Rutgers Football: Wishlist for the Scarlet Knights’ 2019 season

4. Better playcalling

John McNulty was the offensive coordinator when Rutgers saw one of its best years in recent memory –– back then he had a star-studded cast of characters like Ray Rice, Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt at his disposal along with quarterback Mike Teel.

A decade later, McNulty assumed the same position on the coaching staff, but he inherited a much different offense –– one that consisted of mostly young and fairly inexperienced players.

This probably had a direct influence of the playcalling and prevented more complex plays to be installed and used, but no matter the case, the playcalling must get better and less predictable.

Like last year, the passing game wasn’t very consistent. In fact, there was almost no passing offense or threats to really speak of.

The most production came from the running game, which averaged 35 attempts and 134.1 yards per game compared to the 132.2 yards per game achieved through the air.

When it comes to the Big Ten, an offense needs to be multi-faceted to be successful. Smart teams that know a run in coming could easily stack the box and rely on man-to-man coverage to defend the pass –– taking a risk that producing offense through the air will be difficult.

Even when the passing game opened up a bit, there weren’t many shots taken downfield. Rather, the passing game relied on short, quick-hitters (like screens) that could be sniffed out by an opposing defense with more ease than a traditional dropback pass.

Granted, McNulty didn’t have a ton to work with. This year’s team didn’t feature a definitive go-to playmaker except for running back Raheem Blackshear. However, the true sophomore didn’t even reach a combined 1,000 yards between rushing and receiving yards.

Better playcalling was put on this list because ultimately the designed plays are the those that can beat a defense. For Rutgers, this type of game-changing strategy wasn’t apparent whatsoever.