Game 12: Louisville

Need to make this quick.

You know what's on the line tonight. It's the defacto Big East championship game. Winner goes to a BCS bowl.

Rutgers on Offense
They need to trust Gary Nova and stop being so conservative. Jawan Jamison should be fully healthy today, and he and Huggins should both get double digit carries against Louisville's poor run defense. It would be nice to come out throwing early to get a lead and then run latter, but who knows what mode Brock will be in tonight.

Rutgers on Defense
The Scarlet Knights need to get pressure on Bridgewater. He has a bum ankle, so force him out of the pocket, where he shouldn't be as effective. Louisville runs the ball up the gut well, so they need to hold double teams on the line and allow the linebackers to make plays.

It's also worth mentioning that Louisville doesn't exactly play great special teams so Rutgers should take advantage of that.

Prediction Louisville 13 Rutgers 17
The stars are aligned for a Rutgers win. No excuses, just do it!

Know Your Opponent: Louisville

Louisville visits Piscataway today, in what is the Scarlet Knights' biggest home game since the Thursday night thriller in November 2006 that saw Rutgers upend the #3 Cardinals 28-25 in dramatic, come back fashion. This 2012 Louisville team has a lot of similarities as the 2006 team. Teddy Bridgewater is the hot shot quarterback, just like Brian Brohm, Charlie Strong is their highly regarded head coach who will have some job offers come his way after the season, similar to Bobby Petrino, and the team is trying to overcome the loss of their starting running back, Senorise Perry, who went down with a season ending leg injury, similar to when the Cards lost Michael Bush. Where this team differs though, is in their youth. Their roster is full of juniors and sophomores, and that could be a problem for them this week. Not only do they have to deal with the typical road game things, they must deal with a number of outside distractions as well. The school just announced that it will join the ACC in two years yesterday, and they will also have to deal with the rumors that their head coach's name is being brought up for other jobs. Once they put the pads on and enter the field though, these distractions might go away. But hopefully they will continue to follow the 2006 team's path and lose a Thursday night game On the Banks.   

Louisville So Far
The Cardinals are coming off consecutive losses to Syracuse and Connecticut. Prior to that, they won their first nine games of the regular season, beating arch rival Kentucky, Missouri State, North Carolina, Florida International, Southern Miss, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Temple along the way to becoming the 9th ranked team in the country prior to those losses. 

Coaching
Louisville was the school that finally gave Charlie Strong a chance. After being passed over for numerous head coaching opportunities in the past, Strong had finally landed a coveted head job for the Cardinals. It was quite confusing as to why it took so long (some people think race played a factor), since he had such an impressive resume. Strong had coached under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame and South Carolina (where he invented the 3-3-5 defense), and he was also the defensive coordinator for two national championships teams at Florida under Urban Meyer. Since taking over at Louisville, he has made people regret not hiring him. Strong got the Cardinals' program back on track after some lean years, going 23-14 in his almost three full seasons, while also building strong recruiting ties for the school in Florida. He has also proved to be well organized and always well prepared, while still doing a good job coaching the defense. SEC schools may come after him when the year is over, but whether or not he will jump ship remains to be seen. I personally think he will stay at Louisville.

Offense 40th in PPG, 90th yards per carry, 16th in pass efficiency, 34th in yards per play
Teddy Bridgewater is the toal package at the quarterback position, and he has been by far the best offensive player in the Big East this year. He has nice size, a big time arm, impressive accuracy, and is athletic enough to be effective out of the pocket as both a passer and a runner. However, he comes into this game with a broken left wrist and sprained ankle, so it remains to be seen if his health will be an issue tonight. Upfront, Louisville is led by center Mario Benavides, who is very nimble and light on his feet and a very good all around blocker despite possessing average size. The rest of the offensive line is pretty much the polar opposite of him. They are very big and strong, but do not move very well at all. The Cardinals' o-line is capable of delivering punishing straight ahead blocks in the run game, but their lack of athleticism hampers them in pass protection, and Bridgewater has been his a lot this year, last week in particular. Top tail back Senorise Perry suffered a season ending injury earlier this month against Syracuse, and power back Jeremy Wright has taken over as the work horse since then. DeVante Parker is the big play threat at receiver, beating teams as a vertical threat, and three other receivers have at least 27 receptions.

The Cardinals run a mostly pro style offense with some spread concepts mixed in. They primarily try to run the ball right at you, down hill out of power formations and some pistol sets. Through the air, Louisville runs a ton of play action, getting Bridgewater out of the pocket on boot legs, and also taking numerous shots down field. At times, they have also spread some defenses out and beat them with the short passing game.They shift around a lot and send a lot of guys in motion, so you need to be prepared for that and know if or how moving guys affects your assignment. With Bridgewater's broken wrist, he will not be able to take snaps from under center, so they may run less play action as a result, and he could also have trouble handing the ball off on runs to the right.

Defense 44th in PPG, 75th in yards per carry, 48th in pass efficiency, 40th in yards per play
Louisville runs a 4-3 defense with a single high free safety, and they like to blitz. A lot. They play mostly zone coverages behind the blitzes, and will sometimes even drop guys from the line back into coverage. Their top defender is strong safety Hakeem Smith, who is a hard hitting safety that plays down in the box to stop the run and play underneath coverages. Their linebacking corp. is led by Preston Brown, who leads the team in tackles, and these guys bring a lot of pressure both up the middle and off the edge. They have a defensive line that is big up the middle and quick on the edges, and end Lorenzo Mauldin leads the team in sacks. Louisville is not very good at stopping the run, though. They are fooled by misdirection plays, and they get knocked off the ball too easily when teams run up the gut. If you run the ball well against them like Cincinnati did, you can frustrate them, and when they are frustrated, they give up big plays, especially on deep balls. When they play cover 3, the intermediate middle area of the field is often left open, and teams exploit that with skinny post patterns. The unit has been very inconsistent all year, and had near melt downs in the final minutes against both USF and North Carolina. This defense has posted solid overall numbers, but they appear to be a bit of a paper tiger. Syracuse really embarrassed this group a few weeks ago, and the book on how to beat them appears to be out.

Conclusion
Louisville has a great offense and a mediocre defense that is capable of playing great or playing poorly, led by their defensive minded head coach, who has done a great job preparing his team. The Cardinals are a young, hungry team who has a had a great year, but they know there's still a lot on the line for them.This is the most talented team Rutgers will face in the regular season, but the Cards' lack of senior leadership could be a problem this week, as they are on the road and have numerous outside distractions to deal with.

Break Down of the Week: Rutgers Goes Old School to Stop Cincy

Rutgers has been a defense first time for quite a few years now. Greg Schiano was one of the top defensive minds in college football, and he used his fast, attacking style of defense to stifle opponents on his way to building Rutgers into a respectable program. He has moved on to the NFL, but the Scarlet Knights have kept that style of defense in place under Kyle Flood and new defensive coordinator Robb Smith. During Saturday's telecast of the Pitt game, analyst Joey Galloway mentioned one particular tactic they utilize to attack offensive fronts, defensive line slanting.

Before we go in depth with this slant technique  let's cover the basics. All defenses, no matter the front, assign a player to defend a gap. Some defenses ask their defensive lineman to defend 2 gaps, but most of the time, every lineman and linebacker is assigned to one specific gap. The area between the center and guard is the "A gap" on both sides. The gap between the guard and tackle is the "B gap" on both sides, and the gap between the tackle and tight end is the "C gap." The area outside of the tight end is the "D gap". In a base 4-3 defense like the one Rutgers plays, you will normally see the nose tackle play one of the A gaps with the middle linebacker playing the other, the three technique tackle in one B gap with an outside linebacker in the other B gap, and the defensive ends playing in the C gap on one side and the D gap on the other, and an OLB guarding the other C gap to the tight end side. It looks something like this:

Against Cincinnati two weeks ago, Rutgers played an outstanding game defensively. They shut the Bearcats down most of the day, but early in the third quarter, Cincy marched down the field to Rutgers' 6 yard line, where they were faced with a 4th and 1. Butch Jones decided to go for it, and Robb Smith dialed up something a bit different to confuse the Bearcats. He called for a throw back defense that that was prominent in '60's and 70's, the 5-2 monster with a defensive line slant. (Click to enlarge)

On the 4th down play, Cincinnati brings their 12 personnel onto the field (1 RB 2 TE), and Rutgers counters with their base (4-3) personnel. Cincy lines up with both TE's to the left out of their shot gun set and the Scarlet Knight defensive line shifts to the weak side of the formation. In the obvious run situation near the end zone, Rutgers brings both safeties up into the box, with Duron Harmon lining up in an outside shade of the tight end, assigned to the D gap and serving as the 5th defensive lineman for all intents and purposes. Lorenzo Waters is down in the box as an extra run supporter as well, playing on the weak side. Jamal Merrell is also lined up to weak side, acting as the monster in this front to the outside. Scott Vallone appears to be assigned to the play side A gap, while Steve Beauharnais is over the weak side A gap. Darius Hamilton (weak side) and Khaseem Greene (strong side) are over the B gaps. Marcus Thompson (weak) and Ka'Lial Glaud (strong) are over the C gaps, while Harmon is over the D gap, and Merrell and Waters are roaming free on the weak side. With this defensive alignment, Cincinnati thinks they have numbers to the strong side (left side in this case) of their formation, with 5 blockers (2 TE, 3 OL) against only 4 Rutgers defenders. They decide to run to the strong side of the formation, and they think if they are able to get a hat on a hat and a double team at the point of attack, they will easily pick up the first down with the basic inside zone run they call.

Rutgers Stumbles in Loss to Pitt 27-6

This game always had a weird vibe to it. Some people even thought this game was meaningless. It just seemed like a forgone conclusion that the winner of the Louisville- Rutgers game that was scheduled just a few days after this one would decide who earns the Big East's BCS bid. Louisville would take care of UConn, and the result of this game against Pitt would not matter at all. But as it is often the case in the Big East 2.0, things do not go as planned, and the Cardinals lost to the bottom feeding Huskies in triple overtime, and Rutgers blew their chances of securing an Orange Bowl berth if they would have simply just taken care of  a mediocre Pittsburgh team. They of course did not do that, and they got tripped up in another trap game, as they have so many times in the past. They came out flat, played about as poorly as they could of in all three phases of the game, and were thoroughly out played and out coached in a 27-6 loss to Pitt. Simply put, it was just another bad loss for a program that has become accustomed to such losses.

Rutgers was totally inept on the offensive side of the ball in this game. The play calling was just as conservative as it has been all year, and the players didn't exactly help matters with poor execution and penalties. Rutgers had some early success running the ball, getting some 4 and 5 yard carries, but Pitt started to load up to stop the run, and once that happened, Rutgers could not muster anything. Savon Huggins and Jawan Jamison had nowhere to run, and Dave Brock kept stubbornly pounding the rock up the middle, including on multiple third and longs. It seemed like they weren't really trying to score points and were just content to punt all the time, even when they had pretty good field position. They refused to put the game in Gary Nova's hands at all for some reason and on one of Nova's rare throws in the first half, he was slammed on his head and shoulder and had to miss a series. All in all, Rutgers had the ball 8 times in the first half and they punted it away all 8 times. They had 6 three and outs and a grand total of 48 yards going into the lock room at the half.

Trailing 21-0 a tht estart of the third, Rutgers finally decided to open things up a little bit. Nova was throwing the ball out of shot gun over the middle and he completed passes to Tim Wright and Paul Carrezola for a couple first downs. Huggins had just picked up another first down in Pitt territory on a 3rd and 2, but that run was called back on an Andre Civil holding penalty, and the drive ended with another punt. They continued throwing on their next drive, and Nova was hitting Tim Wright and Quoron Pratt over the middle for first downs, advancing into Pitt territory. Mark Harrison then caught a pass on an out route to set the Knights up on the goal line. Jamison burst into the endzone, but DC Jefferson was called for a hold (it was a good block and did not warrant a flag), negating the score. A pass interference penalty in the endzone got RU a new set of downs, and Brandon Coleman caught a touchdown toss from Nova on a post pattern from 11 yards out to make it 24-6. Kyle Flood decided to go for 2 to make it a 2 possession game, but the try failed. I did not like his decision, as the odds of making 3 straight 2 point tries are not very good, and you just need to take the point there. Dick Vermeil's chart agrees with me. It would end up not mattering though, because Rutgers couldn't do anything else on offense. Nova threw a bad interception on the next drive, and they just packed it in after that.

This offense has shown flashes of brilliance this year, and that makes the overly conservative play calling and penalties even more frustrating. They are capable of doing so much more, but they look like an FCS offense sometimes. You would think the coaches would realize that their stubborn offensive game plans are hurting the team, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The offense is pretty young, but the coaches need to put more faith in them at some point. You have to remember too that Kyle Flood is a rookie head coach, so hopefully he figures out what he's doing wrong with this offense, learn from it, and fix it.

The Scarlet Knight defense certainly did not play their best game either. They dominated in the first quarter, but were embarrassed in the second, so I guess it added up to a mediocre performance overall. On the opening series of the game, they appeared to set the tone with Scott Vallone and Jamil Merrell bringing Pitt tailback Ray Graham down in the backfield to force a punt. They yielded a first down reception to Mike Shanahan on the next series, but they were able to hold Graham in check, and they forced another punt. The secondary was locking things down as well, and Pitt couldn't convert any third downs in the opening quarter, and had three 3 and outs as a result. Things started rolling out of control in the second quarter, however. Tino Sunseri started attacking the flats with the Scarlet Knights bringing heavy pressure, and they were able to march down field with Shanahan finishing the drive off with a TD reception after Brandon Jones was fooled by a double move. Pitt moved the ball effectively on their next drive as well, but Marcus Cooper was able to stop a screen pass that almost went for a touchdown and Jamil Merrell recorded a sack when Sunseri held onto the ball too long to force Pitt out of field goal range.

Pitt was set up in great field position on their next possession, and they were able to advance the ball to the Rutgers two. Fortunately for the Knights though, the Panthers botched a snap exchange, and Logan Ryan was able to recover the loose ball. The offense could not flip field position at all, so the defense would be faced with bad field position again, and that problem was compounded by the fact that Khaseem Greene was flagged for targeting while covering the punt, on what looked like a clean hit to me. I think he led with his shoulder, but you can judge for yourself:

After another questionable penalty, this time Marvin Booker was called for roughing the passer when it appeared he let up before making contact, Graham was able to punch the ball in for a one yard score. Pitt got the ball back again with just over a minute left in the half, and they had a quick, efficient scoring drive that made the Knights look helpless. Ed Tinker caught a TD pass, and it looked like Rutgers' DB defending him could have knocked the pass down if he turned around. If he was able to do so, the Panthers would have been limited to a field goal. Instead, the Scarlet Knights went into the locker room down 21-0.

Rutgers could not stop the run early in the second half, and it led to a Pitt field goal that extend the deficit. Vallone made another big stuff on 3rd and run to force a punt at the end of the third quarter, and he came up with another big stop by getting a tackle for loss following Nova's interception early in the 4th. He was really Rutgers' lone bright spot on the day. They allowed Pitt to make another tack on field goal towards the end of the game.

It was a mediocre game overall for the defense. They dealt with poor field position all day, but they did not perform up to the lofty standards they have set for themselves. They were not awful, holding Pitt to less than 6 yards per pass attempt, while picking up some sacks, and doing ok against the run (despite giving up 3 or 4 long runs), but it was just not good enough. They only forced one turnover, and they had an abysmal second quarter. The defensive line played pretty well, but everyone else was...meh.

This was a typical trap game where Rutgers came out totally flat and lost to an opponent that they should have beaten (even though Pitt has talent and played a great game), as  they were probably looking ahead to their next game.The offense was downright terrible in every way, and the defense could not bail them out, as they merely turned in a mediocre performance and only forced one turn over. The coaches did a poor job in game planing and making in game decisions and adjustments, and the team looked very bad as a result. It was just an all around terrible game. Rutgers must pick themselves up and put in the necessary work to get ready for Louisville in the defacto conference championship game on short week and at home.

Additional Notes
-Jawan Jamison became the first Rutgers player to rush for over 1000 yards since Ray Rice did so in 2007. Congrats to him and his offensive line, that's a big accomplishment.

-With Connecticut's win over Louisville in triple overtime, Rutgers clinched at least a share of the Big East title, but the conference's BCS bid will still be up for grabs on Thursday. This is a big accomplishment, as the Scarlet Knights have never won the conference before, but it really won't feel like they won the conference unless they go to a BCS game. Think of it this way: if they have to share their crown with SYRACUSE, that lessens the accomplishment.

Game 11: Pitt

Rutgers comes into Heinz Field today, leading the Big East standings and only one win away from at least a share of a conference title. Kyle Flood has kept his team focused all year on "going 1-0 this week" and that focus will certainly be put to test this week, as there are numerous distractions the team has to deal with. The Big 10 news is certainly exciting, and what could be the biggest game in school history is just a few days away, but Rutgers needs to have tunnel vision and focus on a Pitt team that is just as capable of playing great as they are capable of playing like crap. The conditions are probably going to be poor, and there were 4 high school games played at Heinz Field on Friday, so Rutgers big advantage over Pitt, speed, could be neutralized a bit in this one.

Rutgers On Offense
Rutgers played pretty well last week against Cincy, (despite only scoring 10 points) after scuffling a bit in the middle portion of the season. Jawan Jamison is supposedly 100%, but with the conditions the way they are and based on how Savon Huggins played last week, Huggins could see the majority of the carries, pounding the rock inside. Jamison will certainly get his touches too, hopefully in space, but if the field is torn up, he could have problems cutting, especially with the ankle injury. The offensive line will need to play like they did last week, dominating in the run game and protecting the quarterback. Antwan Lowery has a big size advantage over Pitt's defensive line and he should bury people. Pitt's secondary gets torched often by big plays through the air, so if the Scarlet Knights can run effectively, Gary Nova should be able to connect with his receivers on some deep balls off play action. Miles Shuler should see some targets. Pitt's defense is very slow, so RU will hopefully use their superior speed to their advantage, even with the poor conditions.

Rutgers On Defense
Rutgers' defense has been dominant all year, and they need to keep it up after turning in the best effort they have in years last week against Cincinnati. First and foremost, Rutgers needs to stop the runs up the middle. Ray Graham has been pounding opposing defenses (including Notre Dame) into submission, and they need to hold him in check like they did last year. Khaseem Greene is going to need to shut down his brother. Rutgers should try to get one of their bigger defensive line groupings on the field, as Pitt has a massive offensive line, but if they are do not, they need to out quick them. Pitt can not protect the passer, so it is vital the Knights get a pass rush from their front 4. That would also allow them to drop more guys in coverage over the middle, where Tino Sunseri likes to throw to his big possession receivers. As Pitt does not have much of a vertical passing game, I would expect the safeties to play closer to the line than they normally do to stop the run and take away the intermediate passes. Sunseri has been good this year, but I think the defense can rattle him if they hit him and intercept a pass early on.

Injuries
Jamison is said to be a full go, and Andre Civil should play after missing last week. Kicker Kyle Federico is still out with a hip injury.

Prediction Rutgers 24 Pitt 17
I think Rutgers will have a very good day running the ball and will hit on a couple deep balls. My main concern is how the defense will stop the run. Graham may have some success running against them, and if that's the case, they must rattle Sunseri to make the Panthers one dimensional. The weather will not help the Knights, but their focus and senior leadership will be too strong to lose this game with so much on the line.

Know Your Opponent: Pittsburgh

Rutgers and Pitt are eerily intertwined in their recent histories. Former Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was one of former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano's mentors, going back to their Chicago Bear days, when Schiano was Wanny's secondary coach. When Pitt fired Wannstedt, Rutgers was able to pick up three assistants from his coaching staff, and one of those assistants, Frank Cignetti,  was able to rebuiled Rutgers' broken offense and he, Brian Angelichio and Jeff Hafley were able to assemble two very good recruiting classes before all departing for the NFL. Gary Nova was originally committed to Pitt before flipping to Rutgers not long before signing day, and there's of course former Scarlet Knight QB Tom Savage, who transferred to Pitt this year, and is sitting out as he awaits the opportunity to compete for the starting QB job next year. Rutgers' star linebacker's brother, running back Ray Graham, stars for the Panthers and the two will square off for the fourth and final time of their collegiate careers. These two teams will face off Saturday for what will likely be the last time for the foreseeable future, as both programs are set to move on to greener pastures in the ACC and Big 10.

Pitt So Far
The Panthers are 4-6 this season, and they have been a streaky bunch. They were beaten by FCS foe Youngstown State in their opener, and they were promptly blown out by Cincinnati five days later. They rebounded by beating Virginia Tech and Gardner Webb, before going on another two game streak, dropping contests to Syracuse and Louisville. They ended the 2 game losing streak with another hot streak, topping Buffalo and Temple, and nearly knocking off Notre Dame, who is currently the number one team in the land, on the road in overtime. Pittsburgh was off last week after a Friday night loss to Connecticut.

Coaching Staff
Paul Chryst is Pitt's 3rd head coach since Wannstedt was fired after the 2010 season, and he is 4-6 so far as a head coach. Chryst was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Wisconsin, and he has also coached under Mike Riley during two stints at Oregon State and with the San Diego Chargers as well. Chryst runs a physical, pro style offense, and he has one intention as a play caller: to run it down your throat. Despite being a run oriented coach, Chryst has been successful developing quarterbacks. He has done a nice job  resurrecting Tino Sunseri's career this year, and he also coached Russell Wilson, Scott Tolzien, and Derek Anderson. He has assembled a nice 2013 recruiting class so far, and he seems to be invested in Pitt for the long run, so he could have a bright future at the school.

Joe Rudolph is the offensive coordinator, and he was named to the position after Bob Bostad joined Greg Schiano's staff with the Buccaneers. Rudolph was an assistant with the Badgers along with Chryst, and he also coaches tight ends. Dave "Heathcliff''* Huxtable is the defensive coordinator, and he was also a former Badger assistant, coaching the linebackers. He runs a 4-3 defense with the Panthers.

*His middle name is not really Heathcliff, I just made that up.

Offense 71st in PPG, 95th in yards per carry, 8th in passer rating, 35th in yards per play
Pitt leans heavily on their rushing attack, and they can beat you with the play action pass if you sell out against the run. They come at you with a lot of two tight end sets, and power it right at you up the middle. They run mostly inside zone and power plays, with some counters and sweeps thrown in. They have two very good backs in Ray Graham and Rushel Shell. Graham is the best back in the Big East, and he has been on fire lately, as he appears to be fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered last year, after looking hesitant early in the season. Shell is a true freshman who had a monster game against Virginia Tech, but he has seen his carries diminish with Graham returning to form. Upfront, Pitt has a massive offensive line. They are very strong and can rush people around, but they aren't exactly the quickest group. Despite their run blocking prowess, they are amongst the worst in the nation at protecting the passer, and that's why their yards per carry rank is so bad. Tino Sunseri doesn't help matters, holding onto the ball for too long, but he has improved this year by leaps and bounds, and is one of the most efficient passers in the nation. Pitt throws mostly intermediate routes, and Sunseri has some solid weapons. Devin Street is his primary target, and he is a big, tough possession receiver. Mike Shanahan has a similar skill set as Street, but he is more of a big play threat. Pitt is also a very good screen team, with Graham running well in space.

Defense 31st in PPG, 58th in yards per carry, 35th in passer rating, 41st in yards per play
On defense, Pitt runs a 4-3 with a single high safety, and they do not blitz a whole lot. The unit is pretty slow as a whole and they lack experience, but they have turned in some impressive efforts, most notably against Notre Dame. Their best play is three technique tackle Aaron Donald, who is a bit undersized, but very quick. He can rush the passer from inside, and he can get around tackles to stop the run as well. The defensive line can get pushed around at times (like against UConn), and give up big chunks of yardage against the run. At linebacker, Pitt really does not have a stand out player. Their top linebacker is Eric Williams, and he is only 4th on the team in tackles with 44. Pitt's secondary is not very good either, giving up a lot of big plays. They've been torn up several times this year, and they are not helped at all by a pass rush. K'Waun Williams has displayed flashes of brilliance, but he is very inconsistent and red shirt freshman Lafayette Pitts is a talented player who has seen the field more of late. Schematically, Pitt does not do much. They play some man and some zone coverages, and usually bring the strong safety up to stop the run. The free safety stays back and plays center field at all times. This is not a very good defense, and Rutgers could tear them up.

Conclusion
Pitt is one of the most inconsistent teams in the nation, and you never know how they will play on a particular day. They could be the dominant team that beat Virginia Tech, or the awful one that was beaten badly by Connecticut. They have a very strong offense that can run and throw, but you can get pressure on Sunseri and keep the offense off schedule. Defensively, the Panthers have one stand out player in Donald, but a poor group overall. They lack speed on this side of the ball, and they can not rush the passer. This team has played much better at home than they have on the road, and they are coming off a bye, but this team should not be favored over Rutgers, and it would be an upset if they won.

Thanksgiving Weekend Picks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you have a great day.

1. Ohio State 2. Notre Dame 3. Alabama 4. Oregon 5. Georgia 6. Florida 7. Kansas State 8. LSU 9. Texas A&M 10. Stanford 11. South Carolina 12. Florida State 13. Oklahoma 14. Rutgers 15. Louisville 16. Clemson 17. Oregon State 18. Texas 19. UCLA 20. Kent State 21. Northern Illinois 22. Oklahoma State 23. Nebraska 24. Boise State 25. Mississippi State

Hamilton West 21 Steinert 14
The Hornets do not lose to the Spartans, and it certainly ill not happen two years in a row.

TCU 24 Texas 31
If your not in a food coma, it's better than watching the Jets.

Syracuse 34 Temple 20
The Owls have a poor defense, and nobody seems to be able to stop Alec Lemon (other than RU of course). Montel Harris is coming off a career day, and he needs to have another big game to keep Temple close.

LSU 30 Arkansas28
The Hogs end their disappointing season in a rivalry game. Tyler Wilson could have one last big game, but LSU's offense has been playing much better of late.

Ohio 24 Kent State 32
The Golden Flash have already clinched the MAC East.

West Virginia 50 Iowa State 44
Tavon Austin is coming off a huge game against Oklahoma, and the Cyclones won't be able to keep up with him or Geno Smith.

USF 10 Cincinnati 34
Cincy will take out their frustrations on Skip Holtz's wounded squad.

Arizona State 30 Arizona 41
Two well like former Big East coaches square off. (sarcasm)

Georgia Tech 17 Georgia 34
Big rivalry game, but both teams have conference championship games next week.

Connecticut 20 Louisville 35
UConn's not stopping Teddy Bridgewater.

Michigan 17 Ohio State 21
The Buckeyes have a long shot of winning the AP title if they win this one.

Baylor 49 Texas Tech 42
The Bears need a win coming off their upset victory over K-State to be bowl eligible.

Oregon 49 Oregon State 34
Why is this game not on national TV? Both teams are in the top 15.

Florida 12 Florida State 17
The Gators' offense has been struggling.

Oklahoma State 50 Oklahoma 53
Bedlam.

Stanford 20 UCLA 24
They will play again next Friday if Stanford wins.

South Carolina 23 Clemson 30
Clemson will probably go to a BCS game if they win.

Notre Dame 24 USC 21
Sadly the Irish will go to the National Championship game. If Matt Barkley were playing, I think the Trojans would pull off the upset. Help me Marqise Lee, you're my only hope.

Rutgers' Defense Dominates in 10-3 Win

On the day news broke of Rutgers' impending Big 10 membership, the Scarlet Knights played like a Big 10 in beating Cincinnati, winning on the strength of their defense and power run game. The defense, led by Khaseem Greene, held the number 1 scoring offense in the Big East to just three points, making big play after big play, and locking things down in the redzone. On the offensive side of the ball, Savon Huggins carried the ball a school record 41 times with Jawan Jamison limited, and he was able to power his way through the defense and take a lot of time off the clock. They set the tone of the game too, making the Bearcats play a slow paced game, rather than their up-tempo style. The victory improved the Scarlet Knights to 5-0 in Big East play for the first time ever, and they are one win away from clinching at least a share of their first conference title.

Kyle Flood and Dave Brock have been criticized for being overly conservative, but they came out aggressive in their play calling on Saturday, and Gary Nova completed a deep ball to Brandon Coleman for 41 yards on the Knights' first play of the day. The Rutgers' drive eventually got into the redzone, but it did not result in any points, as Nova threw an interception while trying to throw the ball away under duress. Huggins started to shoulder the load on the next series, carrying the ball 5 straight times, picking up 20 yards. The drive continued as Miles Shuler took a screen pass 10 yards on a 3rd and 1, but it was derailed by a holding penalty, for what feels like the thousandth drive set back by penalties this year. The infraction negated a 16 yard pass, and the Knights were unable to pick up another first down, even after Jamison took one of his few carries of the day for 16 yards on first down. The initial drive of the second quarter was ruined by penalties too, and it resulted in another punt.

Rutgers lone touchdown drive of the day came on their next possession, as they started on their own 3 yard line. Huggins was running well down hill behind and offensive line that was punishing the Bearcats' front, and it set up the play action pass perfectly. Nova had plenty of time to throw after faking the hand off, and he was able to hit Mark Harrison in stride on the post route for a 71 yard touchdown to make it 7-0. The Knights followed that up with another nice drive next time thy had the ball. Jeremy Deering started it off, taking a reverse 20 yards, and Huggins ran it up the gut to get into Cincy territory. Brock made another aggressive play call, calling for a double pass, but Tim Wright's throw was just barely out of Huggins' reach, on what would have been a touchdown. Jamison broke off another 15 yard run to get the ball into the redzone, but the Knights came up empty again, as Nova stared down Shuler in the endzone and the safety snatched it away from him. It was a disappointing way to head into the locker room, but the Knights had to have felt great about how Huggins was running and how the line was blocking.

The Scarlet Knight offense didn't exactly come out of the locker room on fire, going three and out on their first two possessions, but they were able to put together a nice, time consuming drive towards the end of the third quarter. Huggins was starting to wear the defense down and pick up big chunks of yards, and Nova converted a 3rd and 13 with a pass to Tim Wright to get the ball down to the 9. They were not able to move the ball much further though, and they had to settle for a field goal. The attempt was blocked, and the Scarlet Knights came up empty in the redzone for the third time of the day. At the start of the fourth quarter, they were able to put together a similar drive, riding Huggins and the offensive line, and they took nearly 7 minutes of the clock. After Huggins picked up 35 yards on the ground and Nova completed two passes, one each to Harrison and Wright, Nick Borgese drilled a 42 yard field goal through the uprights to give the Knights a comfortable 10-0 lead. From there, Rutgers just ran out the clock. Huggins broke off his longest run of the day, a 25 yarder, and tied Jamison's school record for carries in a game with 41.

Despite only putting 10 points on the board, Rutgers' offense played very well. They had over 400 yards of total offense and ran the ball at will. Savon Huggins had by far the best day of his career, with 178 yards on his 41 carries, behind a dominant offensive line. RJ Dill delivered some crushing blocks while pulling outside on sweeps, and Antwan Lowery was punishing people with pancake blocks all over the place. Betim Bujari, Kaleb Johnson and Taj Alexander also pushed people around to create holes. Nova made one bad mistake on his second interception, but other wise played well. The deep ball was thankfully back, and Mark Harrison had a big day, going over 100 yards. There's just something that makes him perform better at Nippert Stadium. It was very reassuring to see the offense play like this after some sub par outings.

The defense came out onto the field to open the game, and they punched Cincinnati in the mouth right away. Khaseem Greene stuffed stuffed George Winn early on, to set the tone for the rest of the game. The Bearcats were able to move the ball a bit on their next possession, but Greene stepped up again, tackling Brendon Kay in the backfield for a loss of two, and delivering a punishing hit to Winn to cause an incompeltion. Cincy had to settle for a field goal attempt, and the kick was no good, as it sailed wide right. The defense was gashed two plays in a row by Cincinnati's ground attack, due to some missed tackles, but the Knights clamped down and forced another punt. Kay took one of his few shots down field on the following series, and Logan Ryan played the ball perfectly and intercepted it near the endzone. Scott Vallone then made pretty much every play the next time the defense was on the field. He batted down a pass and pressured Kay into a bad throw, nearly getting a sack, to force another Bearcat punt. With the way the defense was dominating, the 7-0 half time lead seemed much larger.

Early in the third quarter, the defense started to bend a little bit. Travis Kelce and Robert Abernathy were able to pick up some big yards after the catch, advancing the ball to Rutgers 17 yard line. But as they did all day, the defense stepped up and made plays to keep them off the board. Marvin Booker chased Kay down on a read option on first down, and Ryan was able to make a play on a perimieter run on 3rd down to force a 4th and 1. Butch Jones, probably thinking that he would have limited opportunites to score, decided to go for it. On the 4th down play, the defensive line got a strong push, led by Darius Hamilton,  Steve Beauharnais quickly diagnosed the play and filled the hole, and Greene finished Winn off with the tackle. Hamilton and Beauharnais made their presence known again on the following series, as Hamilton  recorded a tackle for loss with the speedy Abernathy running, and Beauharnais picked off a pass while lurkling over the middle on the ensuing play.

The Bearcats completed a 25 yard pass at the tail end of the third, but the Knights were able to force two straight incompetions to cause a Cincy punt early in the 4th. The defense got a bit more aggressive after taking a 10-0 lead, and brought the house on a 3rd and 3. Winn caught a screen pass behind the blitzers, and took it 30 yards to midfield. The Bearcats competed two more passes, but then the Knights smelled blood on the water and started teeing off on Kay. Booker picked up a sack, and Greene recorded another, and Cincy had to go for it on 4th and 25 at this point. Beauharnais hurried the quarterback, and Brandon Jones provided nice coverage to ensure the pass fell to the ground. The Bearcats' last ditch effort got them into RU territory again, but Greene recorded another sack, and Cincinnati kicked a field goal with 1:17 left to ruin the shut out. Rutgers recovered the onside kick, and left Nippert Stadium victorious.

The defense played about as well as you possibly can and nearly shut out a very good offense. Greene led the effort once again and picked up Big East defensive player of the week honors for the second week in a row. Beauharnais, Vallone, and Hamilton did a good job stuffing the run, and various Cincinnati receivers were lost on Logan Island. The defense as a whole locked everything down, forcing incompletions and making a lot of plays in the backfield. Like they did against Isaiah Pead last year, they held all Big East caliber tialback George Winn to his lowest rushing yardage output of the season.

Rutgers imposed their will on Cincinnati by being more physical than them and slowing the pace down to their speed, rather than the up-tempo pace Cincinnati likes to play with. Savon Huggins had his break out game (which I totally called), possibly giving the Knights a 1-2 backfield combo going forward. The offensive line dominated, and Nova played solid overall, and Mark Harrison led the receivers with a 100 yard day. The defense dominated, and players at all three levels played some of the best football they have in their entire careers. This is the type of game Rutgers needs to play week in and week out (scoring more points in the redzone though, of course). They are one win away from clinching at least a share of their first Big East title.

Breaking News: Rutgers in Negotiations to Join the Big 10

Rutgers won today thanks to a dominant defensive effort, and I'll write the game recap eventually, but that's going to take a back seat for now.

Multiple sources are reporting that the Big 10 is in negotiations to add the University of Maryland as their 13th conference member, and if they come to an agreement, Rutgers will join them as the conference's 14th member. Obviously this is great news for Rutgers, since the Big 10 is the richest conference in the country, thanks in large part to the Big 10 Network, and that will help Rutger' athletic department's bottom line a great deal. More importantly for fans though, it will improve the football program's prestige a great deal and it will also help in recruiting. Playing yearly games against Big 10 teams should spark fan interest and help attendance.

I've been trying to avoid blogging about conference realignment since there so much crap spread around to sell Rivals subscriptions, but this is the real deal. ESPN has very strict rules when it comes to breaking news, so when they report stuff it's true. Rumors of Maryland joining the Big 10 have been swiriling on message boards all week, but I didn't think there were any teeth to it for the a fore mentioned reasons. This is a lot for me to wrap my head around at once, so I'll hopefully write more about this topic later this week.

Game 10: Cincinnati

Rutgers is 8-1 (4-0) and alone atop the Big East standings, and they start a daunting 3 game stretch to end the season today, in their house of horrors, Nippert Stadium, against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincinnati is once again one of the best teams in the Big East, and they present a major road block to the Scarlet Knights, who have not played an opponent of this caliber yet this season. Rutgers hasn't played their best football of late, but they have been much better on the road than at home this year. They need to get off to a fast start today, as they may not be able to dominate in the second half against a very good team like they do against inferior teams.

Rutgers On Offense
Rutgers has been uber-conservative with their play calling this year, sitting back and hoping the other team just beats themselves, but they may not be able to get away with that this time. It looks like Jawan Jamison will play after injuring his ankle last week,  but I would expect him to carry a lighter load with Savon Huggins picking up the slack. Cincinnati has a small but quick front 4, so I would look for the Knights to run right at them, down hill, and maybe not run as much wide zone, which has been the staple of their offense. The offensive line needs to push people around, and they should probably cut block on the backside to prevent penetration. With Cincy's corners giving receivers tons of cushion, I would expect a lot of quick screens to the outside. Hopefully they will attack the middle with some slants and crossing patterns too, as the Bearcat linebackers are not great in coverage and leave the middle vacated quite often when they blitz. These runs and shot passes will hopefully draw the defense up, allowing Nova to attack them deep. Cincy blitzes a lot too, so Nova and the line need to figure that out and pick them up.

Rutgers On Defense
Rutgers made a lot of position changes before last season to get more speed on the field in order to stop offenses just like Cincinnati's. It will be strength vs strength when the Bearcats run the ball to the outside, which they do so often. Khaseem Greene should have plenty of opportunities to make plays in space, and the corners need to provide run support, like they usually do. If they run right at Logan Ryan, I like Rutgers' chances. The defensive line mush get pressure on Brandon Key, and make him uncomfortable when he drops back and throws deep. Cincy throws a lot of deep balls, and the defensive backs must use their ball skills to knock passes down and hopefully get some interceptions. Cincinnati is at their best when the run the ball to the left, so Rutgers should some how try to get them to run right. The right side of Cincy's line can get pushed around. Tight end Travis Kelce is a very good receiver, and the linebackers need to keep him in check.

Injuries
It looks like Kyle Federico will miss another game. It's possible Jamison doesn't play, but Kyle Flood says there's a 75% chance he will be a go. Right guard Andre Civil is out, and Taj Alexander, who started against USF and has been getting a solid amount of playing time, will get the starting nod in his place.

Prediction- Rutgers 27 Cincinnati 24
I think Rutgers defense will be able to hold the Bearcats' ground attack in check and force Kay beat them with his arm, and I don't think he can do that. I'm hoping the offense gets out of their slide and unleash Nova, but I think they will be able to run the ball like they did early in the year. The Knights will of course probably make a big play on special teams too,

Know You Opponent: Cincinnati

Nippert Stadium has been a house of horrors for Rutgers over the years. The Scarlet Knights are 1-6-1 all time at the 35000 seat stadium, including the defensive embarrassment in 2010, and the 2006 team's first loss in November of that year. The 2012 Scarlet Knights have been very good on the road, and they will look to buck this trend Saturday, in a major test against a Cincinnati team that is very dangerous, even though they probably aren't as strong as some of the teams they have had in the past. The history of this series matters very little right now, you can't change the past, you can only control the future. Rutgers seems to be treating this like a really big game, as they should be, and they need to come out to fast start in this one.

The Bearcats So Far
Cincinnati is 7-2 so far this year, including a 3-1 record in Big East play. They got off to a 5-0 start by embarrassing Pitt on national TV, beating two FCS teams, Miami Ohio and a Virginia Tech team that is experiencing a major down year. They were tripped up on the road against a very good Toledo team, and followed that up by losing an over time thriller to Louisville on a Friday night. They have rebounded in recent weeks by beating Syracuse and Temple, despite going through a quarterback change.

Coaching
The Bearcats are led by fourth year head coach Butch (Bitch) Jones, who is 48-26 as a head coach, winning at least a share of 3 conference titles along the way, during his time at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones, who was a grad assitant at Rutgers once upon a time, is well versed in the spread offense, previously serving as Brian Kelly's offensive coordinator for the Chippewas and Rich Rodriguez's wide receiver coach at West Virginia. As a head coach, he has had some very good offenses running a run heavy spread that is very difficult to stop, and it may have caused Rutgers to change their defensive personnel up a little bit last year in order to stop it. Jones reportedly turned down the head job at Illinois a year ago, and he was also linked to the job opeing at North Carolina that eventually went to Larry Fedora. He made some recent comments urging fans to show up for the games, and there have been rumors that he has grown frustrated at Cincinnati. His name will pop up again for job openings this December, and he may or may not jump ship.

Mike Bajakian is the Bearcats' offensive coordinator, and the Oradell, NJ native was also once a grad assistant at Rutgers. He has been Jones' offensive coordinator every year he has been a head coach, and Bajakian also has a bit of NFL coaching experience. Obviously he guides the spread offense Jones has in place. Tim Banks and Jon Jancek are the co-defensive coordinators, and they run a 4-2-5 defense that utilizes both man and zone coverages.

Offense 36th in PPG, 7th in yards per carry, 58th in pass efficiency, 16th in yards per play
Munchie Leagux said he was better than Teddy Bridgewater in the week leading up to Cincinnati's game against Louisville, and things really got bad for him after that. He went on an interception binge, and he was replaced by senior Brandon Kay late in the Syracuse game. Kay isn't the kind of athlete Leagux is, but he can run the ball and does a decent job as a game manager. He is not accurate, but he can get the ball to receivers down the field. The Bearcats love to run the ball in their spread offense, and they have a two headed running back monster featuring George Winn, who gets the bulk of the carries, and the very speedy Ralph David Abernathy IV. Both backs are averaging over 5.5 yards a carry. Cincinnati's offensive line is very weird. The right side of the line gets pushed around, while the left side dominates. Left tackle Eric Lefeld in particular is a very good player who could get some all conference recognition. Tight end Trais Kelce (I'm assuming he's related to Philadelphia Eagles lineman Chris Kelce, who was also a Bearcat) is their leading receiver with 422 yards and 4 TDs. Nobody on the team has more than 25 receptions, but they have some deep threats at the position. Cincinnati runs a very basic spread offense. The run a lot of zone plays, including zone reads. They run horizontally a ton, but it works for them. They will run some screens and throw deep balls, but they don't have a complicated passing attack.


Defense 21st in PPG, 42nd in yards per carry, 23rd in pass efficiency, 41st in yards per play
The Bearcats run a 4-2-5 defense that emphasizes speed more than size. Their defensive line is very undersized, but they make up for it with quickness and they make a ton of plays in the backfield. They may struggle when you run right at them, but they can penetrate and chase you down on outside runs. Their best defensive player early on, end Walter Stewart, suffered a very unfortunate career ending back injury against Fordham, and they do not have a stand out player up front with out him. Cincinnati's linebackers are very big. Greg Blair is their leading tackler, and he is pretty strong against the run. The Bearcats have their linebackers blitz up the middle on passing downs often, but when they drop into coverage they aren't particularly quick. The Bearcat defensive backs are asked to play multiple zone coverages in addition to man coverage. The corners give plenty of leverage to receivers, so they can be beat on quick passes. Their main goal seems to be to protect the side line, so they are often beat on deep post routes, especially when playing man to man coverage. The defense has a rover who usually plays in the box and sometimes over the tight end or slot receiver. They will play two deep safeties on passing downs, and the strong safety will lurk down on running downs. The free safety some times plays on the hash, so you may be able to hit some long passes to the weakside if your receiver can win a one on one match up. They are ball hawks back there though; their DB's have a combined 9 interceptions this year.This isn't a very physical unit, but they are really fast. They bring pressure up the middle and from the field, but you can out muscle this defense on the ground and through the air and put some points on the board.

Conclusion
Cincinnati has been one of the top teams in the Big East for a few years now, and should provide a major test for Rutgers. They have great teams speed on offense and defense, but they don't have a ton of size, and their passing attack on offense is a bit lacking. If Rutgers can stop the run, I think they will have a successful day and finally end the string of bad games at Nippert Stadium. Nippert the streak in the bud, if you will.

Week 12 Picks

1. Oregon
2. Kansas State
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Alabama
6. Georgia
7. Florida
8. LSU
9. Texas A&M
10. Oklahoma
11. South Carolina
12. Florida State
13. Stanford
14. Rutgers
15. Louisville
16. Clemson
17. Oregon State
18. Texas
19. UCLA
20. USC
21. Louisiana Tech
22. Kent State
23. Texas Tech
24. Boise State
25. Northern Illinois

Temple 20 Army 28
The Owls were already a bit of a mess offensively, and they may be with out Montel Harris in this one. As we saw last week, Army's offense can be tough to stop, and Temple doesn't have the kind of athletes Rutgers does to slow it down.

USC 42 UCLA 34
The Trojans have been a disappointment this year, and the Bruins have been a surprise, but think USC is still the better team. Marqise Lee may be the best player in the country right now, and I think he and Matt Barkley will do enough to win and put SC in the drivers seat to win the Pac 12 south.

South Florida 14 Miami 28
The Canes have been very good offensively this year, with freshamn Duke Johnson providing plenty of fireworks. USF will have a true freshman QB starting his first game on the road (albeit in a non hostile environment) and the Bulls will not be able to keep up.

Clemson 44 North Carolina State 27
NC State has been very inconsistent offensively this year, while the Tigers have been playing very good football since their loss in Tallahassee in September.

Texas Tech 37 Oklahoma State 30
Oklahoma State is on, I believe, their third starting QB of the season, and the Red Raiders have played surprisingly good defense this year.Seth Doege has been one of the top QBs in the Big 12.

Ohio State 45 Wisconsin 40
I haven't watched much Big 10 football this year, but this could be a good game. Both teams can score.

Utah State 43 Louisiana Tech 41
This game is for all the marbles in the WAC. The Bulldogs have a high power offense, but The Aggies are a very good team all around, and Gary Anderson is one of the best coaches you don't know about.

Oklahoma 56 West Virginia 41
Poor Geno Smith. The Mountaineers just can not play defense at all.

Syracuse 27 Missouri 28
The battle for bowl eligibility. The Tigers have been dominated in SEC play, but I think they can pull this one out at home.

Kansas State 63 Baylor 38
Much like West Virginia, Baylor can not stop anyone, let alone Optimus Klein, the Wildcats' o-line and Wizard Bill Snyder.

Stanford 24 Oregon 50
Stanford does not have enough speed on defense to stop Oregon. They couldn't beat them with Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh, I just don't see them beating them with out those two.

BYU 17 San Jose State 24
This is a pretty interesting mid-major match up. Both teams have very good defenses.

Big East Announces Divsions For 2013-14

Earlier this week, the Big East announced the division alignment it will utilize in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, as it welcomes six new members to the conference and awaits the arival of Navy and the Big East's 14th member in 2015. The divisions will change again in two years, maybe to a zipper format, but in the mean time the divisions will look like this:

East- Rutgers, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida
West- Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU, Temple

The East features 5 of the reaming 6 Big East teams, and seems to be much tougher than the west. I thought that either Cincinnati or Louisville should have been placed in the west because it made more sense for balance (Cincy, Louisville, Rutgers and Boise are pretty clearly the top 4 programs in the New Big East right now) and geographical purposes, but Temple will be in the West instead. I guess they must have agreed to this when they joined the conference this year. Regardless, it looks like Boise will have a relatively easy path to the conference championship game, while the teams in the East will have quite a battle.

For Rutgers, this isn't a drastic change. They will still be playing half of their conference games against teams they have grown accustom to playing every year, with the only difference being they will play UCF and three of the teams on the western front instead of Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia. They will still likely be competing against the teams they are competing against this year for a spot in the conference title game. With any luck, Boise State will play Rutgers twice in this period to boost strength of schedule, draw fan interest and get on TV, etc.

This is just a small step to making the new Big East a success, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

Rutgers Struggles in 28-7 Victory Over Army

 Every fault this Rutgers teams has shown this year was on full display in this game. They were way to conservative on offense, committed too many penalties, got off to a sluggish start in the first half, and they handled Gary Nova with kids gloves. In spite of all that, they were able to defeat and overwhelmed Army team by three touchdowns, thanks to some timely plays on special teams and defense, and another big second half effort.

Rutgers knew they were going to have limited opportunities on offense against an Army team that eats a lot off the clock when they have the ball, but that didn't stop Dave Brock and Kyle Flood from being extremely conservative. On the opening drive, Nova completed an 8 yard pass to Mark Harrison to convert a third down try, and the offense proceeded to go backwards from there. A hold by DC Jefferson nullified a nice run by Jawan Jamison, and a run by Jamison for a loss of 5 and a false start penalty set up 2nd and 27. They might as well just have punted on this down, because they followed it up with a screen and a run play on 3rd and 20, before they did punt on 4th down, wasting their only possession of the quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights had by far their best drive of the game. Jamision started it off with runs of 14 and 7 yards, and a play action boot leg pass from Nova to Jeremy Deering advanced the ball into Black Knight territory. Jamison kept the sticks moving on the drive, including on a 4th and 1, setting his team up with a 1st and 10 from the Army 16. On this play, Jamison took the pitch to the outside, and threw the ball to a well covered Brandon Coleman in the endzone. Coleman went up and got it for the score, to tie the game up at 7. Rutgers went 3 and out on their next possession and then took a knee right before the half, and they went into the locker room with the score still 7-7.

Rutgers' first possession of the second half was derailed by another holding penalty and it resulted in a punt after a three yard route was called on 3rd and 11. They were able to sustain a drive the next time they had the ball with some dinking and dunking through the air, but the drive stalled and resulted in another punt. Jamison injured his ankle on the next possesion, and Savon Huggins was called upon to carry the load. After the offense was set back by an illegal hands to the face penalty, they had to punt yet again, after another short pass was called on 3rd and long. Huggins did an admirable job filling in for Jamison, and he put a few nice runs together to get advance the ball into Army territory late in the 3rd, but a Gary Nova pass was a bit to high for Miles Shuler, who deflected it into the hands of an Army defender for an interception.

Fortunately, they were able to get the ball back in great field position after a 9 yard punt, and Nova was able to bounce back, hitting Brandon Coleman on a deep pass for a 31 yard touchdown, one of only three passes thrown 10+ yards down the field by the offense all day. The Scarlet Knights had a 14-7 lead and they would hold onto it for good. Huggins capped the offense's day with a one yard touchdown plunge following a bad snap by Army on a punt. Overall, the offense did not play well. They were hamstrung a bit by play calling, and despite a solid day on the ground, the offensive line did not have a great day. They committed penalties and gave up a sack, and did not dominate like they should have against Army's front 7. They've been great all year, but they had a down game on Saturday. Both backs ran well, and Nova had an alright game, but you would have liked to see the receivers get more chances down the field, as they had a big size and speed advantage. Hopefully this teaches the coaching staff you can't be THAT conservative.

The defense only gave up 7 points, but they didn't exactly turn in their best effort in this game. Army's flexbone attack tore them up a little bit on the ground. Most of the damage was done by the pitch man, or the third option in a triple option offense, but they were gashed up the middle a few times as well by the fullback belly. On the opening series of the game, Army scored their lone touchdown of the day on a 16 play drive. Army QB Trent Steeleman was making all the right decisions, and slot back Trent Maples was able to pick up chunks of yardage on the outside. Army converted 3 out of 4 third downs tries on this drive, and they converted a 4th down attempt the only time they failed on third down. A 26 yard run by Larry Dixon on a belly up the middle was the big play of the drive, setting the Black Knights up at the Rutgers' 6, thanks in large part to a missed tackle. Steelman finished off the drive himself with a one yard run.

Army was able to to reach Rutgers' territory again on their next drive, but the Scarlet Knight defense was able to put the clamps down and hold them to a field goal, thanks in large part to Darius Hamilton stuffing a third down run. Army then attempted a 43 yard field goal, and Marcus Cooper was able to get a burst off the edge and block it. It was a huge play that totally swung the momentum of the game, and Rutgers followed that up with a score on offense to make it 7-7 instead of 10-0. Steeleman led another nice drive on Army's next series, reaching Rutgers' 13, but Lorenzo Waters was able to force a fumble that fell into the waiting arms of Logan Ryan, and the Scarlet Knights escaped again with out giving up a point. Army was able to get a 34 yard punt return right before the half, after another missed tackle, and a 4th down pass to Malcolm Brown set up another field goal try for the Cadets. Rutgers was able to block their second kick of the day on this attempt, with Jamal Merrell doing the honors this time around.

The Scarlet Knight defense stepped up in a big way after in the second half, after the Black Knights ran all over them in the first half. They were able to force two straight three and outs as Khassem Greene stuffed Steeleman for no gain on a 3rd and 2, and Scott Vallone made a play in the backfield to force a punt on ensuing possession. The Black Knights began a possession in Rutgers territory towards the end of the quarter, but Greene was able to force yet another fumble, and Marvin Booker was able to recover the loose ball.

Army inexplicably passed the ball and failed to convert their first third down try of the final quarter, as Logan Ryan forced an incompletion. Army's punt only traveled 9 yards, and it set up a score by the Scarlet Knight offense. Duron Harmon came up with a big 2nd down stop the next time the defense came out on to the field, and Ryan broke up a third down pass. This punt attempt by Army was even worse than the prior one, flying over the punter's head for a 35 yard loss, to set RU up at the Army 1. With the two tocuhdown lead, Army had to come out of their comfort zone and start throwing the ball. They moved the ball into RU territory, but Logan Ryan made a stop in the backfield on a 4th and 2, to force the turnover on downs. Army's last ditch attempt to come back got off to an inauspicious start after Vallone recorded a sack, but they converted a 3rd and long to keep the drive moving. Two Dixon runs set the Black Knights up at the 24, and on a triple option play, Duron Harmon intercepted the pitch and ran it back 73 yards for a score, to ice the game away for good, 28-7, with less than a minute left.

The defense was getting gashed in the first half, but they made key plays, and dominated in the second half. Greene had a huge day, recording a career high 22 tackles in addition to the forced fumble and a pass defended. He picked up Big East defensive player of the week honors for the second time this year. In addition to Greene, Lorenzo Waters, Steve Beauharnais, and Scott Vallone tied or set their career high in total tackles in this game. They allowed 5.5 yards per carry, but that is a full yard below Army's average coming into this game, and it was likely much lower than that in the second half. Hopefully they were able to avoid cut blocks so they will be fully healthy for Cincinnati this week.

All in all, Rutgers did not play very well in this game. The offense stumbled, the defense looked worse than usual, and they sleep walked through another first half. Thankfully they were still able to win by three touchdowns, in spite of all that. The penalty problem crept back up after not being a problem for a few games, but they were able to overcome them once again. Hopefully this team has gotten the bad out of their system after these last two games  and will play better down the stretch, as they have three huge Big East games coming up as they look to win the program's first conference title.

Game 9: Army

Army's football program has not been very good for about 15 years now, but make no mistake: they are a handful to deal with. Their triple option offense is difficult to defend, they are as physically and mentally tough of a team you will face, and they are always a well disciplined team that will not make mistakes and beat themselves. Rutgers should be more prepared than most teams facing a military academy, as they are coming off a bye week and have played Army and Navy a lot recently, so they should not have too much of a problem against them. But as we have seen over the years (including 2 weeks ago), Rutgers is more than capable of blowing games they should win.

Get to Know Army
The Cadets are 2-7 so far this season, coming off their upset victory over Air Force. They have only been blown out twice this year, against San Diego State and Stony Brook, and have other wise been competitive in their other losses (including against Kent State and a very good Northern Illinois team). They also have a win against Boston College.

Head coach Rich Ellerson is in his 4th year at West Point, and he has a 17-29 record thus far. He led the Black Knights to their only winning season since 1997 in 2010, going 7-6 and winning the Military Bowl over SMU. Ellerson's background is in defense, and he has installed a triple option offense, in the Black Knights' attempt to emulate the two military academies who have had more success on the football field.

The triple option offense is led by senior four year starter, Trent Steelman, who leads the team in rushing yards with 911. He is a classic option quarterback, a quick, slippery runner who makes lightning fast decisions, but is not much of a passer. Army uses a plethora of slot backs, most notably Raymond Maples, who leads the team in carries and Malcolm Brown, who is their most explosive back. Larry Dixon is the fullback running up the middle. Army came into the season with an inexperienced line, but they have nine games under their belts at this point, so that should no longer be a big issue. This unit is undersized, and will cut block a lot. Those types of lines can be a pain in the ass, but you can over power them.

Defensively, Army runs a some what odd style of defense, what's known as the "Desert Swarm" which was run most notably by Ellerson at Arizona in the early 90's. In this type of defense, they move guys around A LOT. It looks like they run a three man front, but it's actually a 4 man front with the three technique tackle a few yards off the ball. The weak side defensive end is also lined up unusually, a few yards outside of the end man on the line of scrimmage. The strong side linebacker lines up on the line, and the other two linebackers are free to roam, and move around often. They will also bring the safety down into the box most of the time, and play cover 3 in the secondary. They bring a lot of pressure as well. Army's defense is undersized and has given up a ton of yards on the ground this year, but this is an unusual defensive scheme that can be tough to prepare for.

Rutgers on Offense
Gary Nova needs to have a bounce back game after the Kent State disaster. He needs to have a strong game to keep his confidence, and show that last week was a fluke. He should expect Army to zone blitz him a lot, as it confused him and his offensive line a great deal in their last game. The Desert Swarm defense can be beat when you spread them out and pass. The offensive line should have a good game against Army's front 7, and Jawan Jamison should be able to use his speed and elusiveness to run for a lot of yards. Rutgers has a massive size advantage on the line and at receiver, and they should exploit that.

Rutgers on Defense
The triple option is extremely tough to defend, but Rutgers has an experienced defense who has seen this offense multiple times. The biggest thing you have to do to stop a flexbone offense is shut down the fullback on the belly play. Scott Vallone has done this through out his career, and today should be no different. He should be able to beat Army's offensive line all day, and force the quarterback to keep the ball. When the play goes to the the outside, Rutgers has the personnel to make plays in space and shut that down as well. Khassem Greene will need to shadow the quarterback and force him to pitch the ball. Fumbles can happen on those pitches, and if the slot back runs it, corners Logan Ryan, Marcus Cooper and Brandon Jones should be able to handle them, a they are all strong tacklers. In the past, Rutgers has gone to a nickel defense to stop this type of offense with a rover (it was Pat Kivlehan last year) roaming into the box. My guess is Lorenzo waters will be the rover, and Mason Robinson and Wayne Warren will play back at strong safety. Even though Army is #1 in rushing and last in passing, you need to be wary of the deep ball. Once they suck you up, they will take shots over the top. Warren and Duron Harmon are senior who should be ready for this and not fooled. You can read a little bit more about the flexbone offense an defending it in this post I wrote last year before the Navy game. Bottom line is the defense needs to play with discipline.

Injuries
Federico probably won't kick once again, and all the guys who have been out all year will still be out. Nothing really new on this front.

Prediction Army 7 Rutgers 31
Rutgers should be able to run the ball all day on offense, and I think the veteran defense can handle the option offense well. The big thing in this one is to see how Nova bounces back. I think he needs to have a solid game to keep his confidence, and hopefully he is more prepared to face zone blitzes.

I have all the respect in the world for the Cadets. I hope I didn't come across as too hard on them in this post. They are just not a very good team.

Week 10 Picks

Can you believe we're 10 weeks into the season already?

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Kansas State
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9. Louisville
10. Oklahoma
11. Florida State
12. USC
13. Texas Tech
14. Oregon State
15. SOuth Carolina
16. Rutgers
17. Mississippi State
18. Texas A&M
19. West Virginia
20. CLemson
21. Boise State
22. Stanford
23. Arizona
24. Oklahoma State
25. Louisiana Tech

California 17 Washington 27
Cal will be with out top receiver Keenan Allen, so they could have trouble on offense. Keith Price has underperformed this year, but I think he gets the job done tonight,

Temple 20 Louisville 28
Louisville's defense is vulnerable, and Temple can run, but once again Teddy Bridgewater will lead them to victory.

Oklahoma 34 Iowa State 31
The Cyclones are sneaky good and the Sooners struggle on the road, but I think they'll bounce back from last week's loss to Notre Dame.

Texas A&M 45 Mississippi State 40
Johnny Football is pretty awesome.

Syracuse 24 Cincinnati 20
Cincinnati could struggle with all the pressure Syracuse will bring at them. Ryan Nassib could take advantage of their defense if he has tome to throw.

Tulsa 31 Arkansas 38
Arkansas Needs to win this one and 2 out of 3 against MS State, S. Carolina, and LSU to be bowl eligible.

TCU 40West Virginia 42
Big East game of the week.

Pitt 10 Notre Dame 24
Pitt is really, really bad offensively on the road, and Notre Dame has one of the best defense in the country (as painful as it is to admit).

Texas 24 Texas Tech 30
I'm not going to sound like an idiot talking about how good Manny Diaz's defense is again.

Oregon 42 USC 40
This is the best team the Ducks have had under Kelly. If Mariota plays composed, they'll win. The Ducks' defense is very good, but they won't be able to stop Marqise Lee.

Clemson 34 Duke 26
Duke could win their division. How awesome would that be?

Alabama 4 LSU 2
This will be another defensive slug fest LSU is tough to beat in Death Valley at night, but will the Tigers get the ball past the 50 this time? Bama's defense will get two safeties for the win. 

Oklahoma State 30 Kansas State 45
Collin Klien. Arthur Brown. Bill Snyder. Enough said.

Arizona State17 Oregon State 24
Arizona State has a shot to win the P12 south. Oregon State needs to rebound from a bad offensive performance last week, wth a new QB under center.

San Diego State 17 Boise State 24
Two future members of the Big East square off. Boise has a tough defense and almost never loses at home.

Connecticut 10 USF 13

UCLA 28 Arizona 34