Rutgers Drops the Ball Figuratively and Literally Against Kent State

Well, it happened again. It seemed like Rutgers was taking the next step as a program this season, but they were tripped up once again by an inferior opponent in a game they had no business losing to. They came out flat, turned it over way too many times, and let Kent State's run game pound them inside. It was down right embarrassing, but they need to move on, learn from this, and focus on the rest of the season.

Much of the blame for this loss goes to quarterback Gary Nova. I don't think I've ever seen a quarterback throw 6 interceptions and not get pulled before, but there's a first time for everything. He made mistakes through out the day, but it's not like one thing did him in. He was fooled by some coverages, made some poor decisions, and had a fluky one on a screen pass, so it was just a shitty day for him, it's not like he has some fundamental flaw. I thought Kyle Flood should have pulled him in favor of Chas Dodd late in the first half, but Nova then responded with a TD drive. How he wasn't pulled in the 4th quarter though is beyond me. Nova is the QB going forward, but he did not give Rutgers their best chance of winning on Saturday. I'm not advocating benching Nova going forward, but man, how could you leave him in there? Maybe Flood didn't want to shatter his confidence? Maybe he doesn't want him looking over his shoulder every time he makes a mistake? Who knows.

Nova played poorly, but the offensive line didn't exactly do a great job protecting him. He was eluding pressure all day, and I think he was sacked once or twice (I have no desire to go through the game log or look at stats). I think Kent State was blitzing a lot (have no desire to watch the replay), and they did a poor job picking it up. They did a pretty good job run blocking, but when you fall behind by a lot, you have to abandon the run game. Jawan Jamison had a few nice runs, a bunch of catches out of the backfield, and a touch down, but it wasn't enough.The receivers overall had  mixed day as Quoron Pratt lost a fumble on a big gain, and some of the other guys dropped passes. Tim Wright did catch a touchdown, however, as did Brandon Coleman. Miles Shuler made a few nice catches, it was nice seeing him finally get involved, but again, that wasn't enough to overcome all the turnovers.

The defense was put in bad position all day, but they didn't exactly step up with a bunch of big stops. They forced two turnovers and did a solid job containing the dangerous Dri Archer, but the big back Durham ran all over them up the middle. It looked like they were really missing Ike Holmes. The front 7 played pretty bad against the interior runs, but some credit has to go to Kent State's offensive line. They were fantastic. They got Durham to cough the ball up a few times and made a few big stops against the run on third down, but it was a very poor day overall, especially for one of the top run defenses in the nation.

The defensive backs were one of the lone bright spots on the day. Kent State's passing game was non existent, and Logan Ryan and Lorenzo Waters made a bunch of stops against the run when The Golden Flashes ran outside. Another bright spot was Darius Hamilton. The freshman is getting more playing time as the season progresses, and he's stepping up and making plays.

The defense was probably on the field too long, as a result of the turnovers, so it's possible they were just fatigued. That's not good, but I fully expect this senior laden group to pick up the pieces after this one and return to their dominate form the rest of the season.

Lorenzo Waters blocked a field goal, and Nick Delouisa did a great job kicking away from Archer. Archer ended up with two returns, but the coverage unit did a nice job getting down the field and tackling him. Kyle Federico missed another game, and Borgese made the only field goal he attempted.

This was an awful, forgettable game and it knocked Rutgers out of  the top 25 in the BCS standings, but their goals (other than an undefeated season) are still there in front of them. They are still in the drivers seat to win the Big East and go to a BCS game. They head into the bye week with a very bitter taste in their mouths, and they didn't practice Monday and won't on Tuesday thanks to the hurricane, but I fully expect this team to get better, get over this one, lean from it and be fully prepared to beat Army in 11 days.

Game 8: Kent State

Rutgers is off to a fantastic 7-0 record this year, and they will take a break from Big East play this week, as they welcome Kent State to New Jersey today, on homecoming. The defense will face another tough rushing attack, and the offense will look to build off the strong effort they put forth in the second half against Temple a week ago after sleep walking through 10 quarters. Rutgers should be able to handle Kent State easily, but the Golden Flashes are a very solid team and if the Knights come out flat and unprepared again, they could get knocked off.

Rutgers on Offense
Rutgers should be able to over power Kent State on the ground, and they will probably look to exploit this early on. They need to keep letting Nova throw the ball over the middle on intermediate routes too, in order to keep some balance. If this plan works, they should be able to connect on some deep balls off play action.

Rutgers on Defense
Rutgers has one of the top run defenses in the country, and they face another quality run offense in Kent State. The Flashes have the dynamic Dri Archer on the backfield, who is very fast and capable of breaking off long runs. Rutgers has a lot of speed on defense, so hopefully that allows them to keep him in check. Kent also has Traylon Durham in the backfield, and he is huge and the thunder to Archer's lightning. Rutgers must be able to get penetration on them and shut their rushing attack down. They might look to load the box too, as Kent State doesn't have much of a passing game.

On punts and kick offs, they should probably kick away from Archer at all coasts, but if they don't, they need to make sure they get down there and tackle him.

Injuries
Kicker Kyle Federico is once again questionable.

Prediction Rutgers 31 Kent State 13
I think Rutgers will be able to run the ball with a lot of success, and they will do a good job shutting Kent State's running game down. Nova will throw for a few more touchdowns, and Dri Archer will break free on a kick return for the only Golden Flash TD of the day.

Know Your Oponent: Kent State

The Mid American Conference has been one of the more compelling mid major conferences for quit a while now. In the early 00's, quarterbacks like Byron Leftwich, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Cribbs and Bruce Gradkowski created a ton of offense and played in many shootouts, despite the conference's teams normally getting beat up by teams from power conferences. The MAC has gotten better over the years though, and the conference has played some of the wildest games you will see on Tuesday night #MACtion, which has become a must watch event. This season, the MAC has knocked off a bunch of  BCS conference teams teams, including UConn, USF, Penn State, Iowa, Kansas, and Cincinnati, who was undefeated before losing to Toledo last week. Kent State is one of the better teams in the MAC this year, and Rutgers can not take them lightly. The Golden Flashes are a dangerous team capable of pulling off an upset.

Kent State So Far
Kent State is having a very good season so far with a 6-1 record, and they are inline to go to their first bowl game since 1972. The Golden Flashes won their opener against Towson, and were blown out by Kentucky the following week. Since then, they have gone on a 5 game winning streak with victories over Buffalo, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Army, and Western Michigan. They are scoring a lot of points, but also giving up a lot of points in the process.

Coaching
Kent State is led by second year head coach  Darrell Hazell, who has an 11-8 record through his first season and a half with the Golden Flashes. Hazell made a name for himself coaching wide receivers at Ohio State from 2004-10, and the New Jersey native was also an assistant at Rutgers from 2001-03. After starting 1-6 at the school, Hazell has overseen a big turn for the program, leading them to respectability after man years of struggles, thanks to  his calm demeanor and attention to detail.

Offense 39th in PPG 24th in yards per carry, 91st in pass efficiency, 65th in yards per play
Kent State is with out a doubt a run oriented offense. They will spread you out in doing so, but make no mistake: they are going to come right at you. Their best offensive player is running back/wide receiver Dri Archer, who is averaging 10 yards per carry in addition to 20 receptions and 14 total touchdowns. He is probably the best kick returner in the nation too, so you have to try to avoid kicking to him. He is pretty much college football's version of Darren Sproles. Their work horse running back is Traylon Durham, who has 144 carries on the year (4.5 ypc) and a load to bring down t 260 pounds. Up front the Golden Flash have a very experienced unit led by left tackle Brian Winters, who is the number three senior offensive tackle in the 2013 draft according to Mel Kiper. The Golden Flash don't have much of a passing attack, but senior QB Spencer Keith can get the ball out to Archer on some quick passes.

Defense 53rd in PPG, 67th in yards per carry, 64th in pass efficiency, 74thin yards per play
Kent State runs some what of a 3-4/4-3 hybrid, and they have had a middle of the road defense this year, despite returning most of the players from the very strong defense they had a year ago. Their best player is undersized defensive end Roosevelt Nix, who can be a menace in the backfield. So far this season he has recorded 3.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss.  Senior Luke Batton leads the team with 71 tackles, and Darius Polk leads the team in passes defended. The Golden Flash may be with out two starters on Saturday: defensive end Jake Dooley and safety Jordan Italiano.

Conclusion
Kent State has a strong rushing attack on offense and a dynamic playmaker in Dri Archer, but they are not a very good passing team. Their defense is quick and makes plays in the backfield, but they can be overpowered and they give up points. This is a very solid MAC team that is well coached by Hazell, and are capable of pulling an upset if Rutgers isn't prepared.

Week 9 Picks

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

Clemson 35 Wake Forest 17
Clemson has a really good offense, and an awful defense. I honestly don't know anything about Wake Forest. I think Jim Grobe is still their coach and I think Riley Skinner is still their QB for the 10th year in a row.

Cincinnati 20 Louisville 34
I thought Cincinnati was a bit overrated to begin with, and they lost to Toledo (who is pretty good) last week. Louisville is still undefeated, but they've struggled a bit on defense. Teddy Bridgewater makes up for a lot though, and the fact that Munchie Legaux thinks he's any where close to his level is highly laughable.

Temple 17 Pitt 20
Pitt has been ok at home outside of their season opening loss to Youngstown State, and they should be able to run the ball against Temple. The Owls can run the ball too, but I'm not sure if they have enough speed to shred the slow Panther defense up.

South Carolina 24 Tennessee 17
Derek Dooley needs a signature win or THIS GUY will replace him.

Ole Miss 34 Arkansas 37
Arkansas really needs this game if they want to go to a bowl game this year. Both teams have struggled defensively, and I think Tyler Wilson will  pull out a win at home.

Florida 20 Georgia 10
Florida's defense is probably better than anyone else's this side of Alabama,  and Georgia has struggled with inferior opponents and were mollywhopped by South Carolina, the only good team they have played so far. The Gators have been struggling to pass the ball consistently, but if their defense gets them great field position again it won't matter.

Arizona State 27 UCLA 31
Two sneaky good teams who will challenge USC for the Pac 12 south.

Texas Tech 24 Kansas State 40
Collin Klein is playing better than anyone else in the country right now, and the Wildcat defense has been impressive as well. Bill Snyder is a wizard.

USC 41 Arizona 30
Arizona has been pretty good this year under first year coach Rich rodriguez, but they won't be able to keep up with USC's passing game.

Duke 17 Florida State 30
ACC championship game preview?

Syracuse 27 South Florida 23
Syracuse can really thrown the ball and USF is playing some bad football right now.

Baylor 50 Iowa State 45
Should be a fun game, but some how it isn't on TV.

Notre Dame 20 Oklahoma 27
Oklahoma's offense has rebounded after a rough start to the season, but Notre Dame's defense is legit. That should be a fun battle. The Sooners defense is pretty solid, and I'm not a big believer in the Irish offense.

Mississippi State 13 Alabama 40
Has there ever been a more lopsided match up on paper between 2 top 11 teams? Alabama's offensive line will dominate again.

Home and Home Series With Maryland Added to Schedule

 It was reported a couple weeks ago that Rutgers will take on Maryland in a future home in home series, with the Scarlet Knights making the trip to College Park in 2014 and the Terrapins coming to Piscataway in 2019. Maryland is a close by team in a BCS conference, so it made a lot of sense adding a series with them in order to bolster their strength of schedule, which will be more important in the coming years with the new mini playoff system in place. The teams met in 2007 and 2009, with Maryland winning the first contest in New Jersey, and Rutgers returning the favor by beating the Terps in Maryland in '09.

Maryland is coming off a down year in which they suffered a ton injuries, and they have been bitten by the injury bug again. They will probably attain bowl eligibility this year though, as they are currently 4-3. It remains to be seen how head coach Randy Edsall will bring this program along going forward, especially in recruiting. He has long been known to dig for diamonds in the rough, but he has made some additions to his coaching staff at UMD to improve recruiting (including the hostile, loose cannon Mike Locksley), and he did pick up an instate 5 star receiver in Stefon Diggs in the last recruiting cycle. With strong instate talent and Edsall's track record as a coach, I would expect Maryland to be a solid, but unspectacular team when they meet Rutgers in a few years.

This series could also have added intrigue of Randy Edsall being a long time Big East villain (assuming he doesn't get fired before then). Many Rutgers fans, myself included, still despise Edsall from his time at Connecticut, especially after the way he left, so it would be fun getting to jeer and beat him once again.

Visiting Maryland could also help recruiting in that state, as it is similar to New Jersey in the fact that it has a lot of talented players up fro grabs despite being a relatively small state. Hopefully these games will get on national TV and bring fans to HPS Stadium.

Update 6:00 PM
This is the fifth out of conference game Rutgers has scheduled for 2014, with Howard, Penn State, Navy, and Tulane being the other four. With the Big East likely going to an 8 game conference schedule starting next year, something will have to give in the out of conference slate. They won't play 13 games. Navy isn't scheduled to join the league until 2015, so if they join earlier than expected, that would solve the situation, but if they don't, one of these opponents will have to be dropped. My guess is it would be Tulane.

Rutgers Rallies in Second Half to Top Temple 35-10

The first half was pretty much a disaster for Rutgers on Saturday, as they took on the Temple Owls in Philadelphia. They could not stop the run, and they could not muster anything on offense. They looked flat, unprepared, and over-matched. It had all the makings of another Rutgers stinker, where they had their season derailed by an underwhelming effort against an inferior team, but they were able to turn things around in a big way in the second half to throttle Temple by 25 to move to 7-0 on the season with a 4-0 record in Big East play.

Rutgers looked very lethargic on offense in the early going. A dropped pass on a third down and a holding penalty caused the Scarlet Knights to have a three and out on both of their only two possessions in the opening quarter. (They only had the ball for three minutes). Things got even worse in the second quarter, when Gary Nova forgot to slide after scrambling for a first down and lost a fumble as a result of the hit he took. Rutgers was able to move the ball a bit on their next possession, with Jawan Jamison and Brandon Coleman hauling in long receptions to get them into Owls' territory, but two false start penalties moved the offense backwards, and they were unsuccessful on a 4th and 1 from the 18, as Coleman dropped Gary Nova's play action pass. Normally, they would have settled for 3 points on that possession, but with kicker Kyle Federico out again, they had to go for it. Another false start penalty led to yet another three and out, and Rutgers tried to run the clock out with plenty of time left before the half. Jamison had other ideas though, as he broke off a 13 yard run with an additional 15 yards tacked on with a personal foul, so Rutgers tried for some points. Things didn't work out though. Nova threw an interception, and the Knights went into the locker room trailing 10-0.

In the second half, Rutgers came out guns a blazzin', scoring a touchdown on their first four drives. They started to open things up a bit more, and that got them firing on all cylinders. Jamison had a few nice runs to open the half, and with Temple's defense starting to creep up defense up, Nova connected with Tim Wright on a deep ball for a 32 yard score to bring the score to 10-7. The second drive of the half was a picture perfect example of what Rutgers' offense should look like. Jamison had a few nice runs, Nova completed a third down pass over the middle to Wright, and Mark Harrison caught a pass 20+ yards down field to get Rutger in position to score. Jamison did the honors on a 32 yard screen pass out of the backfield for 6, making a defender look foolish with a juke move on the way. His TD gave RU the lead for good, 14-10.

Following a Logan Ryan interception, runs by Jamison and Savon Huggins and a catch by DC Jefferson set up another Nova touchdown pass, a 5 yarder to Harrison on a bootleg to make it 21-10. The offense got great field position once again on their next drive, as freshman Leonte Carroo blocked a punt, and Nova threw his 4th TD score of the day on a flag route in the endzone to Jefferson. After a defensive touchdown, the backups took over, and Huggins ran the ball a bunch of times to run out the clock.

The offense was awful in the first half, but they were very impressive in the second half, with a well balanced attack. Jamison was very strong on the ground, and he went over 100 yards for the 6th time this season. Nova looked impressive once again when allowed to make throws other than bombs and screens, and Wright and Jefferson were big targets on third down and Harrison made some big plays. The offensive line overpowered Temple on the ground in the second half, and they only allowed one sack to a Temple team that was amongst the best in the nation at getting after the QB. They may seem overly conservative and sluggish at times, but it's nice to know they can turn it on and pile up the points when they need to.

Temple, unsurprisingly, came out of the gate running the football, and Rutgers had no answer for it early on. The Owls went deep into Scarlet Knight territory on their opening possession, but the Knights were able to get a big stop on a 4th and 1, as Darius Hamilton stuffed Temple QB Chris Coyer on a sneak and caused a fumble. Rutgers was able to force a three and out on the next drive, but the Coyer/Montel Harris combination on the ground marched right down the field at the end of the opening quarter to set up a 4 yard pass from Coyer to Cody Booth. It was a play action pass and there was nobody in coverage for Rutgers, and the pass almost landed incomplete. It gave the Owls a 7-0 lead. The Knights held Temple to a field goal try that missed after Nova's fumble, and it seemed like they were starting to figure things out.

They held the Owls to a three and out again on the next series, but Temple was able to put three points on the board before the half to go up 10-0, after Mason Robinson was called for a ridiculous personal foul penalty for continuing to play after losing his helmet in the middle of a play. I didn't know such a rule existed, but it does and it is stupid. If this is a player safety thing, it still doesn't make any sense. The most dangerous thing you can do on a football field is stop. Even with out a helmet, you are better off going full speed than standing around like an idiot asking to get smoked by an opponent.

Rutgers continued to take away the run at the beginning of the second half, and they forced Temple to throw the ball, leading to a punt on Temple's first possession of the half. The Owls were faced with a 3rd and 9 on their next drive, and Logan Ryan made a nice read while playing zone coverage, and intercepted the pass. Ryan had a fine day, breaking up three passes in addition to the pick, locking things down on Logan Island again. After forcing yet another three and out, Jamil Merrell burst through the line to record a strip sack on a third down. Khaseem Greene scooped the ball up, and ran it into the endzone for a score, to give Rutgers a 35-10 lead. Temple does not excel when forced to throw, and Rutger shut them down. The Owls even had to bring their back up QB in. They had a miniscule 4.2 yards a throw, and any hopes Temple had to make a come back were crushed.

Montel Harris had a decent game, but the Scarlet Knights limited Temple to 2.8 yards a carry overall. After getting punched in the mouth early on, the defense woke up and shut everything down. The score could have been worse than 10-0 at the half, but this group came up huge in order to keep the offense in it. The defensive line got a nice pass rush and brought down Temple's ball carriers other than Harris in the backfield, and rushed the passer effectively. The back 7 totally dominated, giving Temple nothing through the air while also supporting the run on the edge. It was the total domination you have come to expect out of this unit.

Rutgers looked terrible in the first half, and the lackluster play seemed like a three week trend, but they absolutely dominated in the second half, showing why they are a top 15 team. They played exceptionally well in all three facets of the game, and made you forget about that nightmare of a first half. They lost the time of possession battle for, I believe, the first time this year, but it didn't matter. They even cut down on the penalties too. All in all this was probably a nice wake up call for the team and will keep them humble, showing them that they need to come out ready for every opponent. It's better to do that in a win than a loss, especially for a program that has had a number of "WTF?" losses over the years.

Additional Note: Surprisingly, I didn't see any Bill Cosby references during or leading up to the game. But allow me to do that now.

Game 7: Temple

Rutgers is 6-0, 3-0 in the Big East, and ranked 15th in the initial BCS standings. It's one of the best starts to the season in program history, and the Scarlet Knights look to keep things going in the right direction today, as they head down to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls in Lincoln Financial Field. Temple is new again to the Big East, and they do not have the talent Rutgers does, but they are a well coached, dangerous team who are capable of pulling an upset. Rutgers must be emotionally ready and mentally prepared for this one, in order to avoid a stinker.

Get to Know Temple

Rutgers on Offense
Temple is solid on defense against the run, but Rutgers will still rely on the ground game. The coaching staff has indicated that Savon Huggins will get more carries, as Jawan Jamison has seemed to be overworked and wearing out the last few weeks, so more down hill plays should be expected. The Knights have over relied on screens this year, and they may run a bunch again, in hopes of off setting the Owls' aggressive blitzes. Gary Nova should be allowed to throw more against this questionable Temple secondary, and the receivers should attack deep. The offensive line has to protect Nova, and get a push in the run game against Temple's defensive line that has some nice size.


Rutgers on Defense
Rutgers is second nationally against the run, and they will face a difficult test this week. Chris Coyer and Montel Harris can both run the ball out of the Owls' spread attack, and Rutgers should load the box to stop the run. Temple doesn't have many playmakers at receiver, and the corners should shut them down. I expect to see a lot of run blitzes, and Steve Beauharnais to play a big role. Scott Vallone must continue to annihilate double teams, and Jamil Merrell will have to step it up and stop the run. He may be subbed out more ofter than the past two games, just to get more size in there. Force them to play from behind and pass.

Injuries
Kicker Kyle Fedirico's status is still up in the air. If he can't go, Anthony DiPaula will take his place again.
Al Page is out for the year at DT, as is Ike Holmes, and Daryl Stepehnson.
Sam Bergen was limited last week, but he should be a go today, as he is filling in for Mike Burton at FB.

Prediction- Rutgers 27 Temple 16
Rutgers will have a nice day in the air and a solid rushing attack, and Temple's offense will be able to run the ball a little bit, but the Owls will have to resort to the pass when they fall behind.

Know Your Opponents: The Big East's New/Old Member

In 2004, the Big East took their first of many near fatal blows when they lost Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College to the Big East. In an effort to revamp the conference and form the Big East 2.0, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, and Connecticut were added. Despite the new programs and the mass exodus, football only member Temple was kicked out of the conference. Their program was THAT bad. Things started to turn around for the Owls two years later though, as Jersey native Al Golden built the program up into a respectable one that made a few bowl appearances and competed for MAC titles. With Golden leaving for the job at Miami in 2010, Florida offensive coordinator and northeastern native Steve Addazio was brought in to lead the program. In his first year in Philly, he went 9-4 and won the New Mexico bowl. When West Virginia departed the Big East for the Big 12, the conference had to scurry and fill that vacancy, and they did so by bringing back Temple.

Temple So Far
Temple is off to a 3-2 (2-0 in the Big East) start this season. They beat up on cross town punching bag Villanova in their opener,  before dropping consecutive hard fought games to Maryland and Penn State. Coming off a bye, the Owls upset South Florida, as the Bulls made countless mistakes that Temple took advantage of. They knocked off Connecticut on the road a week ago, to win consecutive Big East games for the first time in school history.

Coaching Staff
Steve Addazio is a Connecticut native, and he has spent a lot of time recruiting the northeast as the offensive line coach at Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Florida, amongst others. He was a very good line coach with the Gators, winning a couple national championships, but he seemed to be out of his comfort zone when calling plays after his promoted to offensive coordinator for the Gators. He interviewed for the job at UConn, but did not get it, and the Owls made him their new coach a few weeks later. He was briefly considered a possibility for the head job at Rutgers this January. He is well organized and keeps his teams disciplined, and seems to be a successful head coach so far, owning a 12-6 record.

Offense- 72nd in PPG, 78 yds per carry, 91st in pass efficiency, 105th in yards per play
The Owls run a spread offense and they run the ball a ton, using both man and zone blocking techniques.Their best player is running back Montel Harris, who transferred in from Boston College.
The two time all ACC back is coming off two consecutive 100 yard performances, after not carrying a ton in the team's first three games. Temple is quarterbacked by mini-Tebow, Chris Coyer. Coyer is not much of a passer (6.6 ypa, 54%), but like Tebow, he is a very powerful runner and can beat you with the deep ball if you load up to stop the run. The Owls have four new starters on their offensive line from a year ago, and although they have done a decent job run blocking, they have not protected the passer too well. They are giving up roughly one sack for every ten drop backs. The Owls spread the ball around in the passing game, and do not have a receiver with more than 12 catches, but they have a lot of size at the position.

Defense- 42nd in PPG, 35th in yds per carry, 70th in pass efficiency, 54th in yards per play
Temple lost arguably their six best players from a solid defensive unit a year ago, but they have done a solid job so far this year stopping the run and getting after the passer. They bring the heat on blitzes a lot, but nobody has more than two sacks, they lost both of their ends form last year, despite them ranking 9th nationally in sacks per game. Freshman linebacker Nate Smith leads the way against the run with 31 tackles on the year, and Levi Brown is a strong anchor in the middle at nose tackle. This group is physical and aggressive, but they can get beat through the air, if you are bale to protect your quarterback.

Conclusion
Temple is a very well coached team who will not beat them selves with turnovers or penalties. They may have MAC talent, but they are playing great football right now, and have upset two Big East teams this year. They can really run the ball with Harris and Coyer, but if you get ahead of them and force them to throw, you can stop them as they aren't great at throwing the ball. Their defense gets after the passer and can stop the run, but their secondary hasn't been great, despite not facing any great passing teams. The Owls are a tough, gritty team who can knock you off if you're not careful.

Break It Down: The Run and Shoot?

Back in the '80's and early 90's, the run and shoot offense swept through all levels of football like a wild fire. The wide open, pass first, spread offense led to a ton of points being put on the board, a number of records being broken and a lot of angry defenses, including the ones of the teams running it. In the mid '90's, defensive coordinators (Bob Davie, who was at Texas A&M at the time, in particular) finally figured out how to stop this offense by using zone blitzes. The zone blitzes confused opposing quarterbacks and threw off the on the fly route adjustments the offense relies so heavily on, and that, along with the burden the pass heavy offense put on your own defense led to the offense's demise.

The offense is not completely dead, however. June Jones still runs the offense at SMU, and you will still see some concepts of it in other offenses. One such place where you will still see these concepts is upstate with the New York Giants. Their offensive coordinator Kevin Gillbride was once a run and shoot guy and he still uses some of the shoot concepts with Eli Manning and company.

This past Saturday in their win over Syracuse, Rutgers deployed one of the offense's bread and butter plays, the switch route, for a big gain to set up a touchdown. On a first and 10 on Syracuse's 44 yard line, Dave Brock opened it up and called for the switch route. Rutgers lined up in a single back formation on this play, with twins receivers to the right, and two tight ends to the left. Syracuse came out in base personnel, lined up in a 4-3. (Video, click to enlarge)

Syracuse runs a common zone blitz, with the two outside backers blitzing and the rest of the defense playing cover three behind it. Either Nova or center Betim Bujari identify this blitz, and slide the protection to the right, with both tighends and the running back staying in to block the left side. The blitz is picked up easily, and Nova has plenty of time to throw.

The switch route is intended to beat the defense deep, similar to an all verticals play, but with a twist. The outside receiver and the inside receivers will "switch" paths while running down the field, causing confusion for the defense and hopefully getting a rub (or pick depending on your perspective) on one of the defensive backs. This is Eli Manning and Victor Cruz's money play, and Gary Nova and Brandon Coleman executed the play almost as well.

The outside receiver, Mark Harrison in this case, starts his route to the inside, and runs a go up the seam. The corner defending the outer deep third to the offense's right follows him inside, despite the safety being there, leaving the sideline vulnerable. Brandon Coleman, lined up to the inside in the slot, runs right past the flat defender on a semi-wheel route, and breaks vertically down the sideline. With the corner following Harrison, Coleman is open in the vacated zone. The corner recovers a bit, but Nova throws a nice deep ball, hitting Coleman in stride before he gets there. The corner is able to bring Coleman down before the endzone, but not before a 43 yard gain. This reception set up a one yard touchdown plunge by Jawan Jamsion later in the drive.

The switch route is an old relic from the run and shoot, but it is still a very effective play in football today. Rutgers's offense may have been too conservative in this game, but when they opened things up on this play, it worked. The Knights earned their biggest gain of the day using this play, and it set up a touchdown. The play was executed perfectly by the players, with the line doing a great job picking up the blitz, Nova delivering a great throw, Harrison running the defense off, and Coleman hauling the pass in for a big gain. Hopefully we'll see this more going forward.

Rutgers Beats Syracuse 23-15

If last weeks game was ugly, I don't know what this game was. All I know is it was probably even uglier. Rutgers' offense could barely move the ball at all, and the defense gave up a ton of yards in an other wise great day, but the bottom line is they made plays when they had to won, and that's all that really mattes. It's pretty tough to complain about a 6-0 team that is ranked 15th in the BCS rankings, but there are a lot of areas that the team could improve on as the Big East schedule gets tougher.

Just like last week, Rutgers' offense was ultra conservative to a fault, and they only had two offensive touchdowns on the day. Way too many screen passes were called once again, possibly in an attempt to dissuade Syracuse from bringing a ton of pressure like thy normally do, but the screens were still not working well and way too many were being called. Gary Nova was not given the opportunity to convert on third down with passes over the middle at all, and the few times he was allowed to throw down field were on bombs that were unsuccessful for the most part. The offensive line was doing a great job protecting Nova against Syracuse's blitz heavy defense, but the Scarlet Knights probably had their worst game on the ground,  by far, in this one.

After a three and out to open the game, the Scarlet Knights' offense went on a 93 yard touchdown drive. Nova started the drive throwing a fade route to Brandon Coleman, and Coleman was able to make a nice one handed grab along the sideline for a 27 yard gain. Nova was able to extend the drive by converting two third downs, one on a pass to DC Jefferson and the other on a 7 yard scramble, to set up another big play by Coleman, a 43 yard pass from Nova that set up a one yard charge by Jawan Jamison to give the Scarlet Knights an early 7-0 lead.

Rutgers only recorded 2 first downs the rest of the half, first on an 11 yard run by Jamison and then on a pass to Tyler Kroft, but two screens that went for negative yards killed any momentum they had. With 1:30 left in the half, they inexplicably ran the clock out with out so much as attempting a pass. That was very frustrating, 1:30 is more than enough time to score, especially if you pick up the pace. I could see how it made some sense given the kicking situation, but that's too conservative for my liking. The coaches know what they're doing more than I do up here in my ivory tower, so this is just me whining pretty much.

Jawan Jamison failed to reach the 100 yard plateau for the first time this season, but he had a big drive on Rutgers' first possession of the second half. He ran for 31 yards on that drive to set Rutgers up in the redzone. Coleman and Jefferson missed two catchabe balls in the endzone, and they had to settle for a 25 yard field goal from Anthony DiPaula. Rutgers had what seemed like a stereotype of the play calling the last two games on the next drive, a three and out featuring two runs and a screen before a punt, but the Orange fumbled the punt and Nova responded with a 12 yard touchdown toss to Tyler Kroft. From there, Rutgers just tried to kill the last 14 minutes of the clock. They ran the ball 13 times against only three passes, and only picked up one first down on the last 4 drives. The ultra conservative play calling allowed Syracuse to stay in the game and get more possessions, and they almost made a comeback. Fortunately, the defense was able to hang onto the lead.

This was not a pretty game for the offense, and the play calling had a lot to do with it, but some fault still has to go upon the players. The Knights only averaged 2.4 yards a carry, and that's unacceptable. They can't pick up first downs consistently with that miniscule yard per carry average. The offensive line has done a good job run blocking, but you have to wonder if Jamison is wearing down from all the carries he had early on in the year. Nova JUST missed on numerous deep balls, as Syracuse normally had a corner in man coverage on the outside receivers and a safety over the top in a quarters look, so he had small windows to throw through. He was throwing good balls, but the receivers were too well covered. Coleman was the only receiver to have a big day, catching 6 balls for 104 yards.

The defense had a very nice game, forcing turnovers, getting pressure on the quarterback, and stuffing the run, but they did a lot of the "bend but don't break" routine that is atypical of this defense. While facing a dink and dunk QB in Ryan Nassib, Robb Smith's defense ran a ton of zone coverages, rather than their typical man to man. This allowed Nassib to average 8.5 yards per attempt, but most of his completions were for relatively minimal yardage, and the Knights' defense stepped it up in the redzone. Khassem Greene led the way for this unit with a monster day, recording 14 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and an interception.

The Orange were able to got down to Rutgers' 25 on their first possession, but Ka'Lial Glaud recoded a sack to force a Syracuse punt. Later in the first quarter, Syracuse was able to once again penetrate RU territory, down to the 17, but Greene burst through the line to pick up his first strip sack of the day, forcing the Orange to try a 50 yard field goal that missed. Rutgers stifled Syracuse's ground attack for most of the day, but a long, balanced drive set up a three yard dive from Adonis Ameen-Moore to tie the game at 7 going into the half. It was the second rushing score Rutgers has allowed all year.

Syracuse started the second half with another drive led by Nassib and some nice runs from the backs, but their red zone offense, which has been a problem for them all year, stalled out and they brought on their field goal unit to try to take the lead. This field goal try, however, ended up being the turning point in the game for Rutgers. Jamal Merrell, who blocked an field goal and an extra point in the Carrier Dome a year ago, got his mitts on one yet again, to cause a mad scramble for the ball. Duron Harmon scooped the ball up, and he returned it 75 yards for a score to give Rutgers a 14-7 lead, after it appeared that they would fall behind 10-3. Rutgers special teams have been very special over the last few years, and the attention they have payed to the unit payed off big time once again, and might have won the game for them.

Nassib dinked and dunked his way into RU territory once again on the following possession, but Greene broke through on a blitz for his second strip sack of the day. Rutgers was able to recover the fumble this time, as Glaud fell on top of it. The defense forced another 3 and out on the ensuing possession, and the Knights entered the 4th quarter with a 10 point lead. Greene then made another huge play early in the 4th, intercepting Nassib after the Orange once again got into RU territory.

Orange wide out Marcus Sales then made things interesting, as he hauled in 3 balls for 77 yards on the ensuing drive, giving them a 1 and goal from the 10. Kevin Snyder did a nice job covering the receiver in the slot on 3rd and 4th down, but he was called for pass interference on 4th down, and the Orange had a first down at the 2. The Knights went on to have a huge goal line stand, forcing two incompletions before a tackle for loss by Logan Ryan on a run play and a pass break up on 4th down by Duron Harmon. This stand preserved a 23-7 lead.

The Orange got the ball back in RU territory with 5 minutes left and they made things a little too close for comfort. Lorenzo Waters went for a pick 6 instead of the tackle or pass break up on a pass to Christopher Clark, and he whiffed, allowing a 40 yard TD pass. I'm all for being aggressive, but up two scores with less than 5 minutes left, you can not allow big plays like that. Sales caught the 2 point PAT, and Syracuse pulled to with in 8. Brandon Jones intercepted the first pass of the next Orange drive, but Cuse had another chance to tie it, with 21 seconds left after RU failed to run out the clock on offense. Syracuse tried a couple hook and ladders, but neither of them worked, and Rutgers hang on for a 23-15 victory.

It was ugly, but a win's a win. Rutgers cut down on the penalties in a significant way, but they couldn't run the ball too well, and they only had moderate success throwing. The defense and special teams stepped up in a big way, recording 3 sacks, forcing 4 turn overs, and of course the big field goal block for a touchdown was the difference in the game. It was the second Rutgers-Syracuse game in a row that was decided by a blocked field goal. The Scarlet Knights moved up to 15th in the polls, and they are 6-0 (3-0 in Big East play) heading into a game against Temple in Philly.

Game 6: Syracuse

What makes a rivalry? Is it geography? When you're school is close to another school, you are often competing for the same recruits, and things can get ugly on the recruiting trail. Is it series history? A bunch of close, hard fought games could bring upon hatred for that particular opponent. Or is a rivalry formed just because you plain hate the other side's guts? With Syracuse and Rutgers, it seems to be a little bit of the first but mostly the third. What ever the cause of the contempt between Syracuse and Rutgers is, this rivalry will come to an end for the foreseeable future today, with Syracuse moving on to the ACC next year.


Get to Know Syracuse
Syracuse is the self proclaimed best 2-3 team in the country after narrowly beating Stony Brook and Pitt at home, losing a neutral site affair to USC, and dropping a pair of games to Big 10 foes Northwestern and Minnesota. 

The Orange are led by Doug Marrone, who is in his fourth season coaching his alma mater, and he has a 19-23 record so far. The former NFL offensive line coach wants his team to be physical on offense and blitz the crap out of you on defense. He has won 2 of 3 games against Rutgers at Cuse, but he has some sort of inferiority complex with Rutgers, as he tells recruits and boosters about how Rutgers is some how conspiring against him. He's also a control freak who has had constant roster turnover and an extremely poor relationship with the media, so he's a pretty reprehensible character.

Ryan Nassib has for some reason been mentioned as a really good quarterback and an NFL prospect, but he really hasn't been that impressive lately, after putting up gaudy numbers against Northwestern and USC. He doesn't have a great arm, but he's very accurate as a dink and dunker. Nassib is a middle of the road QB, but Syracuse can be a dangerous passing team thanks to their receivers. Marcus Sales has been the best receiver in the Big East this year, hauling in 33 passes for 445 yards and 5 TDs. Jerrod West and pre season All Big East receiver Alec Lemon both have 21 catches a piece, and while West has been solid, Lemon has been some what of a disappointment (0 TD).

Syracuse is 84th in rushing and 87th in yards per carry, and they've had to over rely on the pass this year to compensate for not being able to run the ball. They have not been able to find a lead back, and their offensive line has been banged up. All Big East right tackle Justin Pugh returned to the line up last week after missing the first 4 games of the year following shoulder surgery, so they might be better running the ball than the numbers indicate.

Syracuse's run defense ranks in the middle of the pack nationally, but they are coming off a game in which they totally shut down Ray Graham (Pitt's o-line is horrible). They have not done very well against the pass either, allowing opponents to throw for 10 touch downs while only intercepting 3 passes. They lost Chandler Jones to the NFL Draft, but Brandon Share has been a solid pass rusher for them.

Rutgers on Offense
Rutgers needs to keep doing what they're doing, running the ball well, not turning it over, and set up Gary Nova for some play action passes to his big receivers. Syracuse is going to blitz like crazy out of a bunch of exotic looks, so the offensive line needs to be prepared to know what's coming, and always remember their pass protection rules.

Rutgers on Defense
Again, just jeep doing what they're doing. They should be able to stop Syracuse's run game altogether, but they need to pick it up a little (like they did last week) against the pass. The front 4 needs to do a better job getting pressure, so they can drop more guys in to underneath coverage to prevent the dinking and dunking. If they must keep blitzing, they need to make sure they get there and at least cause a poor throw or throw away from Nassib.

STOP THE PENALTIES TOO!

Injuries
Kyle Federico is questionable with a hip injury. I would bet against him playing, and Nick DeLouise would likely take over place kicking duties. Hopefully they just go for it on 4th down situations in FG range.

Prediction-Syracuse 17 Rutgers 27
Rutgers just needs to keep on keeping on and not have a hiccup that this program has grown accustom to. The offense should have a good day, hopefully they open it up more than last week, but the Nassib and his receivers' dink and dunking concerns me against a blitz happy Rutgers' D. The secondary needs to play well. Syracuse isn't great, but they are pretty solid and won't be a push over.

I DON'T NOT WANT TO LOSE THIS GAME AND HAVE TO HEAR FROM THEIR STUPID FANS WHO THINK IT'S STILL THE '90'S AND RECRUITS WANT TO GO TO PLAY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!

Week 7 Picks

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

Louisville 34 Pitt 20
Louisville's offense has been very good and very balanced, and they just have too much speed for Pitt to keep up with.

Kansas State 41 Iowa State 30
The Cyclones are a sneaky good team, but Wizard Bill Snyder and Colin Klien just do not lose.

Oklahoma 31 Texas 34
Two old rivals clash in the Cotton Bowl with high powered offenses. The Sooners do not play very well outside of Norman, and I think Manny Diaz will have something up his sleeve after getting beat up by West Virginia last week.

Temple 10 Connecticut 13
These are probably the two worst teams in the Big East. Neither team has much fire power, but I think UConn has the better defense and will win at home.

West Virginia 57 Texas Tech 40
Nobody in the Big 12 is stopping Geno Smith and co.

Stanford 24 Notre Dame 22
The marquee game of the day features two physical defenses who will battle it out. Stefon Taylor will make a big play to give the Cardinal the win.

Oregon State 21 BYU 14
BYU has a sneaky good defense and the Beavrs starting QB Sean Mannion is out, but Mike Riley will find a way to win.

Fordham 0 Cincinnati 45

USC 34 Washington 21
The Trojans won't be sleepless in Seattle. Bet you never heard that one before!

South Carolina 2 LSU 3
THIS IS HOW WE DO ET IN DA S-E-C!

Texas A&M 50 Louisiana Tech 51
Offense fun time. Johnny Manziel is crazy fun to watch.

Tigers 2 Yankees 4
MVP- Alex Rodriguez.

Break It Down: Packaged Plays Against UConn

One offensive concept that has spread like wild fire through out college and pro football over the past few seasons is a concept known as "packaging" plays. In a packaged play, the offense will run two different plays at the same time, and the quarterback must read the defense and decide what to do with the ball. It usually pairs a basic run play with a screen to the other side of the formation, but a lot of air raid and other sophisticated passing offenses have packaged run plays with down field pass plays. In the article linked above, you can see how Oklahoma State would have Justin Blackmon run an isolated route based on the corner's leverage on the backside, in addition to the run play AND a screen. I've noticed the Dallas Cowboys have run this concept under Jason Garrett in more of a pro style offense, and Rutgers has modeled their package concept after them.

On first and ten from the UConn 14, Dave Brock called a packaged play out of a single back formation with a trey (TE and 2 WR) to the left, against Connecticut, who lined up in a 4-3 defense with a safety down in the box and an apparent zone blitz called. Gary Nova had the option of handing the ball off to Jawan Jamsion on an outside zone play to the left, or throwing to Mark Harrison on a quick screen to the right. (video, click to enlarge)

The corner was giving Harrison eight yards of cushion, and Nova took a quick peek to that side of the field before the snap and saw where the corner was positioned. With that much room to work with, the choice for Nova was very easy: he was going to throw to Harrison. He probably even decided that before the snap. Nova got the ball out quickly to Harrison, and Harrison took it from there, busting to the outside and breaking the tackle of both the corner and the safety who dropped out of the box to cover the deep portion of the field for the Scarlet Knights' lone offensive touchdown of the day.

This type of play always ensures the offense "has the chalk last", meaning, they can make the defense wrong every time, no matter what. Against sophisticated defenses that disguise their coverages and blitzes, this play may not work so well, but you won't see a lot of those types of defenses at the college level. The offense should always be right. Rutgers scored a touchdown against Arkansas with a packaged play, as well, and it will be interesting to see how they use it going forward. Dave Brock has been a little too reliant on screens so far this year, but this is a great first down play o keep the defense off balance. Giving Nova the option to either throw the screen or hand the ball off could ensure that the Scarlet Knight offense stays on schedule.

Rutger Blacks Out UConn 19-3

It wasn't pretty, and it was down right ugly at times, but Rutgers took care of UConn 19-3 on Saturday in front of a Blacked Out crowd at High Point Solution Stadium. Penalties continued to stall drives for the Knights offense, and they extended drives for the Huskies, keeping this one closer than it should have been. Regardless, a win is a win, and Rutgers avenged their embarrassing loss at the hands of Connecticut a year ago and improved to 5-0.

Rutgers struggled offensively in this game, as they were able to put only 13 points on the board, despite having great field position. Penalties were of course a major problem and stalled some drives, but the play calling was too conservative again for some reason. After having success against Arkansas and South Florida, the kids gloves were put back on Gary Nova, and he really didn't have the chance to throw the ball deep, or at all really other than screens. Rutgers went three and out on their first drive of the game, as Nova completed 2 WR screen passes for negative three yards. Following a UConn turnover, Nova completed a pass to Jawan Jamison out of the backfield, and Jamison took it 15 yards, putting the Knights in field goal range. Kyle Federico made a 45 yard kick to give Rutgers an early 3-0 lead.

Connecticut fumbled the ensuing kick off, and Rutgers was set up to score once again. Jamison broke off what appeared to be an 18 yard touchdown run, but it was called back on a holding penalty committed by new starting fullback Sam Bergen. Dave Brock then went back into ultra conservative mode in the red zone (for the third game in a row) and they once again were only able to put up 3 points on a drive that started in Husky territory. On their first drive of the second quarter, Rutgers was able to put together a sustained drive thanks to some nice runs by Jamison and a pass to Brandon Coleman, but Nova threw three straight incompletions when he was actually allowed to throw down field (he just overthrew Tim Wright on what would have been a 20+ yard pass) and Federico's third try of the day was blocked. Rutgers picked up the tempo just before the half, and DC Jefferson caught three passes on the drive, but the Knights had to punt after allowing their first real sack of the season. The offensive line is not to blame though, it was a coverage sack. Nova had about 5.5 seconds (which is more than plenty of time) to throw the ball, but he hung onto it too long. At half time the score was 6-3.

Jeremy Deering was finally able to return a kick at the start of the second half, but he fumbled after a 57 yard return. When they got the ball back, Jamison started to find his groove (44 yards on this drive) and Nova made two key passes to set Rutgers up in the redzone. On first down, Nova had the option of handing the ball off to Jamison or throwing a quick screen to Mark Harrison on the outside. With UConn's corner playing 10 yards off Harrison, Nova made the correct decision in throwing it to him, and Harrison was able break two tackles on his way to the endzone for a 14 yard score. It was the offense's only touchdown of the day, and it gave them a 13-3 lead. The next series produced nothing, and at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Rutgers had the ball on their own 1.

With their backs pressed against their own goal line, Nova completed a 19 yard pass down field to Brandon Coleman to get the Knights some breathing room. Rutgers was looking to eat away at the clock and they did just that, as Jamison carried the work load, and Nova completed some big passes for first downs. The Huskies were finally able to bottle up Jamison for a few plays, and when faced with a 4th and 8 on Connecticut's 35, Kyle Flood decided to punt. I did not like this move one bit, if they get the first down, they could eat more of the clock and possibly put it away with a touchdown, and if they failed to convert, UConn wouldn't have that great of field position and the defense was playing very well, but thankfully Justin Doerner was able to nail one onside the 1. The Scarlet Knight drive took 7:28. Rutgers did not pick up another first down in the game (penalties again), but it didn't matter. Final score 19-3.

The offense struggled overall, but they showed some positive signs and Connecticut has probably the best non Rutgers defense in the Big East. Jawan Jamison went over 100 yards for the 5ht time this year, Gary Nova continued to look solid (his number weren't so hot because of all the screens), and the offensive line opened holes and protected the passer. They might not have the prettiest offense or put up the best numbers, but they are not turning the ball over, winning the time of possession battle, and allowing the defense to win the game.

The defense did what they were supposed to do and dominated one of the worst offenses in the country. UConn running back Lyle McCombs was suspended for the first quarter (I don't know how they even let him play a at all) following an arrest Friday night in East Hartford (when did they travel down to Jersey? 5 am?), and the Huskies never got going on the ground, with or with out him, averaging 1.9 yards a carry. They were forced to throw the ball too much as a result, and quarterback Chandler Whitmore had a miserable day against Rutgers' secondary, throwing 4 interceptions and averaging only 6 yards a pass.

The Huskies were limited to 2 first downs in the first quarter, and they also turned the ball over twice in the first 15 minutes. Logan Ryan intercepted on of Whitmore's passes in UConn territory to set up Federico's first field goal, and Jamal Merrell followed that up with a fumble recovery on the ensuing kick off. Two offsides penalties allowed Connecticut to venture into Rutgers' territory, but they were still stifled by the Scarlet Knights defense and unable to score. UConn started their next drive in Rutgers territory following a blocked kick, and a roughing the passer penalty set them up for a successful field goal try. Rutgers held them to a three and out as they attempted a 2 minute drill, and The Scarlet Knights went into the locker room up 6-3.

Rutgers held UConn to consecutive three and outs to open the second half, and they only picked up 2 first downs in the quarter. They had some success through the air on their final drive of the quarter, but they had nothing to how for it. UConn went into desperation mode through the air in the 4th quarter, and they turned it over on downs and then threw an interception on the first play of the next drive.Connecticut was in a five wide set and ran an all curl play against Rutgers, who had nickel personnel on the field. Wayne Warren was lurking over the deep portion of the field, and he intercepted an overthrown pass by Whitmore and returned it for a touchdown to put the game out of reach at 19-3. When Warren is on the field he just makes things happen. Khaseem Greene intercepted a pass on the next drive, and the defense finished the game with a bang, as Lorenzo Waters recorded a sack on the last drive and Marcus Cooper intercepted a pass as time expired.

The defense just dominated this game from start to finish. In their first game with out Ike Holmes, the defense continued to shut other teams down. Scott Vallone was a menace in the backfield all day, and Jamil Merrell and Darius Hamilton (I'd guess they split snaps 70/30) both did an admirable job filling in for Holmes. Steve Beauharnais seemed to have a strong day in the middle making a ton of tackles against the run. The pass defense turned in a very strong effort as well, and allowed less than half of UConn's passes to be completed. FOr some reason, they kept throwing at Logan Ryan all day, and he allowed a couple passes to be completed, but he had a very strong day overall. The pass defense rebounded nicely after a poor showing against Arkansas, and the defense seems to be clicking on all cylinders now.

It wasn't an aesthetically pleasing game, but Rutgers dominated throughout this one. The defense took over the game and  the offense was good enough. They did not overlook an opponent they should easily beat, and they moved up in the polls as a result. This team looks great so far, but they will face a more difficult test at home in the next game against Syracuse.

Game 5: Connecticut

Rutgers enters Saturday's game ranked for the first time since 2009, and they will look to exact some revenge on a Husky team that beat them in their last regular season game when they had a chance to win a share of the Big East title a year ago. Rutgers is a much more talented and better coached team than Connecticut, but as we've seen in the past (including last year in this match up), crazy things can happen in the Big East.

Get to Know UConn
Connecticut is 3-2, having alternated wins and losses against MAC and ACC teams. They beat UMass and Buffalo at home and Maryland on the road, and have lost at home to NC State and on the road to Western Michigan. On offense, they love to run the ball despite only mild success on the ground this year and lack a competnet QB and play makers in the passing game, in addition to a solid defense.

Paul Pasqualoni is in his second year coaching the Huskies, and he hasn't brought a lot of excitement to Storrs. After going 5-7 in his first season, he looks to bring UConn back to a bowl game this season. The defensive minded Coach P has put together some solid units on that side of the ball, but he hasn't posted a winning season as a head coach since 2001 (he served as an NFL assistant from 2005-20010), but his offenses haven't been great. His long time assistant George DeLeone remains behind the times in offensive philosophy, and he doesn't exactly have a lot of talent to work with.

Lyle McCombs ran for over 1000 yards a year ago and earned some Big East honors, but he's gotten off to a pedestrian start this year, averaging only 3.7 yards a carry. Some of it may because of an offensive line that lost 2 starters, including all conference center Moe Petrus, and some of it may have to do with wearing down after carrying such a large load last year (he's a smaller back), but what ever the reasoning behind his struggles, there have been calls for backup Martin Hyppolite to get more carries. The offensive line, normally a strength for them, has not given him a lot of room to work with, and they are also 103rd in the nation in sacks allowed.

Illinois transfer Chandler Whitmer won the starting QB spot in camp, and all though he has completed 61% of his passes while averaging a solid 7.8 yards per attempt, he has only thrown 4 touch down passes against 6 interceptions. UConn does not have a stand out receiver, and they struggle mightily on third down as a result.

Connecticut's defense has been one of the best in the country statistically so far, but they haven't exactly faced any offensive juggernauts. The unit is led by sophomore linebacker Yarwin Smallwood, who leads the Big Eat in tackles. They have a very good linebacking unit overall that can stop the run, despite a defensive line that lost some very important players, including Kendall Reyes, from a year ago.

Their secondary struggled last year, but they have a formidable pass rush, and have improved a bit through out the year. They have not been tested by a quarterback who can beat them deep, so we'll see today how improved they really are.

Rutgers on offense
With Gary Nova's recent emergence and Savon Huggins coming back from injury, Jawan Jamison won't have to carry the same work load he did against USF and Arkansas, though he should still get 20+ carries. Nova will look to test UConn's secondary deep, and his receivers Wright, Coleman, and Harrison will need to continue the good work they've done recently. With Huggins back, RU should improve in the red zone after they settled for too many field goals in his absence. The offensive line will need to keep Nova clean for the 5th game in a row, and clear the path for the running backs. Taj Alexander will get his second start of the year at right guard, after overtaking Andre Civil during the bye week.

Rutgers on defense
UConn's run game has struggled so far this season, relative to previous years, but they will still rely on the run game. With Ike Holmes out, one of Marquise Wright, Darius Hamilton, or Jamil Merrell will have to step up and stuff the run along with Scott Vallone. Steve Beauharnais hasn't made a ton of plays yet this year, but he will get his chance to make a ton plays up the middle against the Huskies. The Knights have had problems stopping the pass against 4 and 5 receiver sets, but UConn won't utilize those kinds of formations too much. Their defensive backs are way more talented than UConn's receivers, and they should shut them down and capitalize on the mistakes Whitmer makes in the form of interceptions.

Injuries
Ike Holmes is out for the season and his back up Al Page is still out with a mystery injury that has kept him out of the lineup in all 5 games.

Fullback Mike Burton is out for the year with a lower body injury.

Defensive lineman Michael Larrow and Kenneth Kirksey will play for the first time this year, returning from a suspension and injury respectively. Savon Huggins wil return from an injury as well.

Miles Shuler was hurt this week in practice and his status for the game is uncertain.

Prediction: Connecticut 10 Rutgers 27
Rutgers can not afford to have a let down like they did against Connecticut last year. They need to take care of the ball and not beat them selves with penalties. They may struggle running the ball a little bit, but they could over come that with yards through the air. The defense should totally shut down the Huskies' offense, but stranger things have happened.

Week 6 Picks

Does not include Thursday or Friday's Games.

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. LSU
5. Florida
6. West Virginia
7. Georgia
8. Kansas State
9. South Carolina
10. Texas
11. Ohio State
12. Clemson
13. Notre Dame
14. Rutgers
15. Oregon State
16. Louisville
17. TCU
18. Stanford
19. Oklahoma
20. USC
21. Baylor
22. Mississippi State
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Northwestern
25. Cincinnati

South Florida 35 Temple 16
This is Temple's first game back in the Big East, and they do not have the talent to keep up with South Florida. The Bulls are mistake prone, so that could keep it close, but as usual, BJ Daniels will probably take advantage of an inferior opponent. 

Arizona 24 Stanford 27
Stanford has had problems with spread offense recently, but their defensive line is too good for Arizona to handle, especially on the road. The Cardinal don't have much of a passing game, but Stefan Taylor is still some how one of the most underrated backs in the nation.

LSU 14 Florida 17
Everyone knows how great LSU's defense is, but Florida's might be just as good, if not better. The Tigers can really run the ball well, but but I have much more faith in Jeff Driskel at home than I do Zach Mettenberger on the road.

Oklahoma 34 Texas Tech 30
Oklahoma struggles on the road, but I'm not a big believer in this undefeated Red Raider team.

Georgia 24 South Carolina 17
This game could be a defensive struggle or a shoot out. I think both teams run the ball well, and Murray will be able to make a big throw off play action late to win it.

West Virginia 44 Texas 40
Both teams have put up great offensive numbers this year, and we should see a good duel between Geno Smith and David Ash. The Mountaineer defense has struggled this year, but I think they will eventually get their act together.

Miami 13 Notre Dame 14
Miami's offense has been much better than I though, but Notre Dame has a legitimately great defense. The Irish offense has been lack luster, but I think they could force some turn overs to get points on the board.

Miami Ohio 10 Cincinnati 30
Is Munchie's passing legit? We won't find out this week.

Nebraska 20 Ohio State 28
The Big 10 is just so meh this year. I like don't care about any of their teams at all.

Washington 17 Oregon 45
The Ducks are just so much faster than anyone else in the Pac 12. Their defense is sneaky good too.

Break It Down: Nova Uses Trips to Tear Up the Hogs

Gary Nova enjoyed by far the best passing game of his young career against Arkansas two weeks ago, as he completed 25/35 passes (71%) for 397 yards (11.3 per attempt) with 5 touchdowns and no interceptions. With a performance like that following a break out game against South Florida, Rutgers' fans confidence in Nova has sky rocketed, and it appears that he can be more than just a game manager this year. Now that the schemes no longer need to be vanilla, Nova has been able to use his arm strength to beat opposing defenses deep, and the multitude of deep threats he has at receiver have allowed him to put up big numbers.

Against Arkansas, Dave Brock took advantage of an inexperienced Hogs secondary that seemed to be poorly coached, by using trips formations. A trips formation is exactly what it sounds like: three receivers are lined up to the same side of the formation. Normally, defenses will play zone to the trips side, and leave few defenders on the backside, where the offense knows they will get man coverage almost all of the time. Nova bookended his day with two touchdowns out of trips.

Down 10-0 early in the second quarter, Rutgers had their drive extended after an Arkansas defender jumped offsides on a field goal try. On the first play after the penalty, Nova tossed a 10 yard score to Jawan Jamison. (Click to view full size. Video is here.)

Arkansas had their base 4-3 personnel on the field, while Rutgers lined up in a four receiver shotgun formation with trips to the left. The Hogs rotated their defense over to the trips side, with the corner, strong safey and middle linebacker over the three receivers, and the free safety over the top of them. The SAM backer blitzes from the trips side, and for some reason, Arkansas played man coverage* with the free safety playing deep half. As you can see in the picture above, the right side of the field is wide open and Rutgers takes advantage. Kaleb Johnson kicks slides back to pick up the blitzer off the edge, and Brandon Coleman ran the corner out of the play by running a 5 yard dig, leaving Jamison a ton of grass to out run the outside linebacker, who was directly across from him. Nova delivers a nice touch pass, and Jamison out jumps the defender for the score. This route design is similar to a post/wheel combination, which is one of the oldest and best route combination used today.

*Man to man usually spells disaster against trips, since the offense usually designs the receivers to cross paths and rub defenders, and I can't recall a defense doing that before. That's just bad coaching. Tyler Kroft, RU's inner receiver, runs a flat route to the side line and the guy covering him thinks he's switching men with the corner, so there's nobody even close to him.

Nova threw his final TD pass of the day when Brock called a pass out of trips after Arkansas pulled to with in 2 in the fourth quarter.(Click to enlarge, here's the video)

Rutgers comes out in basically the same formation as the first TD pass Nova threw, but the receives are a bit more spread out, and Arkansas (I think) brings their nickel package in and once again plays man to man with the free safety covering the deep half over the trips. On the back side, Mark Harrison shakes the corner and runs past him on a go route, catches the pass from Nova in stride and scores a 60 yard touch down to put the Scarlet Knights up by two scores.

With Rutgers big, fast, physical receivers and a strong armed QB, running isolated routes on the back side of trips should be a major part of their passing game going forward. The receivers are capable of over powering or out running almost any corner in the Big East, and with no safety over the top, they should be open deep, and Nova is capable of making those kinds of throws. If teams start defending the backside of trips formations more, the trips receivers could be dangerous running route combinations with more room to work with.

Ike Holmes Out For the Year With Wrist Injury

Junior nose tackle Ike Holmes will miss the rest of the season after suffering a wrist injury in the Scarlet Knights' victory over Arkansas two weeks ago. The news was not announced until Tuesday because the injury turned out to be worse than originally diagnosed.

This is a major blow to Rutgers' run defense that is ranked number one in the nation. Holmes was having a great year so far, taking on double teams and pushing the line of scrimmage back, while disrupting the path of opposing running backs and freeing up his teammates to make plays. It sucks anytime you lose a player for the year, and you have to feel terrible for Holmes, as he was having a breakout season, but Rutgers must move forward with out him.

Rutgers came into this season with a lot of depth on the defensive line, but  that has dwindled quickly in the early part of the year. In addition to Holmes' injury, back up nose tackle Al Page has yet to play a game and will be out indefinitely with a lower body injury, Daryl Stepenson suffered a season ending injury in camp, Kenneth Kirksey missed the first four games with a injury, and Michael Larrow was suspended. Thankfully Kirksey and Larrow will be back for the UConn game tomorrow, but some reshuffling will still have to be done to replace Holmes.

Scott Vallone will likely move from his three technique spot back to nose tackle, which he played last year, with a number of guys potentially taking over Holmes' place in the starting lineup. True freshman Darius Hamilton has backed up Vallone and seen a lot of playing time early on, but early indications point to him not starting. From Kyle Flood's comments, it appears that either Jamil Merrell or Michael Larrow will draw the start. Both players have primarily been used at end in their college careers, but they both saw some time at three technique during spring ball. Larrow is just coming back from a four game suspension, so his snaps will probably be very limited as he gets into game shape, making Merrell the likely choice to get the starting nod. Kirksey and Max Issaka are possibilities as well, but they are most likely to be used in a reserve role, as Kirksey is coming off an injury and Issaka has not played tackle before.

Flood has made it clear that Vallone will still be used in both tackle spots, so red shirt freshman Marquise Wright will see a boost in playing time as the back up nose tackle, and the former 4 star prospect can provide the unit with some much needed size now that Holmes is out. Wright will need to be able to hold double teams to free up his teammates to make plays, and he could be a very important player against physical teams that like to run the ball (Pitt and UConn for example), when they can not afford to play with an undersized line. Vallone is a capable nose tackle, but he's better as a 3 tech., where he is able to make more plays himself, so Wright emerging as a quailty players is probably the ideal situation

Holmes and Vallone were a menace for opposing offense, and although I don't think Rutgers will be able to replicate that, they have enough depth at the position to get by. Merrell will probably be the new starter, but in name only. I think Wright will see a lot of time in running downs and Hamilton will continue to get time in passing downs, with Merrell still playing mostly end. There are a lot of options, and it might take a few games to figure out what role all of them will play, and like with Michael Burton's injury, it will take multiple players to fill the void left by Holmes.