Rutgers had the opportunity on Thursday night to take the next step as a program and gain national relevance, but as they have so many times in the past, they were unable to take it over the top, as they lost an absolute heart breaker to Louisville 20-17. The game, an outright conference championship, and an elusive BCS bid were right in their grasps, but they let everything slip away with constant mistakes and blown opportunities. The referees made some....let's say questionable calls too, but I really don't like using officiating as an excuse. The stars seemed to be aligning for Rutgers to finally break through and win this game, but there appears to be some kind of hex over the program that leaves them constantly snake bitten and looking for answers as to why this always happens.
Despite the loss, Rutgers probably played their best half of football in the first half of this game. Usually Rutgers comes out flat in the first half or feels out the opponent before making adjustments, but they came out firing early, and it payed off big time. Teddy Bridgewater sat out the first quarter for Louisville, and Will Stein and the Cardinals running game were not able to accomplish much against a stingy Rutgers defense. Stein was able to get Louisville into Rutgers territory on some bootleg runs on the opening series, but Steve Beauharnais brought running back Jeremy Wright down in the backfield for a loss and Brandon Jones made a big tackle on third down to force a punt. Gary Nova then led the offense out onto the field for the first time with the ball on his own 15 yard line. With the way Rutgers has been calling plays this year, it seemed like an obvious running situation, but I had a feeling they would take a shot down field off play action on the first play. And that's exactly what they did. Nova faked the hand off and hit Brandon Coleman on a post route between two defenders, and with the safety over playing the ball in the air, Coleman kicked it into gear and took the reception all the way for an 85 yard score to give Rutgers a 7-0 lead. The crowd was going wild and it seemed like Rutgers had all the momentum on their side.
When the defense went back onto the field, Marcus Cooper forced Louisville receiver Eli Rodgers to fumble a quick screen pass, and the Scarlet Knights were able to recover it. They reviewed the play and overturned the ruling on the filed, making it an incomplete pass instead of a fumble. From the replay they showed on the board in the stadium, it looked very close to me. I could not tell whether he had full possession of the ball or not, but he did take a few steps. I didn't see any conclusive evidence one way or the other, and thought the ruling on the filed should have stood. The Big East officials didn't agree though. Questionable call number one. The Knights were able to get a big stop though, setting the offense up in good field position though, as Scott Vallone stuffed a 4th and 1 QB sneak at midfield. Handed good field position, the offense was unable to take advantage, as another drive was set back by a penalty. Nova did complete two passes to set up a 4th and 1, but Jawan Jamison was wrapped up in the backfield for a loss on the play. After the turn over on downs, Khaseem Greene and Jamil Merrell both made plays in the backfield to force another punt. Nova then completed a pass to Coleman for a 15 yard gain, but they were unable to move the sticks again, and ended up punting as the time expired in the quarter.
Bridgewater came onto the field to open the second quarter, but Corvin Lamb was the impact player on Teddy's first drive. Lamb broke of runs of 16, 13 and 11 yard to set up a Cards field goal that made it 7-3. When the Knights' offense came back onto the field they responded with another uncharacteristically quick strike. Louisville was playing a soft coverage, and Nova hit Mark Harrison on a quick curl. Harrison muscled his way through a tackle and ran right past an over pursuing defender and the safety for a 68 yard touchdown that made it 14-3. Dave Brock finally came out with an aggressive plan and it was working. Nova looked composed, his receivers were making plays, and they were scoring points. It was nice to see. At this point in the game, Rutgers' defense really started to shut down the run. Beauharnais and Ka'Lial Glaud both recorded tackles for loss early in the series, but Bridgewater was able to make big plays with his arm when he was dropping back and ripping it. Jamil Merrell was able to sack him after Louisville entered Rutgers territory again, to finally put a stop to the drive. Rutgers went 3 and out on offense, and Louisville returned the favor, with Glaud and Beauharnais both making big stuffs against the run on 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1. With 1:28 remaining in the half, the Knights just ran the clock out, despite picking up a first down and having a hot passing attack. They went into the locker room with a 14-3 lead.
Rutgers went three and out again on the opening possession of the second half, and once again had to punt. Bridgewater completed a couple passes to open the drive, and a bull shit personal foul penalty called on Greene set the Cardinals up in RU territory again. Greene made a tackle after the Louisville receiver narrowly stepped out of bounds and kept running. It didn't end up hurting the Knights though, as Scott Vallone recorded a sack for a big loss and Louisville missed the field goal try. When the Knights got ht ball back, a 7 yard run by Jamison and a 36 yard reception by Harrison set up a 43 yard field goal attempt. Kyle Flood called for a fake, and holder JT Tarcoff completed a pass down field to DC Jefferson for an apparent touchdown, but it was called back by yet another questionable call. The Big East officials ruled that Devin Watkis was down field as an ineligible receiver, and that infraction voided the touchdown. I was at the game and had no idea what was called until after the game, and when I finally saw the replay,
still thought it was ridiculous. Watkis was three yards down field when Tarcoff released the ball, which is perfectly fine by the rule book definition; I do not think a penalty should have been called. It was all the way on the other side of the field, and it had no bearing on the play either.
Visual evidence:
Instead of being up 21-3, the Knights were in no man's land after the voided touchdown. Nick Borgese has done a solid job kicking in Kyle Federico's absence, but a 48 yard field goal attempt is well out of his range and a 4th and 14 would be difficult to convert. Kyle Flood eventually decided to punt and I was ok with this decision, but I think the best choice would have been to go for it, take a shot down filed, and hope for a completion or a penalty. The punt only netted them 20 yards of field position, and that's where it all went terrible wrong.
Bridgewater tore Rutgers' defense apart on this next series, completing pass after pass, including a 3rd and 12, to march his team right down the field. On another 3rd and 12 from the 14, Bridgewater was able to escape pressure from Merrell on his sprained ankle, and he shoveled the ball to Jeremy Wright, who dove into the end zone for a score to make it 14-10. I try to stay positive, but this gave me a sinking feel. Things got worse when Jeremy Deering fumbled the ensuing kick off, after a Louisville player put his helmet right on the ball to force it out. A Scarlet Knight dove on top of it right away, but it slipped away from him and Louisville recovered. On the first play after the sudden change, Bridgewater threw a perfect pass on a go route to DeVier Posey in the back of the end zone, over Logan Ryan who provided tight coverage on the play. It looked like a safety was supposed to help him over the top, but he could not get there in time. The score was 17-14 in favor of Louisville heading into the final quarter.
As well as Bridgewater was playing, Gary Nova was able to answer him right back. On the next series, Nova completed passes to Harrison and Quoron Pratt to get the ball to mid field. On a first down, he took another shot down field on play action, and threw a perfect pass to an open Tim Wright, but the sure handed senior left the pass fall right through his hands. If he caught it, it would have likely been a touchdown, but at the very least, a completion would have gotten Rutgers to the Louisville 20. The drive instead resulted in another punt. Lorenzo Waters then got Rutgers the ball right back, intercepting an errant Bridgewater pass over the middle, returning it 29 yards to the Louisville 42. Nova completed another pass to Harrison and Wright caught a third down pass to set up a Borgese field goal, which was successful from 38 yards out to tie the game at 17. The defense held Teddy in check again on the next series, and Kevin Snyder got the defense off the field with a big sack on third down. After a disastrous second half, it looked like Rutgers was set up to retake the lead.
Nova and co. got the ball back on their own 25 with 4:39 left. On a 3rd and 8, Nova hit Wright in the chest with a deep pass over the middle, but he was unable to hang on and he kicked the ball into a Louisville defender's arms for an interception. Louisville started yet another drive in Rutgers territory, but the Scarlet Knight defense was able to hold them to a field goal this time. The offense would get another chance to win or tie the game with just under two minutes left. Nova completed a pass to Jamison to pick up a first down to get RU to mid field again. Nova took another shot down field, but he was not on the same page as Brandon Coleman, and Louisville intercepted the pass uncontested, to basically end the game.
Overall, the offense was very inconsistent on the night. They hit on a few big plays (and should have hit on a few more), but they had no success running the ball and were thus unable to sustain a lengthy drive. Jamison was never able to get going, and I'm unsure why Savon Higgins didn't even get one carry. Gary Nova played a very good, throwing accurate deep balls and averaging more yards per attempt than Bridgewater. His receivers really let him down, if they were able to catch some of the passes they should have, Nova would have been the hero of this game. Mark Harrison was the only reliable receiver on the night, and he recorded his second 100 performance in the last three games. Coleman had the TD and the mishap on the last play, and I feel terrible for Tim Wright. He's battled back through injuries to be a captain and a reliable receiver for this team, and then he had his season marred by one really bad day. I hope he's able to rebound and have a huge bowl game. The offensive line played very well, giving Nova plenty of time to throw and getting a push in the run game.
The defense played a great game. They held a very good offense to only 20 points, in-spite of a very lopsided time of possession margin and two Louisville drives that began in Rutgers' territory. Louisville was able to get absolutely nothing going on the ground, with
Vallone and Merrell penetrating the backfield on almost every play. The Knights did not have a strong pass rush from the front 4 though, despite recording 3 sacks, and the defensive backs seemed to miss numerous opportunities to put their hands up to knock a pass down. The secondary really seemed to miss Brandon Jones, who missed the entire second half with an injury he suffered early on, but they did record and interception and they did force the fumble that was overturned. With the Cardinals passing the ball and the defensive line totally shutting down the run, the linebackers had a pretty quiet game. They covered well, but had limited opportunities to make plays.
Teddy Bridgewater is about as good of a quarterback as you will see, and he turned in one of the toughest performances I have ever seen playing with a sprained ankle and broken wrist. He played a very good game and carried the team on his back, but I wouldn't say he totally dominated the game. Regardless, I have a ton of respect for the guy after that effort he turned in.
This game was just another heart breaker for the Scarlet Knights, who have still not gotten over that hump to take the next step as a football program. The coaching staff came into the game with a good game plan and the team played very well on both sides of the ball, but mistakes absolutely killed them. They got off to a hot start, and the game completely turned around when the fake field goal was called back, and they were unable to overcome the eventual deficit. The crowd went through such a wide range of emotion in this game. The place was very loud and jumping for most of the game, but the air was totally let out of the stadium at the end, as everyone sat in stunned silence, unable to believe what had just happened. Eventually this program will have another break through and finally get over the top. But this was not that night, and the coaches, players and fans are left wondering why.
