RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 6, 2021

Greg Schiano

Postgame Press Conference

Rutgers - 3, Wisconsin - 52

Q. (No microphone.)

GREG SCHIANO: First and foremost, we played a really good football team today, top 25 team. Secondly, I don't know if it's execution. It wasn't effort. They gave effort. I'm not concerned about that.

As you get worn down, the effort's not the same. You know, that's as big an offensive line and running back as there is in the league. And, you know, you're getting hit over and over. And, you know, we got some guys bummed. So then we got down to some younger guys that haven't played a lot, weren't accustomed to it. It's a whole different speed.

So it was a -- when you get licked like that, it's an accumulation of things. It's never just one thing. A good football team.

Q. Can you tell us anything about the injuries to Noah or Aaron?

GREG SCHIANO: Not sure yet, you know, but they obviously couldn't continue in the game. So it's bad enough that that's the case. And they're both tough guys. So if they could have, they would have. So we'll just play it by ear.

You know what -- you know, the KOR one, it is what it is. The quarterback one, I kick myself. I wanted to take him out that series and enough was enough.

And we kind of agreed -- everybody agreed that we'd give him one more series. That's my fault. We should have got him out.

Q. From an offensive standpoint, I know Wisconsin's the number one defense in the country, but, you know, what was the biggest issue from just the lack of offense?

GREG SCHIANO: Well, you know, we fell behind and that's -- you can't do that to that team. The only way we would have a chance to beat that team is to play from the lead, in my opinion. And we weren't able to do that.

Not that we just abandoned things, we didn't. We kept trying to run the offense. But they're really good. I mean, it's not unlike they've done to a lot of people. They're a very good defense.

And we had some things that we were -- you know, it's the old cliche, we're a guy away here, a guy away there. We were.

I mean, they were good thoughts, I thought. Good concepts that I thought could work against that unit. You know, there's not a whole bunch that has worked against that unit. That's why they're No. 1 in the country.

I thought we had some -- to Cratch's question, some of it execution, some of it maybe we -- we didn't quite have the guy to pull it off. And some of it maybe it just wasn't a good construction.

Q. Greg, what's just kind of your general message to the team after a game like that?

GREG SCHIANO: Well, look, we're building something here. I didn't take this job and think it would be this linear ascent to the top. We knew what it was going to be. We've done it before.

This is disappointing after the way we played rush defense last week. It was disappointing to me. But, again, they did some things that, you know, got us a little off kilter and then it was -- and then they wore it out. They did a good job until they could fix it. They kept running it.

So, again, really good people doing it to us, too. That was -- you know, I can't not say that. Because that's not giving them credit. It wasn't -- it wasn't totally us just not performing, it was them performing.

Q. (No microphone.)

GREG SCHIANO: Well, I'm trying to do the same thing. You know, I was brought back here to turn a program back to what we had.

And I need, and we need, this program needs all the help we can get. So I felt like as many people as we could get here, that would help us.

And if we could get the lead and they had to throw -- you know, it wasn't just, Hey, you can come to the game, I'd like you to come. It was all part of what I thought would be the plan to win this game.

If you can get a lead and have the crowd loud, make them check versus different pressures, pressures we never really got to running. Because they were just honking the ball. And we had to stop that.

And so, that was -- you know, again, we're building something here. And I believe that we're on the right track. These days happen when you're doing that. There's no doubt about it. They've happened before.

But what we need to do is keep doing the things that we know are right. You can't get tired. You can't get tired because someone questions, you can't get tired because someone is negative about something.

If you believe in it, you just keep pushing it. It'll get there. And we will get there.

Q. Mike Tverdov and Brandon Sanders, I guess, were announced as violation of team rules. I guess that's on the heels of last weekend, another player. Is it concerning or maybe even disappointing that at this point where you're playing for something, a pivotal stretch in the season you have a couple discipline issues?

GREG SCHIANO: Is it disappointing, yes. Is it surprising, no. I mean, we're getting -- we're establishing a program.

You know, as I told you guys, COVID wasn't real, right? The COVID season, there was nobody. We were just isolated, just our football team. That was it.

So I thought we did a really good job of making the most of that time. Now we're back into regular life and they're young people and sometimes we have issues.

And the one thing I won't do is I won't sacrifice the integrity and culture of our program. We're going to build it the right way. And I won't allow that.

So as I tell them, I'm not going to get worn out doing things the way we do them. That's the way we do them. So it's all part of building a program.

Q. What kind of changes do you need to make offensively? I mean, the pick six right away in the game, another interception, not moving the ball well, is there anything you can do to change this?

GREG SCHIANO: Well, think I think the first thing, Steve, is we have to dissect this and figure out why. I know why the second -- the pick six, Noah gets hit, right?

So we miss the block, the guy comes free, Noah's just releasing it. Which I think is, you know, going to result in a positive play, now he gets hit and the ball flies and it gets pick six'd.

So can you get rid of it a little sooner? I don't think. I think got rid of it right on time. We just missed a block.

The first one, he didn't see it. You know, and it was funny, I was just watching Purdue today against Wisconsin right before our team meeting, I just was watching it, and the same thing happened two times to them.

You know, they really do a good job with their underneath coverage. So he didn't see it. You know, he's done a good job. He didn't see that one.

So, you know, maybe we put him in a spot that wasn't good. Maybe he just didn't see it because he was shielded. Those things you have to pick apart.

And then after that, you got to look at where did you not give him a chance. Because that's our job. We got to give him chances to be successful. And if we gave him a situation that they couldn't be successful, then we got to fix it on the coaching end.

If it was and we didn't execute it, then we got to fix it on the execution end. Then if there are any effort issues, then we got to fix that, as well.

But that's a part of building a program. And I wish I could snap my fingers and make it happen magically. But I can't.

We won a really big game for us. Maybe on the national scope it wasn't, but we came back and we didn't play with the same -- whatever you want to call it, focus. But that's a lesson learned again. Those are all lessons learned.

Q. (Question concerning an injured player's status.)

GREG SCHIANO: No, I don't think he was able to come back. Yeah.

Q. I think he was dressed and he didn't play. Was he an emergency availability guy?

GREG SCHIANO: Yeah, he hurt himself during the week. Yeah, so we -- he pushed like crazy. I'm really proud of CJ. He pushed like crazy to get ready.

But, initially, we were doing okay without him and then I wasn't going to put him in that situation. So hopefully he'll be able to contribute next week.

So, again, I appreciate it, guys. And I appreciate our fans. I really do. I appreciate the fans that came, the ones that stayed. It was a tough day to be a fan, but I really appreciate it. We'll be back and look forward to seeing them when we get back. Thanks, guys.