Rutgers spent plenty of time after its Week 1 loss to UMass looking at what went wrong, but the biggest red flag was hard to miss: the Scarlet Knights never established themselves on the ground.
Greg Schiano was still bristling over it at his Tuesday game-week press conference. Reliving the team’s 37-21 defeat nearly pushed him into a curse.
"We didn't run the ball worth … I better watch my mouth," Schiano said Tuesday.
That frustration came with good reason. Rutgers finished with just 53 rushing yards, a steep drop from its 141-yard average a season ago. Schiano made clear that the problems were bigger than one bad afternoon.
"We didn't run the ball effectively," Schiano said. "The O-line didn't play well, period.
We didn't coach them well, and they didn't play well. So we got to run the ball.
That's who we are, and we got to run the ball better as well. But it all fit together.
There was no part of our program that was exempt from a lack of focus. You know, we talk about chop, and we did just the opposite.
We did, but we will. I'm very confident our guys will chop the moment and come out and do their job."
The offensive line, in its new look, had a rough opening act. UMass defenders were getting into the backfield almost immediately on run plays, leaving Rutgers with little room to work. Even so, junior running back Antwan Raymond still managed to fight for extra yards, breaking seven tackles and picking up 47 yards after contact.
Senior lineman Kwabena Asamoah, the veteran leader up front, owned his share of the mess.
"It starts with me, and we just didn't play well at all," Asamoah said. "So this week in practice, I've just been harping on those guys on the stuff we have to do. The fundamentals and details of the game, and just being better all around."
Raymond, a preseason All-American who rushed for 1241 yards last season, was limited to 42 yards on 14 carries on Thursday. He had 25 of those yards on the opening drive, then the ground game stalled out. His message for what comes next was blunt.
"We just gotta do what we're known to do, and that's being violent," Raymond said. "We gotta be relentless in our violence, and that's every day, and it starts in practice … It's really a mentality thing.
It's really a violence thing, and that's what we do. That's what Rutgers football does, and we're going to continue to do that."
Rutgers now shifts quickly to Boston College, with Friday night’s matchup next on the schedule. The Eagles are coming off a 34-15 loss to Cincinnati and gave up 254 rushing yards in that opener. Still, Raymond and the backs aren’t treating that as any kind of invitation.
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