Three reasons Rutgers football lost to Maryland in its season finale

PISCATAWAY – For the second straight season, Maryland handed Rutgers football a disappointing loss to end the regular season.

The only difference this time was the Scarlet Knights put up some points.

Just not enough to overcome a slow start.

Rutgers gave up touchdowns on each of the Terrapins’ first four possessions to fall into a hole it couldn’t climb out of in a 42-24 loss before an announced crowd of 47,012 at SHI Stadium on Saturday.

The Scarlet Knights, who lost to Maryland 37-0 in last season's finale, closed the regular season with a 6-6 record.

But they still have a chance at a winning season if they win whatever bowl game they’re placed in next month.

"I sat Friday in the afternoon by myself, and just a couple games were on and working on my own stuff, and really grateful that we get the opportunity to continue to play for another month," coach Greg Schiano said. "There's a lot of historic blueblood programs that are done this weekend. They are calling it quits. We get to develop, and it's huge."

One highlight for Rutgers came in the first quarter when Kyle Monangai became the first Scarlet Knights running back – and eighth in program history – since Jawan Jamison in 2012 to hit 1,000 rushing yards in a season.

Monangai finished with 118 yards on 20 carries.

But in a game where Rutgers trailed 28-3 three minutes into the second quarter, there weren’t many other positives for the Scarlet Knights.

They did manage to find some life before halftime.

Christian Dremel made a nice catch for a 24-yard gain to convert third-and-5 from the Maryland 39, which led to a 10-yard touchdown pass by Gavin Wimsatt to Aaron Young.

Max Melton later intercepted Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to get Rutgers the ball at the Maryland 43. Wimsatt threw a nice pass to Isaiah Washington, who made a nice catch to get down to the 1-yard line.

Wimsatt punched it in from there to pull Rutgers to within nine points.

But the comeback attempt ultimately came up short.

Tagovailoa finished 24-of-31 for 361 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on the way to becoming the Big Ten's all-time passing leader. Maryland had 498 total yards of offense.

"He's a really good player and they played well," Schiano said.

Here are three reasons Rutgers lost to Maryland:

1. Taulia Tagovailoa picked apart the Scarlet Knights’ defense early

It wasn’t a good start for Rutgers’ defense. At all.

Cornerback Robert Longerbeam got called for pass interference on play of the game. Maryland closed its first possession with Tagovailoa throwing a nice pass down the right sideline to Tai Felton for a 34-yard touchdown throw.

Rutgers turned over on downs on its ensuing possession, giving Maryland the ball at its own 45. The Terrapins needed two plays to get into the end zone – Tagovailoa threw a 49-yard pass to Jeshaun Jones and then punched it in from one yard out.

Jai Patel put Rutgers on the board with a 50-yard field goal, but the Scarlet Knights then allowed Maryland to score another touchdown, this time a 17-yard pass from Tagovailoa to Roman Hemby.

Scarlet Knights punter Flynn Appleby then shanked a punt that went 10 yards and gave Maryland the ball at the Rutgers 44. Tagovailoa threw a 44-yard pass to Corey Dyches and it was 28-3 Maryland with just more than 12 minutes left in the first half.

It put the Scarlet Knights in a considerable hole early.

"I thought it was more some individual, we got beat," Schiano said of the defense's early struggles. "Now, is it us not having people in the right position? I've got to look. I hope that's not it. It just looked that we were a step behind, a step slow. We haven't looked that way. We definitely lightened up the last two weeks to try to get them to the finish line but maybe I didn't do it enough. That's why I say it's on me. I told them, I've got to figure out a way to make sure that we continue to move forward and are we didn't do that today. We struggled today."

2. Rutgers didn’t have enough of a passing game

This isn’t a new issue for the Scarlet Knights, and it’s not necessarily a surprise.

The strength of Rutgers’ offense is its running game. That’s what powers the offense.

But the Scarlet Knights never were able to have a consistent passing attack, and it hurt them in games like Saturday’s.

Gavin Wimsatt finished 13-of-34 for 165 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

The passing attack isn’t just on Wimsatt. It’s also on the wide receivers, who did drop some passes that looked catchable and at times struggled to get separation. And it’s also on the offensive line, which needs to continue to improve in pass protection.

"I think it's just execution on our part," Wimsatt said. "Obviously they played a great game defensively. Those come back to the details. We've just got to execute. We didn't execute well enough today."

Regardless, Wimsatt does need his accuracy to be much more consistent for the offense to become more productive.

"I think it just starts with me," Wimsatt said. "I'm the quarterback, the leader of the offense. I think it just starts with me being more consistent. I will be and this offense will be better."

3. Rutgers 'ran out of gas'

The Scarlet Knights have been banged up for weeks. Depth took a hit at several positions.

And all of that took its toll over the course of a long season.

Rutgers had already lost linebacker Tyreem Powell to a season-ending hand injury. Tight end Johnny Langan missed Saturday's game and will miss the bowl game with an injury.

Multiple players took the field against Maryland who were far less than 100 percent.

"We ran out of gas," Schiano said. "I thought we could maybe squeeze one more before the break. But we had too many guys, you know, some guys just didn't play, couldn't play, and then we had a lot of guys that were playing that, you know, maybe they were 70 percent. But they were gutting it out, and some of them couldn't continue. Some of them could."

Rutgers had multiple impact players (Monangai, safety Shaquan Loyal, linebacker Deion Jennings, left guard Bryan Felter, right tackle Reggie Sutton, wide receiver JaQuae Jackson) all listed as questionable on the availability report.

They all played.

"There's a lot of guys I salute," linebacker Mohamed Toure said. "Flip Dixon, (Shaquan Loyal), Mayan Ahanotu, Deion Jennings. A lot of those guys should not be playing, if we're being honest. But they fight through pain for their brothers because they love us, they care and they want to win. It just shows me the type of guys they are, the type of character they have that they're willing to put their bodies on the line to sacrifice for us."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: 3 reasons for loss to Maryland in finale