Not an auspicious beginning for the Scarlet Knights:
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The area beyond one end zone at Rutgers Stadium has been cleared, with piles of dirt shoved to the side by a fleet of stout yellow bulldozers. Construction of a 14,000-seat addition to the stadium is well under way.
It appears, however, that after Rutgers’s season-opening 24-7 loss to Fresno State on Monday, Greg Schiano, the coach who engineered the resurgence of the Scarlet Knights football program, has much more work to do to build a cohesive team this season.
Despite outgaining the Bulldogs by nearly double in the first half, the Scarlet Knights could not score. Then the Rutgers defense caved in after halftime, allowing three big pass plays that enabled Fresno State to win with ease.
“It felt like we were swimming upstream,” Schiano said.
And this, I fear, was only the beginning.
