Targum sports desk reflects on 1st half of Rutgers football season
After starting the season 3-0, the Rutgers football team dropped its first three games of Big Ten play and entered the bye week with a tough 14-13 home loss to Nebraska. Now facing the second half of the season, the Scarlet Knights (3-3, 0-3) sit at .500 having recently just fired their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sean Gleeson.
Ahead of the second half of the season, The Daily Targum sports desk weighed in on how they think head coach Greg Schiano's team has done up to this point.
Dylan McCoy, head sports editor: “I think other than the Nebraska loss, the season has gone as expected. The defense has been above average with the line really showing progress so far. I’m excited to see a new offensive coordinator, and I think that Indiana is a massive litmus test for the rest of the season.”
Jack Bisaha, associate sports editor: "It definitely has been a disappointing start to the season, no way of sugarcoating that. I think the defense has shown flashes of brilliance from its performances against Boston College, Temple, Iowa and Nebraska, but the offense simply has not held up its end of the bargain.
"Hopefully with the shakeup in firing (Gleeson), the offense can turn a corner and show some progress. The back half of the schedule is very difficult, so I am just hoping to see competitive games with some wins sprinkled in."
Ellis Gordon, correspondent: "It has been an up and mostly down season for the Scarlet Knights. A win against Boston College showed promise in this team, but losses to Iowa and especially Nebraska were ugly, to say the least. That said, this is still a rebuilding season. The defense has shown it can compete in the Big Ten now it’s up to the offense to figure it out. The next offensive coordinator will be critical."
Allison Girardi, correspondent: "I think the football season has been more disappointing in terms of offense and coordination rather than even talking about wins and losses. Going into this back half, I really just want to see more consistency and offensive power."
Josh Meyers, contributing writer: "This football season is another disappointing one for Rutgers. The team gave us hope the first three weeks of the season with three straight wins. But when Big Ten play came around, they collapsed inward which is something that has been very common for the team over the last couple of seasons.
"At this point in the season, Rutgers should see what they have next year and play their younger players. I would specifically like to see a lot more of (sophomore quarterback Gavin Wimsatt) when he returns from injury."
Alex Carmenaty, contributing writer: "A consistent defense that gets no offensive support. That's the story of Rutgers football six games into 2022. The Scarlet Knights have shown a lot of potential on the defensive side of the ball, as they only are able to keep each game competitive for so long. As the quarterback carousel flusters the offensive attack, leading to interception after interception, the defensive tends to burn out by the end of the first half, putting Rutgers in the same frustrating situation week after week."
Eddie Kalegi, contributing writer: "Rutgers football is 3-3, and honestly I’m not surprised. They had an impressive victory against Boston College, but they have dropped two extremely winnable games against defensively-driven Big Ten opponents under the lights in Piscataway.
"Still not having a set quarterback is definitely holding the team back, and injuries have made this even more difficult. The path to six wins and a bowl game is still there despite the gut-wrenching loss to Nebraska, but the Scarlet Knights will need some help and must find an offensive identity fast."
Camden Markel, contributing writer: "After five wins last year, I had a lot of hope this time around that Rutgers could string together a couple big wins and reach the six-win mark for bowl eligibility. Unfortunately, things have been a bit disappointing as the Knights couldn’t pull off victories in two winnable games against Iowa and Nebraska. Looking ahead, I’m excited for the future of this offense with a new offensive coordinator and hope to see (Wimsatt) get healthy and begin to develop as a young quarterback."
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