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The biggest moment from Rutgers football’s 17-7 win over Syracuse on Saturday didn’t happen on the field. It was a meltdown moment from Syracuse head coach Dino Babers that had a large part in turning the game towards Rutgers.
It may well have shifted all the momentum towards the Scarlet Knights.
With the game scoreless and 7:22 left in the third quarter, the end result turned on what would be a poor moment from Babers. Rutgers was piecing together their best drive of the afternoon and had the ball on the Syracuse 22-yard line. Facing a third-and-14, Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral threw an eight-yard completion to wide receiver Shameen Jones that should have seen the offense coming off and the Scarlet Knights kicking unit running out onto the field.
Instead, offsetting penalties were called resulting in Rutgers facing another third-and-long.
Not fast.
That’s when Babers did the inexplicable, berating the officiating staff and earning an unsportsmanlike penalty that moved the ball up to the Syracuse 11-yard line. On the next play, running back Kyle Monangai bounced outside, found space and Rutgers had a 7-0 lead.
“Yeah, I didn’t, I didn’t see it, I don’t know how it happened but, you know, I know that’s one of the points of emphasis this year is coaches,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano told reporters after the game.
“I had my own issues.”
Babers had Syracuse playing relatively well up until that point, even as they (like Rutgers), struggled at times to move the ball. It was a shocking loss of cool from Babers, who doesn’t have a reputation as being particularly hard on game officials or excessive on the sideline.
Schiano might have been referencing his own argument animated discussion with the officials a few moments before. The Rutgers head coach, although visibly frustrated, did not draw a penalty.
In his postgame press conference, Schiano wouldn’t go into details about what got him upset with the officials.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve often said that I made more mistakes today – you know, I was so mad at myself the way I coached. And so, who am I to think that these officials – and they’re going make mistakes too,” Schiano said.
“We all make mistakes. It’s just in the heat of the battle you get upset when you think that you were wronged. But look, everybody’s got a job to do, we’re all trying to do it. I felt the officials, really did a pretty good job. Just a grimy game. It was tough.”