Since joining the Big Ten, Rutgers had never beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Friday night, entering the contest with a record of 3-0, and a record setting crowd of over 55,000 packed into SHI Stadium, offered the best opportunity to get that first ever win against Iowa.
But mistakes both on special teams, and a four quarter collapse did the Scarlet Knights in as Rutgers fell to Iowa 38-28.
"There were so many things. We made too many mistakes against a good football team tonight. Iowa is not going to beat themselves, you gotta go out and beat them," Head Coach Greg Schiano said following the loss in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Rutgers found themsleves behind the eight-ball just seconds into the game when Iowa's Kaden Wetjen returned the opening kick 100-yards to open the ball game with a 7-0 Hawkeyes lead.
Give Rutgers credit. They didn't let it faze them. The offense was on fire in the first half of this game, and this contest was like a pinball machine as both teams matched scores.
Athan Kaliakmanis hit KJ Duff for 21 yards and DT Sheffield for 40-yards to spot the ball at the Iowa five. A play later, Antwan Raymond plowed through the front lines to tie the game at 7.
After Iowa went three and out, Kaliakmanis guided Rutgers on a 12-play 63-yard drive that chewed up over five minutes of time. The biggest play of the drive being a 19-yard out pass to Duff that set up the Scarlet Knights with first and goal. Kaliakmanis then took it in himself to give RU a 14-7 lead.
The contest really started to change late in the second quarter when Rutgers' offense stalled at the Iowa 19-yard line, and Jai Patel's field goal bounced off the crossbar, keeping the game tied at 21.
Rutgers would manage only 16-yards on their next three possessions after that miss-fire.
Oddly enough Iowa would miss a field goal themselves, but what had to really eat away at Coach Greg Schiano and his coaches was the blocked field goal attempt by Patel after the Rutgers offense stalled at the Iowa 10-yard line with 3:46 to go in the third quarter.
Despite all the problems, Rutgers would regain the lead at 28-24 thanks to a spirited 75-yard drive as Kaliakmanis had RU in a semi-hurry up offense. He connected on five of six passes as Rutgers moved down to the goal-line, before Raymond finished it off with a one-yard hop over falling tacklers to give Rutgers the lead in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
Then it all fell apart.
Suddenly Rutgers couldn't cover. A personal foul penalty was called on a Rutgers after a critical stop on third and eight. A couple plays later Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski found Dayton Howard in single coverage for a 42-yard hitch and go down to the Rutgers' 11-yards line.
Two plays later Gronowksi took it in himself on a naked bootleg to give Iowa the lead at 31-28.
The game was finally lost on the next Rutgers possession, when Kaliakmanis -- feeling the heat from Iowa's defensive end on his right shoulder, heaved up a lollipop pass that was picked off by Jaxon Rexroth at the 35-yard line.
That was really all she wrote, as Gronowski took it in again from one-yard out on the tush-push to ice it at 38-28.
"We didn't really tackle well," Schiano said of his defense's collapse in the fourth quarter. "(Gronowski) is 235 pounds, it's like having a fullback back there. He ran more tonight then in the first three games."
The loss is huge for Rutgers. They had a chance to move to 4-0 and 1-0 in conference, and enjoy first place for a night before everyone else played on Saturday. Plus it could have been their first win ever vs. Iowa.
Instead, Rutgers sits at 3-1, and 0-1 in the Big Ten. Iowa remains an elusive team that Rutgers still can't close out. The schedule, as one would expect with Big Ten play now the focus only gets harder. Rutgers visits Minnesota next week, and Washington in three weeks after a bye. Rutgers will return home in a month when they host Oregon on October 18.
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