PISCATAWAY – So much for Rutgers football bouncing back from its first loss of the season.

Instead of getting back on track, the Scarlet Knights came out on Saturday and turned in a lackluster and disappointing performance in an eventual 42-7 loss to Wisconsin at SHI Stadium.

Rutgers fell to 4-2 with the defeat.

"It's unacceptable," coach Greg Schiano said. "Falls on me. And we will get it fixed."

Here are some key takeaways:

Rutgers football’s offense ineffective for a second-straight week in loss to Wisconsin

Where’s the offense that looked so much more productive through the first four games of the season?

Where’s the offense that actually gave Rutgers a chance?

For the second consecutive week, it was nowhere to be found. While it was somewhat understandable against Nebraska – the Cornhuskers have as good a defense as Rutgers will see all season – the fact it looked so poor against Wisconsin was more confounding.

The Scarlet Knights had 271 total yards of offense. They were just 5-of-17 on third down.

Rutgers, which punted on its first five possessions, didn’t score until early in the fourth quarter when Kyle Monangai ran it in from nine yards out.

But by that point, it was too little, too late.

The Badgers’ defense came into the day ranking in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten in several categories.

It looked dominant against Rutgers for much of this game.

Scarlet Knights quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis finished 12-of-32 for 103 yards with one interception. He was victimized by multiple, inexcusable drops by his receivers that killed potentially big plays.

But Kaliakmanis also simply made some poor throws.

"It just comes down to execution," Kaliakmanis said. "That's really it. We've just got to execute and chop our job."

But why has the execution been so poor?

"That's something we need to figure out as an offense," Kaliakmanis said. "I need to figure out and we need to figure out as a team."

And the running game that was so productive earlier this season? That’s largely disappeared too.

Rutgers ran for 166 yards against Wisconsin. Monangai had 72 of those yards on 19 carries.

"Just looking at today, I think we've got to back to the fundamentals and details and we'll get the results we want," Monangai said. "But we've got to study this film and learn from it and move on."

Missed opportunities (again) prove costly

This game might've ended up in a blowout regardless, but Rutgers did have chances to take momentum.

It just couldn't do it.

The Scarlet Knights had a chance to get on the board in the second quarter, with Kaliakmanis hitting Christian Dremel for a 36-yard gain to move into Wisconsin territory.

Rutgers got to the 10 when the drive stalled out. It had fourth-and-1 and went for it, but the Badgers stopped Monangai for a turnover on downs.

The Scarlet Knights later got a takeaway when linebacker Dariel Djabome forced a fumble that Bo Mascoe recovered at the Wisconsin 37. The Scarlet Knights got to the 19, but Kaliakmanis threw three straight incomplete passes to bring up fourth down.

Jai Patel came out to attempt a field goal, but the snap was bad and the Badgers managed to block the kick.

It was that kind of day for Rutgers.

"The team, the whole day, couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time as a group," Schiano said. "We just couldn't get it going, coaching, playing, everything."

Banged-up Rutgers defense struggles to contain Wisconsin’s offense

The bad news came became official about two hours before kickoff.

Cornerback Robert Longerbeam and linebacker Tyreem Powell were both listed as OUT on the availability report. Longerbeam’s status wasn’t as surprised – he was listed as questionable against Nebraska, but Powell’s status was more surprising.

The Vineland native missed the first three games of the season recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered in the offseason.

Then in the first half Saturday, defensive end Aaron Lewis left the game with an injury. He returned briefly but then never came back into the game.

Flip Dixon also suffered an injury later in the game, and cornerback Eric Rogers, listed as questionable, was limited.

So to say the Scarlet Knights defense, which was already without linebacker Mohamed Toure for the season, is missing some key pieces is an understatement.

"Certainly it's impacted everything," Schiano said. "It's not where we have stacked up guys yet in the program. When you lose somebody, somebody's got to step up. But the thing you learn is every once in a while somebody by injury comes out and just amazes everyone. But the reality is usually they would've been the starter. And they weren't. They were a second-team player for a reason. But you can't hide behind that. Everybody has injuries. That team had injuries. We all have injuries. We've got to figure it out."

Still, Rutgers couldn’t contain a Wisconsin defense that lost its starting quarterback earlier in the season and its leading rusher indefinitely last week, not to mention two of its leading receivers after they got banged up in the Badgers’ previous game against Purdue.

Wisconsin finished with 549 total yards. It rushed for 309, including 198 from Tawee Walker, who scored three touchdowns.

"We've just to play better as far as details go," defensive lineman Kyonte Hamilton said. "Just being able to focus on our techniques and stuff like that. That's really it."

Badgers quarterback Braedyn Locke finished 20-of-28 passing for 240 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Wisconsin scored touchdowns on two of its first three possessions, and then four out of five possessions in the second half.

For much of this game, the Badgers' offense had its way with the Scarlet Knights' defense.

Injuries or not, this was a poor showing from Rutgers.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Takeaways from loss to Wisconsin