PISCATAWAY – Rutgers football needed this bye week.
Badly.
The Scarlet Knights have lost four straight games. They’re banged up. They needed some time to regroup and find some answers to get this season back going in the right direction again, needing two more wins to earn bowl eligibility for a second-straight season.
The first eight games have been tumultuous. Rutgers had some big moments – beating Washington in a fantastic primetime atmosphere at SHI Stadium was the highlight – but also several lows, including the blowout loss to Wisconsin at home and the loss to UCLA, also at home.
The dream many fans had about this being a “special season” has basically ended, though largely for reasons no one could’ve seen coming.
But there’s still time for the Scarlet Knights to turn things around.
With that said, here are five bye-week thoughts and observations:
1. Too many people underestimated the loss of Mohamed Toure
It was bad news for Rutgers at the time.
And it turned out to be a bad omen.
When Greg Schiano announced shortly before the start of the season that Toure would be out for the season with a torn ACL, it meant the Scarlet Knights’ defense, expected to be the team’s backbone, would be without its best player.
Or, as Schiano called him, it’s “alpha.”
Toure could’ve left after last season and headed for the NFL. He had 93 tackles, including a team-leading 9½ for loss and four sacks.
Instead he chose to come back for one more season. Things obviously didn’t go as planned.
But you replace a player of his caliber easily. Or at all.
Toure in many ways was the leader of the defense on the field. He raised the play of the rest of the unit.
While the Scarlet Knights did have some depth at linebacker, with younger players like Dariel Djabome, Moses Walker and Abram Wright, they don’t have Toure’s experience or veteran savvy.
Not to mention how much he helped Rutgers’ pass rush.
Losing Toure hurt this defense considerably, more than most people realized at the time.
2. Could the mounting injuries on defense lead to changes?
As if Toure’s injury wasn’t enough, more have just piled up.
Linebacker Tyreem Powell, who missed the first three games recovering from a torn Achilles, has been banged up. So have cornerbacks Robert Longerbeam and Eric Rogers. So have defensive ends Aaron Lewis and Wesley Bailey. And safety Flip Dixon.
On it goes.
Several have tried to play through their ailments, but that’s a difficult thing to do. They’re clearly limited. Even being a step slower causes problems, especially against the speed of Big Ten offenses.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Schiano handles this in the final four games.
Will he play or start younger players more because they’re healthier than the banged-up veterans? It’s something he indicated he might need to do.
Still, how much would that help?
Yes, Rutgers has depth, but it’s not as if it’s limitless. And what you might gain in healthier players, you sacrifice in experience, and in some spots, sheer talent.
3. Rutgers’ defense still needs to be better
This goes back to finding answers during the bye week, something defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak and Schiano need to do.
Because while the defense is badly banged up, it can’t keep playing at the disappointing level that it has been.
The Scarlet Knights need to be better on that side of the ball – and that includes tackling. Rutgers had 10 more missed tackles Friday against the loss to USC.
Schiano has previously said that six a game (two at each level of the defense) are to be expected.
Double digits?
That’s costly.
Harasymiak and his staff need to find ways to put their players in better position to succeed. They need to tighten things up during the week.
Again, it’s one week. Not enough time to make wholesale changes.
But they must make adjustments to keep this defense from turning in disappointing performances like it has been.
4. Rutgers can find two more wins, but it won’t come easily
Rutgers hosts Minnesota, then plays at Maryland, home against Illinois and on the road against Michigan State.
The game against the Golden Gophers is packed with storylines.
Schiano vs. PJ Fleck. Rutgers’ offense vs. defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, the Scarlet Knights’ former linebackers coach. Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and QB Athan Kaliakmanis against their former program.
Still, it won’t be an easy game for Rutgers. Minnesota has won three in a row, including a rout of Maryland last week. The Golden Gophers are a solid team.
While Rutgers struggled against Maryland the last couple seasons, the Terrapins are down this season, especially without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who carved the Scarlet Knights’ defense up (although their offense is seventh in the Big Ten in total yards per game with 433.5, so they’re still formidable).
But if Rutgers can get a little healthier and solve some of its issues on defense, that’s definitely a winnable game.
While Illinois is ranked No. 24, the Illini have been all over the place. They beat Nebraska but needed overtime to beat a bad Purdue team. So Illinois could be vulnerable.
Michigan State beat Iowa two weeks ago, but then lost to a down Michigan team. So the Spartans are sort of hard to predict.
But they also have four wins. There’s a chance they’d need to beat Rutgers in the finale to earn bowl eligibility, so they’d have plenty to play for.
So Rutgers has winnable games remaining.
In the Big Ten, though, nothing is a sure thing. And few wins come easily.
5. Kyle Monangai’s status
Monangai has been banged up, but somehow he’s found a way to play through it, absorbing hit after hit each game.
Schiano called him one of the three toughest players he’s ever coached. Monangai shows why on a weekly basis.
That’s also why the sight of him leaving the field against USC was so concerning.
Monangai, who has 931 rushing yards so far this season, sets the tone for Rutgers’ offense.
Any time without him would be a major problem.
The Scarlet Knights have to hope that’s an issue that won’t come to fruition, but Monangai’s status will likely remain unclear until shortly before the Minnesota game.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Thoughts, observations during bye week
