Rutgers Bowl Hopes Suffer After Ugly Loss

PISCATAWAY, NJ - Last week, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights had beaten Illinois, who were just coming off of an upset over a ranked opponent in Penn State. This week, Rutgers faced an opponent in a similar situation; the Wisconsin Badgers were coming off a win against No. 9 Iowa, a win that ultimately gave them the push they needed to enter the top 25 in the AP poll.

And that's the key difference. In last week's article, I said "if Rutgers can beat one high-flying team, they can surely beat another one, especially in front of friendly faces." Unfortunately, I didn't take into account that Illinois, despite their upset over Penn State, is still a team that is mediocre at best. Meanwhile, despite an alarming 1-3 start, the win over Iowa was Wisconsin's fourth straight win.

Rutgers had the daunting task of playing one of the hottest teams in the country. It went about as well as expected.

The Scarlet Knights were absolutely manhandled by the Badgers, 52-3. This was Wisconsin's fifth straight win and their sixth of the season, making them bowl eligible.

As for Rutgers, they drop to 4-5 and now need to win two of their last three to become bowl eligible. If they want to do that, their next three games cannot be anything like Saturday's game.

Wisconsin racked up 579 yards of offense, held Rutgers to only 207, forced four turnovers, and held the ball for 37 minutes. It was complete and total domination.

Noah Vedral, who had been solid for most of the season, was awful. He completed only eight of his 16 passes for only 81 yards and was intercepted twice, posting an abysmal QB rating of 4.8. Backup QBs Cole Snyder and Evan Simon didn't fare any better, combining for 31 passing yards, including a pick from Simon.

In contrast, Badgers QB Graham Mertz, despite throwing a pick on the first drive of the game, went 11-for-16 for 240 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 15 yards per completion. Running back Braelon Allen had 129 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries. Rutgers had 95 rushing yards as a team.

Wisconsin moved the ball quickly and efficiently on their first drive, advancing to the Rutgers 29. However, in what could have been a key play for Rutgers, Avery Young intercepted a pass from Mertz. Momentum had swung over to the Scarlet Knights, but it was only temporary.

It took just two plays to give the ball back to Wisconsin, as Vedral's first pass of the day was intercepted by Noah Burks. The Badgers themselves needed two plays to capitalize, as Chez Mellusi scored on a 14-yard touchdown run.

Rutgers then drove 68 yards in 10 plays, highlighted by a 35-yard completion from Vedral to Bo Melton, which was the sole highlight of the day for the offense. But facing 4th-and-3 at the Wisconsin 7-yard line, Greg Schiano chose to settle for three and Rutgers got on the board with a 24-yard field goal from Valentino Ambrosio. Unfortunately, Rutgers wouldn't come anywhere near the endzone for the rest of the game.

Wisconsin then drove to the Rutgers 17, but wound up with no points when Collin Larsh missed a 35-yard field goal attempt. Once again, Rutgers failed to capitalize on a Wisconsin miscue, as the offense went three-and-out. The Badgers again drove deep into Rutgers territory, but a nice red zone stand forced another field goal attempt, which was successful from 29 yards this time.

With the score 10-3, Rutgers was still very much in the game. But less than three minutes later, they were out of it.

In what would be the turning point of the game, Aron Cruickshank lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and the Badgers recovered at the Rutgers 29. With the defense clearly exhausted, they surrendered a 24-yard completion from Mertz to Kendric Pryor, but were able to force 4th-and-Goal at the 1-yard line before finally cracking and allowing a touchdown pass to John Chenal.

On the first play of Rutgers' next drive, Vedral was intercepted by Caesar Williams, who returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly, it was 24-3 with just over five minutes before halftime, and the fans in the student section started leaving in droves.

From that point on the Badgers were in total control, as they continued to drive down the field throughout the day. After a desperate 10-play drive by Rutgers ended in a turnover on downs, Wisconsin drove 53 yards in five plays to score on Pryor's 25-yard touchdown catch to make it 31-3 at halftime. Rutgers punted on their first drive of the second half, and the Badgers responded with a 9-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that featured a 25-yard completion to Chimere Dike and a 28-yard run by Braelon Allen, who finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The Scarlet Knights were forced to punt again, and on the first play of Wisconsin's next drive, Danny Davis III made his only catch of the day, which was a 72-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. Finally, after Rutgers punted yet again, Wisconsin drove 82 yards in six plays, featuring a 36-yard run by Allen, before Jackson Acker scored on an 18-yard touchdown run. All that laid ahead for Rutgers was an interception, a turnover on downs, and a punt before Wisconsin ran the final four minutes off the clock.

What Does this Mean for Rutgers?

At this point, the 3-0 start to the Scarlet Knights' season feels like a distant memory, as two of those games were against clearly inferior competition. Judging from today's performance, it's painfully obvious that Rutgers is unable to beat the stronger teams in the Big Ten at their current state. The fact that they had to play four games this season against ranked opponents, with Saturday's disaster being the fourth, certainly doesn't help. As if it can't get worse, Rutgers still has Penn State left on the schedule, who were formerly ranked. Even if they aren't in the top 25 anymore, Penn State has been a historically unwinnable matchup for Rutgers.

Fortunately, Rutgers still has a chance to become bowl eligible, although the path would have been much easier if they took care of business against Northwestern three weeks ago. Outside of the dreaded Penn State game, Rutgers has a matchup against the Big Ten's doormat in Indiana, and in the last game of the season, the Scarlet Knights play Maryland, their longtime rivals who aren't exactly setting the world on fire either. If Rutgers can win both of those games, they will be bowl eligible. Hopefully none of Saturday's atrocious performance carries over.

Next Up For Rutgers

Rutgers hits the road next week to take on Indiana. There's no way to put it lightly; the Hoosiers are awful. They currently have the worst record in the entire Big Ten Conference. This is a game Rutgers needs to win in order to keep their bowl hopes alive, especially with Penn State as their next opponent.

Chop on.