Self-inflicted wounds sink Rutgers in tough home loss to Iowa

Rutgers may remember Friday night’s 38-28 loss to Iowa as the game in which the Scarlet Knights beat themselves. 

With a record crowd of 55,942 at SHI Stadium in Piscataway and a chance to procure arguably their biggest win in the Greg Schiano 2.0 era, the Scarlet Knights did themselves in time and time again, with untimely penalties and missed opportunities. 

“Tonight, some really critical errors,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said. “It’s 28-24 with about eight minutes left, we make a big third-down stop, and [that penalty] was a crushing blow, but there were so many things. We made too many mistakes against a very good football team tonight.” 

The Rutgers coach was not wrong in his description of the fourth-quarter holding call on Al-Shadee Salaam that kept an Iowa drive alive and led to the go-ahead touchdown. Clinging to a 28-24 lead and getting the Hawkeyes down to third-and-8 on their own 33-yard line, the Rutgers defense looked as though they had made the biggest stop of the night, forcing Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski to throw an incomplete pass on the run. 

Instead of lining up for a punt, Gronowski ended up leading the Hawkeyes down the field for the touchdown with 5:39 left in the game following the penalty. 

“Iowa is not going to beat themselves, we have to go beat them,” Schiano said. “And we didn’t, and we didn’t deserve to win the game. Had we won it, getting out of there with one that wasn’t rightfully ours the way we played.” 

The game was all but sealed when Jaxon Rexroth picked off a pass by Athan Kaliakmanis moments later, which led to Iowa’s fifth touchdown of the game. 

Rutgers looked as though it would be on a path to victory after its offense had been giving the Hawkeyes trouble, especially early on. 

Kaliakmanis finished the game with 330 passing yards — marking the second consecutive game that he’s had at least 300 yards through the air — and wide receiver Ian Strong, who was unclear if he’d play on Friday because of an injury, had a career high 151 receiving yards in the game. 

And Rutgers had 400 yards of total offense, and their 330 yard in the air was better than the 186 that Iowa had, which allowed Kaliakmanis to view the game ass a building block for the program. 

“You learn from your experiences and you grow from them,” he said. “The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but there’s a lot of good and a lot of bad. There’s things we have to learn from as players and just execute. And we’re going to learn from it, because that’s the type of group we are.” 

But it was the mistake that cost the Scarlet Knights, as Rutgers was called for six penalties on Friday at the expense of 50 yards. 

Rutgers kicker Jai Patel also missed two field goals, which included a 37-yarder in the second quarter that hit the upright after the Scarlet Knights got pushed back after his first attempt was negated due to a delay of game penalty. 

A 29-yard kick attempt by Patel in the third quarter was blocked. 

The night did not start off well for Rutgers as they watched Kaden Wetjen return the opening kickoff 100 yards to give Iowa the early lead and seemingly sucking the air out of SHI Stadium and the sold-out crowd occupying it. But the Scarlet Knights didn’t trail for long. 

Kaliakmanis orchestrated a six-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard run by Antwan Raymond for the tying touchdown and they took the lead when the Rutgers QB marched the Rutgers offense down the field and ran the ball four yards for his first of two touchdown rushes of the night. 

Iowa running back Kamari Moulton rushed for a touchdown to tie the game at 14, and Kaliakmanis gave Rutgers the lead, 21-14. 

Gronowski tied the game back up with eight minutes left in the half on a two-yard rush of his own.