Struggling Knights face winnable game with Illini
What’s the best thing you can see when you rank near the bottom of most NCAA statistics?
An apparent winnable game at home.
Rutgers has lost four games in a row, by a combined count of 173-47, as it gets set to host 2-2 Illinois this week. The losing streak moved to four with last week’s 24-17 home loss to Indiana and the Scarlet Knights now get set for the finale of their three-game homestand.
“Obviously we’re on a streak that we’ve got to get stopped.” coach Chris Ash told his regular Monday media gathering. “We’ve lost four in a row, and disappointed in it. You know, in the last few weeks, it’s gone from disappointment to frustration to this last Saturday evaluating the game to a little bit of disbelief with some of the issues that we’ve had in the game that have prevented us from winning games.
“I’ve mentioned this before, but we won’t win games around here until we have the mental discipline and toughness to execute our calls with great effort, great fundamentals, and play within the system and play within the call that’s been made.”
The Illini are coming off a bye week that followed a 63-24 loss to then-No. 10 Penn State, Illinois’ second straight loss after two opening wins.
“This week is another opportunity to do exactly what we wanted to do last week,” Ash said. “We’ve got Illinois coming to town. They’re a much-improved football team. They are coming off a bye week, so there’s a lot of unknowns about a football team coming off a bye week, but I think, again, Lovie Smith has done a great job.
“They’re a much-improved football team. They’ve got a bunch of young players playing, also, and it’s going to be another great challenge for us.”
Mental errors and penalties were costly in the latest Rutgers loss. The Knights were down 24-7 entering the fourth quarter but came roaring back.
Not far enough.
Rutgers is No. 103 in the country in rushing, 119th in passing and 125th in total offense. On the other side of the ball, the Knights are 97th in pass defense efficiency, 104th in total defense and 110th against the run.