PISCATAWAY – Rutgers football’s defense was supposed to be the Scarlet Knights’ strength, the part of the team that would largely drive any success the program could achieve this season.

Yet after six games, the unit has instead been largely a disappointment.

The latest evidence arrived on Saturday, leaving head coach Greg Schiano and defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak with some decisions to make in the days ahead.

The Scarlet Knights surrendered 478 total yards of offense to UCLA in a 35-32 loss on Saturday at SHI Stadium, Rutgers’ third consecutive loss.

Bruins quarterback Ethan Garbers finished 32-of-38 passing for 383 yard and four touchdowns, frequently managing to expose holes in Rutgers’ defense.

The concerns on that side of the ball continue to build.

Injuries are a big one. So is tackling, which continues to be inconsistent, to put it mildly.

Regardless, the defense needs to be better if the Scarlet Knights are going to turn this once promising season back around, starting Saturday against USC in Los Angeles.

“When you look at it, you score 32 points in a Big Ten football game, that should be good enough,” Schiano said. “It wasn't today but it should be, especially the way our program is built. We didn't get it done defensively, and we've got to look at it and figure it out.”

Part of that “figuring it out” stems from the injuries.

Rutgers, which lost linebacker Mohamed Toure to a torn ACL before the season even began, was without defensive ends Aaron Lewis and Wesley Bailey.

Of the players who were available, cornerback Robert Longerbeam, safety Flip Dixon and linebacker Tyreem Powell were all listed on the availability report as questionable.

Schiano indicated that he might need to reconsider which players attempt to play through any ailments.

“I think more than the guys that didn't play, were the guys that played that are hurting,” Schiano said. “Guys that played that didn't practice very much because they couldn't. They couldn't practice and then be able to play. They had to heal. That's what I've got to look at: Is a healthy so-and-so better than an 80 percent other guy. I've got to make some decisions to make, especially on a short week.”

That’s true, because the product against UCLA, which was 1-5 entering the game, wasn’t good enough.

The Bruins entering the day had the 130^th-ranked offense in the country, averaging 272.8 yards of total offense.

“I just didn’t think we played our brand of football,” linebacker Tyreem Powell said. “The brand we know, playing violent, executing and trusting each other on that side of the ball. There were a lot of things that went wrong with the defensive side of the ball. I just didn’t think we were us.”

Tackling, which showed improvement two weeks ago against Nebraska, dropped off against UCLA.

One of the mostly costly missed tackles came when Desmond Igbinosun failed to tackle Garbers on a 49-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“It looks easy,” Schiano said. “It's like a video game, just go take that guy out and he's down. That's not the way it is. And when you tackle somebody and you're hurting, that amplifies the pain quite a bit. I have to, because I'm in charge of personnel, I have to make some decisions what we do with young players; what do we do with guys that are hurting. Do we give them a chance to just totally get back? It's not like we have that many guys.”

And a big stat that stood out to Schiano? UCLA had 223 yards after the catch.

"That's the stat that just smacks me in the face," Schiano said.

Rutgers is banged up, there’s no question about it.

But the Scarlet Knights’ defense needs to be better than it was against UCLA.

Schiano and Harasymiak have decisions – and corrections – to make immediately.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Can defense improve with five games left?