ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Before Michigan and Rutgers — two teams that were 3-0 heading into Saturday’s game — kicked off, Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano said he wanted to see where his team stacked up against the Wolverines.
Though the game looked as if it was about to get out of hand after the first half, it turns out the Scarlet Knights stacked up pretty good.
The maize and blue took a 20-3 lead into the locker room but had to hold on for dear life. The offense couldn’t do anything against the Scarlet Knight defense while the Wolverine defense bent, but only broke once — when RU managed a touchdown. Michigan won 20-13, but Rutgers instilled fear into the maize and blue faithful, to be sure.
After the game, Schiano put the blame on himself while also praising what the Wolverines did Saturday afternoon.
“Hats off to Michigan — I’m at fault for not saying that first,” Schiano said. “That’s a good football team. They played well. They had great concepts. Their coaches did a great job. I didn’t help our team enough today. I could’ve helped our team more. I’m disappointed in myself. And that’s something I have to examine.”
When it comes to deciphering just how good Michigan may or may not be — it’s still unknown just how much Rutgers has improved under Schiano (the Scarlet Knights host Ohio State on Saturday) — the prodigal head coach isn’t quite sure based on this game alone. From what he’s seen on film in preparing for this game, he feels like it’s a good team, particularly on defense. However, he praised Mike Macdonald in the same breath as he praised the former defensive coordinator Don Brown, who he took to three overtimes a year ago.
“I can only talk about what I studied on film leading up to the game, because I have the worst seat in the house out there, on the sideline,” Schiano said. “I like what they’re doing. I think defensively — I’m a big admirer of the coach who was running the defense here last year, too. I think that they’re both excellent coaches, just a different way of skinning a cat. They did a good job today, that’s for sure.”
With this game in the books, Michigan will head to Wisconsin to take on a reeling Badgers team that’s 1-2 after losing 41-13 to Notre Dame in Chicago.
