CINCINNATI—For a team that hangs its hat on its defense, it appeared that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights left their hooks in Piscataway in their Saturday night debacle against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
For the head coach and the players, the way to sum up the night was embarrassing.
“That was probably as poorly as we’ve played or coached here, maybe ever,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “At least in some of the phases.”
The main phase was what Schiano has become known for—the defense.
Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros threw for 366 yards and 4 touchdowns while Isaiah Pead ran for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns. In addition Collaros ran in a score and Pead also caught a TD pass.
The Bearcats reached the end zone 10 times—the first extra point was blocked—resulting in the most points allowed by Rutgers in the Schiano era since the Scarlet Knights surrendered 80 to West Virginia in 2001.
The 661 yards is the most against Rutgers since the 679 yards surrendered to Arizona State in 2005.
“It is embarrassing. Our goal is to stop the offense from scoring, so for them to score that many points it’s definitely embarrassing,” Rutgers cornerback Brandon Bing said. “We don’t want them to score any, so for them to put up 69, it’s definitely embarrassing. It’s not what our defense is built on.”
And shootouts aren’t what this offense is built on either. Ironically, the offense had one of its best games of the season after struggling on several outings.
Quarterback Chas Dodd had a career high 335 yards passing along with 4 touchdown passes. All four of those touchdowns were to Mark Harrison.
Along with the career-high in touchdowns, Harrison also had a career-high 10 receptions for 240 yards.
“A little bit of mixed emotions,” Harrison said of his best collegiate game. “Little bit of happy for how I did, but a loss is a loss and that’s what counts.
“We’re doing this to win, so no matter how much I put up, it still doesn’t matter, so it’s tough.”
Even harder is stopping a four-game losing streak and keeping their bowl hopes alive. The Knights fall to 4–6 and sit alone in the cellar of the Big East at 1–4.
“I’m not giving up,” senior linebacker Antonio Lowery said. “I’m not allowing my teammates to give up.”
The Bearcats (4–6, 2–3) didn’t quit and were able to keep their bowl hopes alive. Now Rutgers is in a similar position, with no margin for error left.
“We got fighters in that room. They’re embarrassed as I am. We need to circle the wagons and get ready to practice and get better for Louisville and then come out and play a game that’s the type of football we play,” Schiano said.
“We weren’t a very good football team tonight, I can tell you that, so we need to figure out how to get back on track.”
If the Knights are derailed when Louisville rolls in on Friday, their pursuit of a sixth straight bowl game will officially be over.
Tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as Matt Sugam co-hosts Scarlet Football Fever discussing Rutgers football as well as the N.Y. Jets and Giants.
