Chatter From the Other Sideline: Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano

It’s a longstanding college football tradition for head coaches across the country to meet with the media early each week, reflecting on the previous game while also looking ahead to their next challenge. These press conferences often provide valuable insight into a team’s mindset, key storylines, and how coaches are preparing for the road ahead. While fans are usually familiar with the comments coming out of their own program’s headquarters, they don’t always get a chance to hear what opposing coaches are saying about their team.

With Indiana set to play Rutgers this Saturday, let’s take a look at some of the comments the Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano made during his Tuesday press conference when discussing the Hoosiers and the matchup ahead.

Q: Opening Statement

“Certainly a great opportunity in front of us, the defending national champs coming to town. And just my hats off to Coach Cignetti and their entire program for what they’ve been able to do here in the last few years. And really a great testament to how really fine coaches they are. And it’s been fun to watch from a distance. Now we get a chance to play them, so excited about that.

When you look at their team, their front seven on defense is as good as there is in America. You look at what the job that Bryant Haynes has done as a defense coordinator. He’s just done a remarkable job. But when you look at those guys up front, Daley, Tucker, Landino, Osunsanmi. I’m gonna mess it up. Osunsanmi, and then the two linebackers, Hardy and Jones. I mean, that really is a stacked group there, makes it very tough sledding. Secondary’s really sound, they play very good defensive football.

Then you flip over to the offensive side, Mike Shanahan does an incredible job with their offense. With the new quarterback, Hoover, coming in, they haven’t missed a beat. The running back situation, I know there’s some injuries there, but Beebe stepped in and did a great job. Richard, if he plays, is a dynamic back, looked at him last year. And then Becker has really emerged as a top receiver in the country. And then Marsh coming over from Michigan State, who we’ve seen a lot of. So really a dynamic offensive football team with a great offensive line. Bob Bostad, who was our offensive line coach when we were down in Tampa, does a tremendous job with those guys. And he’s got really good players, so hats off to them.

And then special teams, Coach Kane does a great job. He’s been doing this a long time and is really very, the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed, he does an exceptional job.

So there’s no weakness in this team, that’s why they’ve won 20 straight. They do what I cherish, and that’s they take care of the football and they take it away. They’ve won or tied the net turnover margin 28 straight weeks, which is a modern day record. So it goes along with many of their other accomplishments. So certainly a tall task, but one that we are very excited about. And great opportunity, homecoming, blackout, gonna be a great environment, looking forward to it.”

Q: I feel like they kind of reflect Curt Cignetti as a coach. What about this Indiana team is kind of a Curt Cignetti team in a way?

“Well, I think he does a great job of evaluating, he does a great job in recruiting, and then he does a great job in development and coaching. Believe in a lot of the principles, the same principles, right? Take care of the football, run the football, physical violent teams, play sound defense. But to believe it and do it, those are two different things, right? But I think he’s done a great job everywhere he’s been. I’ve watched him in his career. Obviously, Frank was here with us the first go round. And coach has done a great job every place he’s been, he’s won. And he has a formula that he believes in and he executes that formula. So hats off to him.”

Q: You touched on how different Indiana is as a program from the last time you played them in 23 to now. Has that made your job and other coaches in the Big Ten harder, just because of how quickly they went from where they were to national champions?

“Well, when you look from 23 to today, how much college football has changed? And again, it’s a tribute to the job Coach Cignetti has done and that the University of Indiana has done. But certainly a different look than it was just three years ago.

Q: You mentioned Nick Marsh and Charlie Becker, two of the top guys down the field in terms of the passing game. What’s your confidence level in the defensive backs on this team in terms of matching up against them?

“I have a great deal of confidence in our secondary. Yeah, I think our guys, they’ll challenge. They don’t back down to anybody. But when you watch tremendous job, Becker on the back shoulder fade. They did it when they had their quarterback last year, they do it now. It really is something to watch. It’s really, as a coach, poetry in motion, the way they can do it. And then you start playing for that, they beat you over the top, right? And then they do a really good job of running the football in RPO and off the run. So yeah, again, as you ask the questions, the answers, what I tell you, are straight up. But that’s why they’ve won 20 straight games. That’s why they’re defending national champions.”

Q: Beebe and Richard combined for over 200 rushing yards against Northwestern. Where’s the confidence right now in a defensive front to kind of slow that down?

“Yeah, I have a lot of confidence. Our guys will play really hard. I mean, like I said, though, Bob Bostad is a great offensive line coach. They have a very good offensive line. They have very good running backs and they have a passing game that you have to respect. So you have to kind of pick your poison at times. The big thing is gonna be limit explosive plays. And hopefully you can take the ball away. Now they haven’t given it away much, so that’s gonna be a challenge.”

Q: What can you take from your game against Howard that can prepare you for a team like Indiana?

“Well, I think the biggest thing we did against Howard is programmatic focus. We call it CHOP, programmatic CHOP, to do your job one play at a time. And I don’t care if it’s a coach, a player, it doesn’t matter, a trainer. Everybody do your job over and over and over again. Don’t get bored with doing what’s right, just keep doing it. And that’s what we can carry over. Schemes are different, level of talent certainly different, but that process isn’t. If we’ll do that process, that’ll give us a chance.”

Q: You mentioned before Tobi Osunsanmi, he’s a player you—

“You said it better than I did. We’ll see about that.”

Q: But he’s a player you went up against in the Rate Bowl, I believe, two years ago at Kansas State. Any memories of him from there? What have you seen from him on tape?

“Not only from there, memories from there, the memories pursuing him in the transfer portal. Yeah, I really liked him as a player. Didn’t get a ton of traction there, but I really liked him as a player. They had a couple kids on that team that I really liked. But he ended up at Indiana, so now we’ll play against him. But he’s a really fine player, he’s explosive, he’s twitchy. And yeah, really good player.”

Q: I don’t know if you caught them against Northwestern, but what did Northwestern do that you can replicate to try and slow down a team like, again, Indiana?

“I certainly have watched them several times. You have to do it within the realm of your schemes and your personnel. There’s certain things you look at and you say, okay, we might be able to do some of that. But that kind of stuff is really, you better tackle well against this outfit, because those running backs run as hard as anybody in the country. And I’m not just talking about one of them, any of them run really, really hard. And they’ve got a great tool in their stiff arm. I mean, they really do an elite job. Reminds me of Ray, when Ray used to just use it. Put that thing out there, it was a weapon.”

Q: You mentioned Becker before. What about him jumps off the tape? And obviously him and KJ are two of the best in the country. How do they kind of compare?

“Yeah, they’re both really technically very sound players. Very good hand-eye coordination. Run really good routes. You can say they’ve worked very, very hard at it. They’re very masterful at their craft.”

Q: You mentioned going up against this Indiana front. There’s still a little bit of shuffling along the O line over the last couple weeks. Do you feel like you’ve found that best five that you want along the trenches?

“Probably the best six, six or seven. And we’ll keep, there’s no rule. I know everybody says the five guys have to be there. You can sub some guys and give them a little rest. That’s okay, but yeah, I think we have the six or seven that we really feel most comfortable with. And I’m anxious to see guys continue to develop behind them and push for playing time. That’s what I’m always looking for, that competition.”