Game 8: Temple

 I have no ill-will towards the Owls, but I want the Scarlet Knights to crush them like a bug today. There is a lot of frustration around the program after two ugly losses, and it would be nice to take it out on somebody. Temple is exactly the kind of team you can take your frustrations out on, especially since little brother can't keep his mouth shut.

I'm SICK of hearing about Rutgers not recruiting PJ Walker as a quarterback. He is more of a runner than a passer and he is just simply not a fit for the style of offense Rutgers runs. Chris Laviano was a better prospect than he was coming out of high school too, and you usually don't want to take more than one quarterback per recruiting class.

I'm also not sure why people think Rutgers would be better if he was their quarterback instead of Gary Nova. As I said, he's not exactly a strong passer, so do you think he would have been able to lead the comeback against Arkansas like Nova did? Do you think he would make those fourth quarter and overtime throws against SMU like Nova did? I don't. Rutgers would be 2-5 with him. Maybe they would have beaten Louisville with out the turn overs (probably not), but let's not forget that the defense gave up 52 and 49 points in two of the three loses on the Knights' record.

Rutgers will almost certainly go with a run heavy game plan considering Nova's turn over problems, and they should find sucess in doing so. Justin Goodwin is running really well, and the offensive line looked as powerful as ever last week and appear to be back on the right track. Hopefully a strong running game will open up the play action pass, and Nova can get the ball down field to Brandon Coleman and Leonte Carroo with out having it picked. Those two have been way too silent lately.

On defense, the Knights fortunately will not have to deal with another spread passing attack. They can stay in their base personnel with out worrying about the inevitable mismatches, and focus on stopping the run. Expect to see nine defenders in the box. Rutgers' front seven is one of their biggest strengths, and they can finally start doing their thing after being neutralized by quick passing attacks. I don't think Walker can beat you with his arm, and if they can't run they will be in big trouble. A big early lead would help in this regard too.

Prediction:
Temple's style of offense will be much easier for Rutgers to deal with than Houston or SMU or Fresno State, so I expect a strong performance from the defense. Rutgers' ground and pound offense will be too much for the Owls to handle, and Nova will connect for a deep touchdown pass.

Rutgers 31 Temple 10

Rutgers Honors Terry Shea on Homecoming

There isn't much to say about this game. Rutgers was humiliated on their home field by a decent, but by no means great' Houston team last Saturday on homecoming, 49-14. I guess they were paying homage to the style of Rutgers football alumni over thirty are accustomed to. The team is way too talented to lose to teams like Houston, never mind by 35, and the loss left me wondering about the future direction of this football program.

Once again, Gary Nova turned the ball over way too often. I've long been one of Nova's biggest supporters, but it's getting really unacceptable how often he turns over the ball. He is in his third year as a starter, and this can't keep happening. He is making the same mistakes over and over by forcing passes into triple coverage. He was so good earlier in the season, and he needs to get his act together, shake off these last two awful performances and start playing better. He's clearly the most talented player Rutgers has at the position (they have no other legitimate options at the moment, honestly) and he needs to start showing it again.

Justin Goodwin had another big day in the loss, and running the football was the only competent thing Rutgers could do all day. Kaleb Johnson and Keith Lumpkin did a great job clearing the way for him on the left side,  and the offensive line played much better as a whole, especially in pass protection, than they did last time out against Louisville. Unfortunately, they had to overly rely on the passing game since they were behind by so much, and couldn't fully exploit their advantage up front. I've loved what Ron Prince has done this year, but I'm not sure why Desmond Peoples was running the ball on a third and one in the second quarter or why Savon Huggins was throwing passes while Rutgers was playing catch up.

The defense once again could not stop the other team's spread passing attack to save their lives. They are obviously young and short handed in the defensive backfield, but have you seen a modicum of improvement out of them this year? Have you seen one defensive back make a tackle in space? Intercept a pass? Knock a ball down? The extremely poor play is alarming. The coaching staff should have made some adjustments to improve this by now and the young players should be improving. Neither thing is happening. The Knights could not stop the run either, but that's probably in large part due to selling out against the pass. This isn't much of a concern. Yet.

 Not only was the team a no show today, but the crowd was too. I don't understand how you can not show up until half way through the second quarter and then have the nerve to boo the team. They should boo you, you are an embarrassment. Can you just imagine what a laughing stock Rutgers will be next year if their Big Ten debut against Penn State is at noon and ESPN shows how empty the stadium is at kick off?

I'm not saying he should be fired, but I'm really starting to have a lot of doubts about Kyle Flood leading this program. The team is far too talented to lose games like this at home against teams like Houston, no disrespect to the Cougars. Rutgers should be long past having games like this, yet here we are. The team is starting to perform below expectations again, and I'm going to write more about this issue in my next post.

Rutgers has been stuck in neutral for quite a few years now, and it looks dangerously close to going back in the wrong direction after Saturday's nightmare of  a game. They still play three very bad teams in their final five games (Temple, UConn and USF), so they should still make a bowl game. They will do no better than the Pinstripe Bowl, and they will almost definitely end up there thanks to proximity, even though they might end up belonging in the BBVA Compass Bowl or St Petersberg Bowl. They will most likely play Notre Dame in the Bronx.

It's also probably time the school considers canceling home coming. To recap the last four home coming games: this one, a loss to Kent State, a 21-20 win over Navy where the Midshipmen had a field goal blocked late in the 4th quarter, and a loss to Tulane. Yea. That's pretty bad.

So There Has Been A Lot of Departures.....

This has been called a transition year for Rutgers, and that apparently not only applies to their conference affiliation, but their roster as well. Through out the season, there have been numerous departures, and while it may not effect the starting line up or the two deep much, it hurts the team's overall depth, and trickles down to the practice squad, where the starters won't get as good of a look practicing as they should.

The most notable departure is that of former starting corner back Ian Thomas, who has decided to quit football and pursue a baseball career. This is peculiar not only because he decided this in the middle of the season, but because he didn't even play baseball in high school. I won't fault a guy for making this type of decision, football is really hard and if he has any prospects of turning pro in baseball at all he is better off doing that, but this leaves Rutgers in a major bind. Corner was already a weakness coming into the season, and his departue combined with Lew Toller's season ending injury leaves just Gareef Glashen, two true freshman and a bunch of back up safeties as their depth at corner. His absence also leaves the position as a question mark in the future too.

Also leaving is defensive tackle Al Page. Page wasn't playing a whole lot, but he made the most of his limited opportunities and was an injury away from being thrust into the line up. This leaves the Knights with less depth at a position where depth is arguably the most important.

The other two transfers are runningback Dontea Ayers and offensive guard Marquise Wright. Ayers probably saw the writing on the wall that he was going to be burried on the depth chart because of the emergence of Justin Goodwin and the three runinng backs committed as part of Rutgers' 2014 recruiting class. Wright recently moved to guard from defensive tackle, but he was not listed on the two deep and probably never really had a chance to start next year.

Defensive linemen Myles Jackson and Jamil Pollard have also had to call it a career, due to injuries.

According to my unofficial count, Rutgers now has only 77 players on scholarship. That may not seem like a problem, but you need a strong roster from top to bottom, and they are getting dangerously thin at the bottom. The silver lining here is that they won't have as bad of a scholarship crunch when they welcome in their colossal 2014 recruiting class.

Sloppy Play Does Rutgers in Against Louisville (Again)

I went into this game fully expecting Rutgers to lose, yet I still managed to get infuriated while watching it between Reece Davis, Jesse Palmer and David Pollack talk about Louisville's national title chances (LOL).The Scarlet Knights played very poorly on both offense and defense, as they dropped the Thursday night contest on the road to the paper tiger Louisville Cardinals 24-10.

When you are facing a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, you are going to have to score a lot of points. Rutgers mustered a meager ten points in this game, a season low by far, as the unit was a complete disaster.It was like a 2010 esque nightmare of a performance. Gary Nova threw four interceptions, the offensive line could not pass protect to save their lives, and the running game produced next to nothing.

With Nova, these types of games can unfortunately happen. He had the game against Kent State last year, and he just couldn't take care of the ball in this game. He's a gunslinger; that's who he is. These types of quarterbacks are double edge swords, and he hurt the team for the first time all year after coming up huge for them so many times earlier in the season. He forced a lot of throws through tight windows, and it just was not working. He had no time to throw the ball, and that certainly didn't help matters. I wonder if he put too much pressure on himself thinking he would have to outplay Teddy in order for his team to win. I still have a lot of faith in Nova going forward, but he was just awful in this game, there's no way around it.

Rutgers was also unable to run the ball in this contest, as they looked very much like a team playing on short rest following a triple overtime game. The line could not get much of a push, and the backs were unable to do anything with limited space to run. This was especially unfortunate if you watched Louisville lose to UCF last week, as the Golden Knights won by running it down their throats. If you like playing pointless hypotheticals, you could think the results would have been different if Paul James played, but injuries are part of the game and you have to just deal with it.

The defense only gave up 24 points, which isn't too bad, but they did a whole hell of a lot of bending with out breaking. The secondary predictable got torn to bits by Teddy Bridgewater (he missed quite a few throws and was missing his top receiver too), and more disconcertingly struggled against the run for what feels like the first time in three years. They managed to make some big plays to prevent the Cardinals from putting more points on the board, and gave the offense and opportunity to win, despite not playing well overall.

The red zone defense was very good, but they were in the red zone way too much for my liking. Jeremy Deering made a nice play providing coverage over the top to intercept a pass from Bridgewater in the end zone late in the first half. Jamal Merrell also blocked a kick, and Anthony Cioffi timed a blitz perfectly and sacked Bridgewater while also knocking the ball loose. Dave Milewski had an opportunity to scoop and score after that, but he fell on the ball instead. There was nobody around him, but it's tough to fault a lineman for just falling on top of it,

The star of the game for Rutgers was middle linebacker Steve Longa, who continued to be an explosive play maker on the inside. He burst through the line to make some plays in the back field,and continued to pile up his tackle total.

Rutgers played pretty poorly in this game, and it cost them a chance at an upset (even though the two teams are pretty evenly matched talent wise). Fortunately, UCF's win the following week over Louisville opened the door for Rutgers to win a share of the conference title should they win out.But there's still a long way to go before that.

Game 6: Louisville

Should have been Gary Nova with that trophy

Last season, Rutgers lost the final game of the regular season to Louisville, in a game that would have sent the Scarlet Knights to the Sugar Bowl had they emerged victorious. Dropped passes, costly turn overs and a very bad call by the officiating crew did Rutgers in, and prevented them from their date with the Florida Gators in the Super Dome. A year prior to that, Rutgers dropped a close contest to the Cardinals, thanks to a pair of chip shot field goal attempts missing. This lost ended up costing the Knights a share of the Big East crown. Two years, two tough losses in games that should have been won.

A year ago, I felt that Rutgers had every advantage going in their favor in their Thursday night contest against Louisville. They were at home. Teddy Bridgewater was playing not only with a broken wrist but a sprained ankle as well. Charlie Strong was rumored to be in the running for the head coaching positions at Auburn and Tennessee. The new Call of Duty game had just been released. None of that stuff ended up mattering though, and Louisville won the game.

This year, everything seems to be going against the Scarlet Knights. They are playing their second road game in five days. They were pushed to triple overtime in their latest contest. And they've dealt with a number of injuries. Maybe they can turn the tables this time, and beat the Cardinals for the first time since 2009.

Charlie Strong's squad has yet to be tested this year. The Cards handled Ohio, Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Florida International and Temple with relative easy. All of those games were pretty much over before half time. This is one area the Scarlet Knights could have an edge, Rutgers has played three close games down to the wire, and Louisville might not be ready to play all four quarters.

Another factor working in favor or Rutgers is special teams. Janarion Grant has been a dynamic kick returner this year, and he could change this game with another one of his explosive returns. Nick Marsh is going to be very important as well for Rutgers to win the field position battle. I'm expecting a trick play out of this unit as well. They are going to maybe have to make multiple big plays for Rutgers to win tonight.

On defense, Rutgers will of course face Teddy Bridgewater, who is the best quarterback in the country in my opinion. The Knights' secondary has been torn to shreds by Fresno State and SMU, so they will be facing another tough test tonight. I'm not feeling good about this group, but schematically, Louisville isn't as much of a challenge. Rutgers had trouble with three and four receiver sets since they have stayed in base personnel, but Louisville will run more traditional sets than those two.Also, they are going to attack you more vertically, so the alignment issues and natural picks on short crossing routes won't be as big of a problem. The front seven is going have to continue to get to the quarterback like they have done so often thus far this season. The Cardinals running game should not pose much of a problem for Rutgers.

Offensively, Rutgers is going to have to put a lot of points on the board. Gary Nova has been great so far this year, and he needs to have another big day. Hopefully they can get Leonte Carroo more involved early, and maybe Brandon Coleman will be healthier than he has been so far this season. Pass protection has been some what of a problem this year, and Louisville gets after the quarterback, so some screens and short passes early should be used to try to slow them down. Savon Huggins will start, but I think Justin Goodwin will and should receive the majority of carries. Regardless of who is running, the offensive line is going to need to knock people around up front. It will be intersting to see how they split time at right guard between Chris Muller and Antwan Lowery. Muller has been very good this year, but Lowery received the bulk of playing time last Saturday.

I really hate Louisville and I really, really think the Scarlet Knights have a shot, but I sadly do not see the secondary being able to stop Bridgewater. The offense will score points and it will be closer than the experts think, but ultimatly I think the Scarlet Knights will come up just short.

Rutgers 41 Louisville 44

Game 5: SMU

Rutgers opens up Big East play for the final time today, as they travel to Dallas to take on the Ponies of SMU.

SMU is not a good team, and Rutgers should be able to push them around up front on both sides of the ball. QB Garret Gilbert is a turn over machine, and I don't think this will be close.

The biggest thing to watch is how the secondary plays against a pass heavy offense in their last tune up before facing Tedddy Bridgewater next week. THis won't be a physical game, and hopefully Rutgers can rest their starters late in the game to get them ready for Thursday's game.

Injuries continue to be a big problem for Rutgers, and Paul James and Jamal Merrell are the to most notable absences today. I'm not saying the next two games will define Savon Huggins career, but they probably will.

Rutgers 41 SMU 17

Rutgers Rallies to Overcome Early Mistakes to Beat Arkansas