Rutgers’ offense faces real test in No. 20 Iowa

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — After spending 2018 as one of the worst offenses in college football, graduate transfer McLane Carter helped Rutgers break out of its slump with a 27-point win in the opener against Massachusetts.

Carter became Rutgers’ first 300-yard passer in coach Chris Ash’s four-year tenure with a 340-yard performance.

Next up is a real test at No. 20 Iowa (1-0) on Saturday. Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz thinks the lefty transfer from Texas Tech gives Rutgers (1-0) a new dimension on offense.

“I’m sure that’s why he won the job, with all due respect to everybody else there,” Ferentz said. “He threw it well, threw it down the field and played really well for them.”

So did the other skill positions. Halfback Isaih Pacheco scored four touchdowns in a 48-21 win over the Minutemen and Bo Melton had 127 yards receiving and a touchdown. Pacheco, who was recruited by Iowa, also ran for 156 yards. Raheem Blackshear had a game-high 165 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.

Iowa gave up only 59 rushing yards in its 38-14 win against Miami (Ohio).

While all three backs have shown flashes in their careers, this time they were clicking at the same time. That didn’t happen last season when Rutgers won one game and went winless in the conference.

“Last year, really, it’s behind us. We were thinking of this year and keep our heads up,” Melton said. “We had our ups downs last year, but this year is a different year. You got to come out here and grind all for every unit and show you mesh pretty good.”

So far so good.

Of course, that was in the cozy confines of home against UMass. Now it will be a hostile Big Ten road environment against a ranked opponent.

While Carter is new to the Big Ten, he’s seen his fair share of hostile environments in the Big 12, including playing at TCU and Kansas State last season. Offensively, he knows it comes down to focus.

“They do a great job of blasting music and making it sound like the fans,” said Carter, who also threw three interceptions. “You just have to focus up a little bit more, just tighten up everything just a little bit more. And just know it’s going to be a hectic atmosphere. And you just have to play.”

Carter is mature and experienced unlike Art Sitkowski, who struggled last season as a true freshman.

“He’s not going to let anything get to him,” Melton said. “He came back to the sideline after that first inception and recognized that ‘hey, we got the next drive and we were scoring’ and kept on scoring.”

Carter knows he needs to avoid interceptions.

“Take check-down (receivers) and take care of the football. That’s the number one thing, ball security,” Carter said. “Other than that, just everybody go out and have fun, play to win and go out and compete with everybody.”

Carter needs to adjust to the Big Ten rather than the spread offenses of the Big 12, where the game was more wide open.

“That was his first start in a while, first significant playing time in a while. I think he was really trying to do a little too much on a couple of the throws and probably put the ball in harm’s way,” Ash said. “There were a couple of others, if he would have gone through his progression, you know, some guys that were open, at least on one of those interceptions, that he should have taken. But he just can’t press and try to make the big play all the time.”

If he does that against Iowa, the Hawkeyes will make the Scarlet Knights pay.