The Rutgers football program is a mess. Head coach Kyle Flood is suspended and the program has endured a slew of off-field incidents this season, and the actual football on the field hasn’t been much better.
This was driven home on Saturday night when, with the ball at their own 49 and a chance to throw up a Hail Mary to tie the game against Michigan State before time expired, quarterback Chris Laviano spiked the ball on fourth down, giving the ball to Michigan State and effectively ending the game.
The confusion is evident immediately, as the Rutgers players immediately begin looking at Laviano, while the Michigan State defenders look so confused that they’re not even processing what happened. The Rutgers fingerpointing began immediately, but interim head coach Norries Wilson was quick to step up and take the blame.
Rutgers coach Norries Wilson did not know it was 4th down apparently. pic.twitter.com/vIiHHAnioY
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 11, 2015
The story doesn’t end here. According to NJ.com’s Steve Politi, receiver Leonte Carroo blamed the call on offensive coordinator Ben McDaniels, and Laviano blamed the yard sticks for being updated too slowly to reflect that it was fourth down.
The head coach is doing the right thing here by trying to take the heat off the quarterback and direct everyone’s ire toward himself. That said, given the confusion, Rutgers football is very clearly in a bad place right now.
