Rutgers football showed that the rebuild is legit in loss to No. 1 Ohio State.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Not surprisingly, no one associated with Rutgers football acknowledged that Saturday afternoon’s 35-16 loss to No. 1 Ohio State was a moral victory. But, there is the concession that this is a team that is headed in the right direction and making considerable gains in their rebuild.
A 9-7 lead for Rutgers over Ohio State at halftime began trending, as much for the shock value that the nation’s top team was on the ropes as for the fact that Rutgers was holding its own. And hold their own they did, as Rutgers was very much in this game for a long time.
The loss stings for Rutgers.
Down 21-16 early in the fourth quarter, Rutgers had chances to stop Ohio State but simply couldn’t as the star power of the Buckeyes shone forth. What Rutgers did show on Saturday, even if it didn’t want to admit it, was that the rebuilding project under head coach Greg Schiano is paying dividends.
“We’re just not there. We’re getting better. I don’t know how to put it other than we are not there yet. We are a work-in-progress. We are getting better. We are just not there against the No. 1 team in the country, not quite yet. We have to,” Schiano said after the game.
“You can’t say, well, we are going to get there. You have to go make yourself get there, so that’s what we’ll do, we’ll come back in this room, we’ll be honest with each other tomorrow and those kids love each other, those coaches love those kids and we are just going to keep going and eventually we’re going to get there.”
Rutgers outgained Ohio State 361-328 yards. They had more first downs (22 to 15) and held possession of the ball for a little over 11 minutes more than the nation’s top team.
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Some of those numbers can be skewed by the fact that Ohio State is capable of making big plays, but the point is not lost that Rutgers went punch-for-punch with Ohio State for much of the game.
It was a sign that, against the class of the Big Ten, Rutgers has the ability to hang tough. But the message was clearly sent from SHI Stadium on Saturday that Rutgers isn’t rebuilding anymore.
Rutgers is rebuilt, even if the loss hurts for veterans like senior tight end Johnny Langan.
“I don’t know- we we did make some mistakes that normally would crush a team and in the past might have put us back a lot,” Langan said when asking about this team making progress.
“So, yes, and no. I mean, we can’t make those mistakes. If we didn’t make those mistakes, that would definitely be huge progress. But the fact that we made those mistakes and still were in the ball game, I guess you could say that’s progress.”
There was a sting to Saturday afternoon that comes from knowing that Rutgers wasted an opportunity. Games against the top-ranked team in the nation don’t come often and rarely does an opponent step up the way Rutgers did on Saturday afternoon.
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Rutgers played well and could have beaten Ohio State. The argument could be made that but for a play or two, they should have beaten the Buckeyes.
But the sting of this loss comes from the fact that Rutgers hung in there against the No. 1 team in the nation and very nearly de-throned them.
“It shows what coach Schiano has instilled, you know, into the players, into this program,” linebacker Deion Jennings said.
“There’s progress, but we’re still working hard and there’s still progress to be made.”
