It was mid-October when Rutgers coach Greg Schiano was pressed on why his team had seemingly played its best football on the road since he returned to lead the Scarlet Knights last year.
Schiano was stumped for an answer but said “if it becomes a recurring theme’' he’d “really have to examine it.’’
But Schiano indicated he was more concerned about the state of his team’s play at SHI Stadium.
“Maybe I need to examine our home routine in relation to our road routine,’’ he said at the time.
What Schiano will discover now when he digs in on Rutgers’ home play is the numbers look pretty ugly.
With a 52-3 loss against Wisconsin on Saturday evening, the Scarlet Knights fell to 2-8 under his watch since the start of 2020.
It marked the 19th straight loss in Big Ten play at home since a Nov. 4, 2017, win over Maryland in Piscataway.
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While last year’s 0-5 mark was produced without fans in attendance, Rutgers is now 2-3 in their friendly confines this fall.
It’s not all Schiano’s fault. Rutgers’ home struggles pre-date his second stint as coach.
The Scarlet Knights are 12-27 at SHI Stadium since the start of the 2015 season.
Rutgers has just one home game left — a Nov. 27 clash with Maryland in the regular-season finale — so it means Saturday’s loss assured that Schiano’s squad won’t turn in a winning SHI Stadium record for the seventh straight year.
The home-road split statistics are ugly, too:
-- In five home games this season, Rutgers has given up 432 yards per game (2,160 total yards) and 21 touchdowns (including seven Saturday vs. Wisconsin).
-- In four road games, Rutgers yielded 289.3 yards per game (1,157 total yards) and eight touchdowns.
In other words, Rutgers is giving up nearly three times as many touchdowns and more than 143 yards per game at home than away this season.
Rutgers certainly isn’t benefitting from any home-field advantage. While Schiano implored the students to arrive early for the 3:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday.
“3 o’clock (Saturday) — I’ll meet you back there,’’ Schiano said in a video posted on the team’s Twitter feed Friday. ‘Let’s chop this thing.’’
The message mostly fell on dead ears as Saturday’s showing was one of the more disappointing student turnouts this season, according to multiple press-box observers.
The announced attendance Saturday — 40,280 — appeared to be inflated by several thousand. Rutgers’ announced attendance has been below its pre-2009 expansion Rutgers Stadium capacity (41,500) in three of its five home games this season.
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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com.
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