Rutgers drive unravels to result in punt on fourth-and-goal
Rutgers football is back for the 2022 season and things are off to a rather inauspicious start against Boston College on Saturday.
After putting together a drive that set the Scarlet Knights up with a first-and goal inside the 10-yard line, a lot of bad things unraveled that resulted in a punt — yes, a punt — on fourth down and goal to go.
Just look at it.
How does that even happen, you ask? An excellent question. So let's recap the clown car of madness.
On first and goal, Kyle Monangai's two-yard run set up Rutgers up with a second-and-goal to go from the eight-yard line. Not an ideal play, but certainly acceptable. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Yet.
The next play resulted in an offensive pass interference penalty that came with 15-yard loss that sent Rutgers back to the 23-yard line to replay second down.
Things did not go any better on the replayed down as another penalty, this time a holding penalty pushed, Rutgers back another 10 yards to to replay the down from the 33-yard line.
Following an incompletion, Rutgers was then flagged for a false start on third down to push the line of scrimmage back to the 38-yard line. That is already on the outer edges of realistic field-goal range for a college kicker, which would have given the Rutgers coaching staff a difficult decision if it did not gain any yardage.
But that was a decision Rutgers never had to make because the third-and-goal play (from the 38!) resulted in a sack that pushed the ball back to the 43-yard line, and forcing the rare, but always comical, punt on fourth-and-goal.
This sort of thing does happen from time to time, but it is extremely rare.
Rutgers football, baby.
More must-reads: