At multiple points in the past three years, usually after a crushing defeat, Greg Schiano touted his program’s progress throughout his second stint, saying they are “closer” to “getting there.”

This week, the Rutgers coach said his team was not playing at “a championship level” as it got off to an 0-3 start to Big Ten play, but it was playing at a “competitive level” after making “great strides.”

On Saturday, the Scarlet Knights reverted to a level unseen since the disaster Schiano was hired to dig them out of.

Rutgers (3-4, 0-4) was hopeless during the 56-10 obliteration it suffered against No. 8 Oregon, a long evening with shades of the 78-0 and 58-0 losses to Michigan and Ohio State during the first year of the disgraceful Chris Ash era.

Rutgers had mostly avoided being blown out this badly by the Big Ten’s best defeats under Schiano, but by the third quarter on Saturday, the stands were empty outside of the thousands of visiting fans chanting “Let’s Go Ducks!”

The Ducks (6-1, 3-1) did what they wanted against the Scarlet Knights’ disastrous defense, finishing with 750 yards — the most Rutgers conceded in a Big Ten game, the most conceded by a Power Four defense this season and quite possibly the most it has surrendered in a game in program history — that they gained at will. When they got bored of moving the ball normally against a secondary that bickered with each other before multiple snaps, they threw out unorthodox formations and double flea-flickers for fun.

Oregon went 8-of-10 on third downs, racked up 28 first downs and averaged 13 yards per play, including 15 gains of at least 20 yards. The Scarlet Knights surrendered 446 yards on 34 plays (13.1) in the first half, then gave up 122 yards on the first three plays of the second half.

The Ducks did not touch the red zone on its first five touchdown drives, which ended with scores of 68, 30, 31, 21 and 28 yards.

A week after conceding a historic performance against Washington’s Demond Williams, Rutgers allowed Oregon’s Dante Moore to look like prime Michael Vick as he threw for 290 yards, four touchdowns and an interception while running for 49 yards on three carries before being pulled from the game with his team leading 56-3 at the end of the third quarter.

And while the Scarlet Knights needed a perfect offensive performance to overcome their disastrous defense, they were just as helpless against the Ducks’ defense. They finished with just 202 total yards, committed three turnovers and went 4-of-18 on third downs, going three-and-out six times.

Altogether, it led to a 42nd consecutive loss against a ranked team for Rutgers, the longest-such streak among Power Four programs. The Scarlet Knights lost those games by an average margin of 29.8 points, a number that gets uglier when narrowing the scope to top-10 opponents (35.7 points across 17 matchups).

Unless Illinois returns to the top 25 in two-weeks time, the streak will reach 16 years on Nov. 12, and unless the Scarlet Knights pull off an all-time shocker in Columbus against No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 22, the drought will extend to next fall.

Forget ranked teams, though; at this point, Rutgers will be worried about beating any Big Ten team. A meeting next week with Purdue — a must-win for Rutgers to keep its bowl hopes alive — is no gimme the way the Scarlet Knights’ defense is playing.

Here are five observations from Rutgers-Oregon:

1. Athan Kaliakmanis has his worst game of season

He finished with 79 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions on 8-of-25 passing (32%). He missed a wide-open DT Sheffield on a deep pass in one of his few opportunities for a big play, got two passes batted down at the line of scrimmage — making it five in the past two weeks, more than he had in his first 18 games as a Scarlet Knight combined — and struggled to maneuver with his feet (11 rushing yards on three non-sack carries).

Outside of a nifty spin move that forced two Oregon defenders to collide, the quarterback did not have many positives to take out of his matchup with Oregon’s top-15 defense.

2. Ian Strong’s short day

The star receiver was targeted one time in the first half before going down and grabbing his lower leg midway through the second quarter. He returned for one snap but left the game once again and did not play a snap in the second half.

If Strong misses any time, it will be a major hit to the Scarlet Knights.

3. Defensive backs remain disastrous

The Scarlet Knights’ season-long struggles in the secondary were particularly glaring against the Ducks.

Of Moore’s 15 completions, eight gained at least 20 yards. He found his receivers in acres of space, often without a defensive back within five yards of them. The secondary bickered amongst itself often, with sophomore safety Kaj Sanders and linebacker Abram Wright barking at each other while pointing in opposite directions in glaring fashion during a play in the first half.

4. Jai Patel bounces back

For the first time in a Big Ten game this season, the kicker converted every field goal he attempted. He nailed a career-long 51-yard attempt on his team’s first drive, but did not get another shot as the Rutgers offense rarely crossed over to Oregon territory.

5. BONUS ROUND

Here are some other thoughts from SHI Stadium and around the Big Ten.

a. Rutgers took the ball away from Oregon twice (a fumble recovery and an interception), marking the most takeaways it has had in a game this season. But it did nothing with it, throwing three incomplete passes after the former and going three-and-out after the latter.

b. Redshirt freshman quarterback AJ Surace made his Big Ten debut in the fourth quarter. He went 0-of-2 in his lone drive, which ended with the Scarlet Knights’ only touchdown of the night.

c. Assuming Iowa does not come back against Penn State, Rutgers’ four losses in Big Ten play came against teams with a combined 10-6 record, with four of those losses coming to No. 1 Ohio State (2) and soon-to-be No. 2 Indiana (2). At the very least, the Scarlet Knights are losing to good teams.

d. The same won’t be said if Rutgers falls to Purdue, which dropped to 0-4 in Big Ten play with a 19-0 loss at Northwestern. The Scarlet Knights cannot be the Boilermakers’ first — and, in all likelihood, only — Big Ten win of the season.

e. Luke Fickell will soon join James Franklin (Penn State) and DeShaun Foster (UCLA) as Big Ten coaches to get canned this season after Wisconsin suffered a 34-0 loss to No. 1 Ohio State tonight. The Badgers are 2-5 through seven games, a span in which it has scored 44 total points. That makes Rutgers’ 42-7 loss to them last season — the worst at Wisconsin of the 21st century — even more baffling.

f. The Rizzler was a special guest at SHI Stadium, which led a majority of those in attendance to ask: who is the Rizzler?

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