Schiano Speaks after Minnesota Loss.
Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano took the podium yesterday to address the media and their questions after the Scarlet Knights’ 31-28 loss to Minnesota.
The first thing that he addressed was the execution issue the team has been having. He stated that they are not having consistent execution throughout the game, and its that lack of consistency in execution which is causing a lot of problems to occur.
“Consistency of execution is not a player issue, and it’s not a coaching issue, it’s an us issue. We coach the players, and we have to find ways to get them to consistently execute. We have to give them schemes, techniques. There’s got to be a camaraderie, there’s got to be a bond. All of those things contribute to consistent execution.”
When Schiano was asked about where the defensive breakdowns were and what went wrong with the defense, the first thing he pointed to was the fact that they did not generate any turnovers, an area where the Knights have struggled all season long. The second issue that he pointed out was the tackling issues. Schiano has said this was a problem in several press conferences before this one, and it continued to be an issue in this game. He also mentioned how they weren’t covering very well in this game and how that ties back into the consistency issues the whole team has been having this season.
He also alluded to a possible retooling of the defense during the bye week. With that being said, when asked about it later on, Schiano said there will be no changing of play callers as it is too early in the season to take that measure.
When addressing the late game snap mishap, Schiano said it was a communication error brought on by the noise in the stadium. This was another time where Schiano pointed to their recurring execution issues.
When Schiano talked about addressing the issues overall, he had this to say.
“I can’t say I’m not concerned, I am concerned. I feel like we need to figure this thing out in a hurry, and that’s what we are going to do.”
He showed a similar amount of concern on the final question when addressing Jai Patel’s kicking game. However, he also said that Patel improved on that throughout the game after he had a kick blocked early on. When asked about the decision to bring in backup kicker Dane Pizzaro for the 56-yard field goal attempt at the end of the game, he said that it was not in Patel’s range to make a kick that long and that Pizzaro was their long range kicker. Pizzaro’s kick ended up being off the mark.
“We will be back, I give you my word,” said Schiano when wrapping up the press conference.
To view Schiano’s full post-game press conference, click here.
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Category: General Sports
