PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers football put together a dominant performance in their season opener on Sunday. They were led by their defensive line, who were absent position coach Marquise Watson.
Yet, their dominant performance had to encourage Watson.
In the 24-7 win, Rutgers held Northwestern to 201 yards of total offense, the lowest number a Big Ten opponent has been held to since the Scarlet Knights joined the conference in 2014. Rutgers racked up five sacks and eight tackles for a loss.
Watson, in his second year with the program, was not on the sidelines for Sunday’s win. A medical issue kept him out of the season opener, but Watson did return to practice on Thursday.
“It’s amazing having a bag. I mean, he’s a great personality. Of course, he’s my favorite one of my favorite coaches,” defensive lineman Kyone Hamilton told Rutgers Wire on Wednesday following practice.
“That’s my guy…I really appreciate him and the things he’s done for me and the things he’s done for our group. So having him back out there – I was just really excited. It was great to see him this morning. Led us through the meetings. going out in the field – it just continued and he kept going.”
Hamilton had three tackles in Sunday’s season opener.
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“It did mean a lot for him. We, of course, are going play our hearts out for him,” Hamilton said.
“We play outside every day, but it definitely meant a lot more just because he wasn’t there.”
*Sunday’s game https://t.co/TcLs4c7fBo
— Chris Iseman (@ChrisIseman) September 6, 2023
Rutgers returns home on Saturday night for a non-conference game against Temple. Last year, Rutgers went on the road and narrowly beat Temple 16-14.
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It will be a ‘Blackout’ game for Rutgers, as fans are being asked to wear black and the team will be in their all-black uniforms.
“I mean, they look great, but we don’t really focus on like the uniforms and stuff like that,” Hamilton said.
“We just focus on getting after to practice making sure we’re ready for that night no matter when the game is we got to be prepared to go for three and a half, four hours every time we’re out there on Saturday.”