PISCATAWAY, N.J. — A week after watching Pittsburgh play its best game of the season in upsetting then No. 16 South Florida, new coach Todd Graham saw the other side of the Panthers, the real bad one.

Mistake-prone Pittsburgh (3-3, 1-1 Big East) threw four interceptions, committed nine penalties, converted 2 of 14 third-down chances, allowed six sacks, gave up a huge kickoff return after getting back in the game in the fourth quarter in an embarrassing 34-10 loss to Rutgers on Saturday.

“It’s my job to get the team ready and the responsibility for every single thing tonight goes right here on me,” Graham said. “We didn’t have our guys ready to play and they came out and whupped our tail.”

Graham might have made the biggest mistake.

Trailing 6-3 at the half, he benched starting quarterback Tino Sunseri and put in freshman Tyler Anderson, hoping to spark his team.

It backfired on the second series when linebacker Steve Beauharnais made the third of the Scarlet Knights’ picks and returned the ball to the 18-yard line, setting up the first of two touchdown passes by freshman Gary Nova in his first start.

“It’s very disappointing and unacceptable how we played,” Graham said. “We got to go to work and get better. It’s very inconsistent to go from our best game last week to our worst, but give Rutgers an awful lot of credit.”

Pittsburgh’s sensational junior Ray Graham rushed for 165 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown fourth-quarter run that closed Rutgers lead to 20-10.

But Jeremy Deering returned the ensuing kickoff to the Panthers 14, setting up a 3-yard TD run by Savon Huggins. Logan Ryan closed out the scoring late, returning his second interception of the game 45 yards for a touchdown.

Pittsburgh linebacker Max Gruder said the blame for the performance is shared by everyone on the team.

“There were breakdowns in all areas of offense, defense, special teams,” Gruder said. “It’s silly to blame one person and it definitely wasn’t on coach Graham’s shoulders.”

Nova hit Mark Harrison on a 6-yard TD pass after the Beauharnais interception and connected with fullback Joe Martinek on a 60-yard screen pass as the Scarlet Knights (4-1, 2-0 Big East) handed Pittsburgh its third loss in four games.