Rutgers' Greg Schiano calls Wisconsin offense 'a huge challenge'

Greg Schiano prides himself on tough defense at Rutgers but knows Wisconsin’s offense is going to bring it this weekend.

The Scarlet Knights (4-1) travel to Madison to take on the Badgers (3-1) for an important game in Rutgers’ quest for the postseason. Under Luke Fickell, Wisconsin was immediately pegged to win the Big Ten West.

But Schiano has a lot of respect for Wisconsin’s offense run by OC Phil Longo.

“Yeah, they do a great job,” Schiano said. “Phil does a great job. Their offense is hard to stop. Multidimensional, people get, when they hear about tempo and they hear about air raid, they think it’s just throw it all over the lot.

“They do a great job running the football. They have several different schemes that they run the football with, so it’s going to be a huge challenge for all those reasons, and the biggest reason is good players.”

Grad transfer Tanner Mordecai hasn’t tossed the rock quite like he did at SMU the last two years, but he’s one to watch out for the Rutgers’ secondary.

Rutgers-Wisconsin matchup a challenge for Greg Schiano

This year, Mordecai has 877 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions, a 66.4% completion percentage, 103 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

“I mean, you look at Mordecai, I think I said that right, he’s a really fine player,” Schiano said. “He can throw it. He can run. Does a great job reading. Their back, Allen, is special, special. He’s big, 6-2, 245. He is a load. And it’s not one of those guys that can’t move and doesn’t have the ability to cut. He’s special.”

There’s a well balanced rushing attack on Wisconsin’s offense. Braelon Allen has 52 carries for 371 yards and six touchdowns while Chez Mellusi has 51 carries for 306 yards and four touchdowns.

“They have got a big veteran O-Line which helps a lot,” Schiano said. “Their tight ends are good players that utilize the tight ends. Rucci is one of them. I actually coached his dad at Penn State, so you know, athletic family there.

“And then the series, there’s five or six guys, they roll them in there and they are all dangerous. They can all hurt you. Coach Longo does a great job and he’s got a lot of great weapons there to utilize.”

If Rutgers is to pull off one of the bigger wins in school history since joining the conference 10 seasons ago, the Scarlet Knights need to limit the Badger offense.

Rutgers hits the road to take on Wisconsin Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET.