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Rutgers and Northwestern won’t be in the national spotlight often, but the Week 1 B1G clash was featured on a national CBS broadcast Sunday as part of an expanded Labor Day Weekend slate. Football fans will be glad that the NFL returns to CBS next Sunday. Rutgers jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 24-7 victory over Northwestern.
After a 4-8 season in 2022, Rutgers will take every win it can get, especially a conference victory. For Northwestern, it was a frustrating start to what looks to be another rough year. At least the Wildcats got to play actual football for a few hours, and (hopefully) take their minds off the hazing scandal that led to the surprise summer firing of Pat Fitzgerald.
Here are 3 takeaways from the 2023 season opener for both the Scarlet Knights and Wildcats.
Ball control works great, but what about explosives?
Northwestern head coach David Braun joined the Wildcats (originally as a coordinator) for his defensive expertise. Sunday, the Wildcats were in a hole early thanks to an inability to get a stop.
Rutgers orchestrated 16-play touchdown drives on each of its first 2 possessions. The Scarlet Knights were 4-of-7 on 3rd down and 3-of-3 on 4th down to go up 14-0 early in the 2nd quarter.
Ball control is as B1G as it gets. Rutgers, though, would like to flash more quick-strike capability. Rutgers’s longest pass play was for 20 yards, with the longest run going for just 15 yards.
The final time of possession numbers were a second off from being a 38-22 split in Rutgers’ favor. If the Wildcats can’t get off the field, the defense is going to run out of gas every week.
A mixed bag from Gavin Wimsatt
Wimsatt, a redshirt sophomore, was named Rutgers’ starting quarterback in July ahead of fall camp. He likely won’t land on award watch lists this, but he showed why Schiano was ready to name him QB1.
Wimsatt’s running ability adds to the offense. His scrambling extended plays and he contributed to the running game, including the only score on the ground.
Scrambling and running, though, are best when they supplement the passing game and not have to make up for it. Wimsatt finished just shy of completing 60% of his passes (17-of-24) for 163 yards with 1 touchdown pass and no interceptions. The Rutgers passing attack does have at least 1 potential playmaker.
Does Rutgers have a dominating defense, or was Northwestern’s offense just this bad?
For more than 57 minutes, Northwestern’s offense could not get anything going against Rutgers. Transfer QB Ben Bryant brought a decent resume to Northwestern, but he completed just 57% of his passes (20-of-35) for 169 yards and 2 interceptions, with no touchdowns.
The Wildcats turned to Brendan Sullivan late in the 4th quarter to give him a look, which might be a worthwhile change going forward. On his lone drive, Sullivan rushed for a team-high 11 yards and threw the Wildcats only touchdown, going 3-of-4 for 13 yards.
The Wildcats’ ground game was a nonfactor. Bryant was sacked 5 times and finished with -15 yards rushing. As a team, Northwestern finished with just 12 rushing yards on 22 carries.
Schiano hopes his Rutgers defense has improved, but holding Northwestern to 201 yards of offense might be on the Wildcats (at least with Bryant at quarterback).
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.