As QB Gavin Wimsatt takes charge, Rutgers football inches forward in win over Northwestern

PISCATAWAY – It was in front of the sun-drenched student section at SHI Stadium, with a national television audience looking in on as the opening drive of a pivotal season for everyone wearing scarlet played out. And as the video replay showed Rutgers’ receiver Ian Strong tapping his left foot in the back corner of the end zone after a leaping grab on a perfect corner fade pass, it was the moment everyone needed.

Seventy-five yards in sixteen plays, with 7:56 coming off the clock. Whew!

Quarterback Gavin Wimsatt’s training wheels are off, the four-star savior beginning his first season as the Scarlet Knights full-time starter. No more rotations. No more safety blankets named Noah Vedral.

The fact that the season-opening 24-7 win came against a Northwestern team that went 1-11 last year and is embroiled in a hazing scandal that cost coach Pat Fitzgerald his job in July didn’t matter for a program with just three Big Ten wins over the past two seasons.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights quarterback Gavin Wimsatt (2) throws the ball during the first half against the Northwestern Wildcats at SHI Stadium.

There’s no way to minimize how important all this is after the honeymoon ended with a backwards stumble in Year 3 of Schiano’s return, and the school that’s poured millions of dollars into football threw $1.4 million at offensive coordinator/quarterback guru Kirk Ciarocca to lure him away from Minnesota.

Rutgers has had a revolving door on the quarterback room in recent years. It has to stop here. The ability to develop Wimsatt, with three years remaining, into a big-time quarterback capable of taking the program to new heights tops any to-do list.

Just look at Saturday’s scores across college football. It doesn’t matter how well you play defense. You have to be able to put the ball in the end zone a lot to survive these days. And 11.7 points on average in Big Ten games last year wasn’t even close to good enough.

No one was looking for a Colorado-like performance, or a 500-yard passing day. Just a good, steady performance with enough glimpses of the future, even if there’s plenty of room for improvement. That’s what Wimsatt gave you, completing 17-of-29 for 163 yards and a touchdown, while running for 33 yards and another score.

The most important numbers of all were no interceptions, no fumbles and no penalties, as the Rutgers’ offense, while less than spectacular, operated efficiently.

Wimsatt did it again after the opening drive, capping a 58-yard march with the first TD run of his career, barreling six yards to the end zone on third down to make it 14-0.

There were a few errant throws over the next few series, with Cirarocca then opting to go ultra conservative from that point on, as the Wildcats didn’t come close to scoring until the final minute.

Finally, a 60-yard TD drive put the game away in the third quarter, upping the lead to 24-0.

There’s still a lot of work to do. But this performance can be a foundation to build on in September, with some very winnable games. Build Wimsatt’s confidence over the next month and see where it takes him and program.

Because the future direction of the program is now directly tied to Wimsatt. And Saturday was the first step in in any climb in the Big Ten standings.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers NJ football vs. Northwestern: Wimsatt solid in opening win