Wimsatt has struggled over the past month.
Against top 25 teams, Wimsatt is completing just 45.7 percent of his passes this season. For five straight games, since the conclusion of the out-of-conference schedule, Wimsatt has not completed greater than 50 percent of his passing attempts.
In mid-October, Wimsatt completed 46.4 percent of his attempts in a comeback win over Michigan State. Since then, his completion perentage has declined every game since.
Asked on Monday if benching Wimsatt was an option on the table, Schiano didn’t leave any wiggle room.
“That’s not something I’m considering,” Schiano said.
Rutgers plays at No. 12 Penn State on Saturday. In the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions are second in total defense and fourth in scoring defense this year.
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If Rutgers is going to win at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, they will need Wimsatt to step up.
Schiano was also asked about accuracy on Monday. He acknowledged the need for Wimsatt to start completing a higher percentage of passes.
“We need to be more accurate. I’ve said that. Gavin will say that. We all will say that,” Wimsatt said.
“But in the first quarter, I thought he was really accurate. I thought it was boom, boom, boom, we hit every target. There was some long NFL-style field-out throws that he made. You know, it just kind of turned on us a little bit, and with those penalties, and then like I say to you guys all the time, games take on a life of their own. And maybe you do understand, maybe you don’t, but it definitely happens. You might want to call it momentum. Call it whatever you want to call it. That’s kind of what happened to us.
“But still, with all that being said, the fight that’s in this team, it’s 6-0 going into the fourth quarter. Just couldn’t finish the job. Not yet.”
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Wimsatt had eight straight incompletions in the second half to close out the game.