Somebody in Piscataway could make a financial killing if they could concoct an aerial form of Viagra to help revitalize Rutgers’ limp passing attack.
Rutgers entered Week 8 with one of the worst passing offenses in the Football Subdivision in averaging 161.5 yards per game, coming in at 117th (out of 130 teams) nationally. Believe it or not, that number will go down considerably this week as RU threw for 48 yards in a 42-7 loss to unbeaten Minnesota. Four dozen yards. For the entire game.
Believe it or not, though, that marks a significant improvement from the week before.
In Week 7, Rutgers passed for exactly one more yard than I did in a 35-0 loss to Indiana. That’s right, the Scarlet Knights had precisely one yard passing. Don’t believe me?
So, the past two weeks, the Knights have a combined 49 passing yards. And, if I’m not mistaken, they tried and everything.
Leading the attack is Johnny Langan, who, as a quarterback, might make one helluva Arkansas punter.
In those two games, Langan, a Boston College transfer, has completed 14-of-32 passes for 49 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating? An abysmal 37.9. For perspective, the lowest pass efficiency rating for quarterbacks with at least 100 pass attempts coming into Week 8 was the 103.7 put up by Old Dominion’s Stone Smartt.
In fairness to Rutgers’ current quarterback situation, Artur Sitkowski, who started 11 games last season and then two more prior to the start of Langan’s run, has sidelined himself for the remainder of the 2019 season as he contemplates his football future beyond this year. Then again, Sitkowski has an 84.4 career passer rating, so would it have really mattered?