Greg Schiano on trailing 14-7 to Michigan at halftime: 'Just gotta keep playing'

Greg Schiano maintained that Rutgers was still in the game down 14-7 at halftime to No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

After striking first just a minute into the game, courtesy of a 69-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Wimsatt to Christian Dremel, the Wolverines clawed their way back into the game. Both teams missed scoring opportunities with missed field goals.

But it was Rutgers trailing at the halftime break and Schiano revealed the message going into the final 30 minutes.

“Well, there’s some stuff going on out there,” Schiano said on the Big Ten Network broadcast. “So we just got to slow it down a little bit. There’s some things going on that aren’t right as well. So we’ll talk about how to handle it.”

Wimsatt was pretty much bottled up in the passing game since his opening drive touchdown pass. Other than some decent runs, Rutgers’ offense couldn’t get going in the second quarter.

“Just gotta keep playing,” Schiano said. “(We’re in the) game, we just got to keep playing.”

Wimsatt finished the half five-of-six passing for 99 yards and a touchdown. Following the touchdown drive, Rutgers punted, missed a field goal, punted and then ran out the clock in the first half.

On the flip side, Schiano’s defense could only limit Michigan for so long. The Wolverines engineered an 11-play, 79-yard drive over the course of 5:44 near the end of the half to take the lead.

JJ McCarthy finished nine-of-13 passing for 139 yards and a touchdown to freshman Semaj Morgan to cap off the half. McCarthy also had 36 yards rushing.

That was tied for the team lead as Schiano’s Scarlet Knights’ defense held mostly strong, keeping Blake Corum to 36 yards on 10 carries and Donovan Edwards to 12 yards on just three carries.

Going into the game, Schaino mentioned how Michigan had no weaknesses on the team.

“Great challenge, No. 2 team in the country,” Schiano said. “Probably could be easily ranked No. 1; they are that good. There’s absolutely no weaknesses in this team. When you look at what they have, their offensive line, two-time reigning Joe Moore Offensive Line of the Year, an experienced quarterback who can both run and throw accurately, deep, do all the things — he’s a future first rounder at quarterback.

“They have two running backs that are as good as anybody’s in the country. A slew of receivers, tight ends.”