Greg Schiano timeout backfires spectacularly in loss to Illinois

PISCATAWAY – It was the timeout that will live in Rutgers football infamy.

As Illinois attempted a 58-yard field goal into a stiff wind – a kick that had virtually no chance of succeeding – Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano called a timeout to ice the kicker with his team up one point and 12 seconds left.

The flags atop the goalposts at the west end of SHIA Stadium were flapping hard toward the east. This was a 20-mile-an-hour wind blowing into the kicker’s face. He’d already whiffed on an extra point in this direction.

The attempt was a gift to Rutgers’ defense, which had been hanging on for dear life. Yet Schiano decided he needed to ice the kicker.

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The field goal attempt, which went off as the whistle blew the play dead, died in the wind and fell 20 yards short of the goal line.

But Illinois was given new life by Schiano’s timeout, and took full advantage.

The Illinis pulled their kicking team and sent their offense out on the field. On the next play, they threw a 40-yard touchdown pass.

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Illinois coach Bert (sic) Bielema said he was anticipating a Schiano timeout, and therefore used the field-goal attempt as a trial run to see just how well his kicker could handle the wind.

In the final move of the chess match between coaches, this was checkmate.

And so four hours of incredible effort by Schiano’s players, who were on the precipice of the program’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2009, went down the drain.

What appeared to be a lifetime moment for the 33 Senior Day honorees, half of whom spent their entire college careers at Rutgers, went down the drain.

A chance to clinch a winning season went down the drain.

As everyone knows, Schiano has a long history of questionable in-game coaching decisions. Given the setting and the stakes, this one might be right at the top.

In his postgame press conference, Schiano said he felt awful for his seniors, who "gave so much to this program, believed in us when there was no reason to believe in us."

On Saturday, they did enough to walk out of their home stadium for the final time as winners. A decision by their head coach let them down.