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.
No comments:
Post a Comment