Rutgers Gets Embarrassed at Home Once Again

 As I write this, I am watching Central Florida play Temple because Rutgers is so unwatchable, and I realized that the Owls will give the Golden Knights a more competitive game than Rutgers will on Thursday. The Scarlet Knights currently trail Cincinnati 31-7 with 4:54 left in the second quarter. God only knows how awful the final score will end up being. This is Rutgers football under Kyle Flood.

Rutgers has --oh Cincinnati just scored again-- played extremely passively on defense and Brandon Kay has thrown all over them as a result. They keep playing soft zone coverages with two deep safeties, and Kay splits them every time on the post like an extended hand off. The few times they have brought pressure, Kay has rushed his throws and thrown incompletions. But why be aggressive and reap the benefits when you can sit back and be soft and get beat? Rutgers football under Kyle Flood.

Paul James is back, but he hasn't kick started the running game like you would have hoped. Cincinnati is giving Rutgers receivers a lot of cushion, but why take the open short throws when the defense is handing them to you? Run the ball and throw deep! Rutgers football under Kyle Flood. Why go uptempo to give your offense a jolt when you can use the entire play clock and go three and out? Rutgers football under Kyle Flood.

Tommy Tuberville has pulled out all the stops with an onside kick, a fake punt and some trick plays. His team is fired up and having fun. They came ready to play. Rutgers looks unprepared and flat yet again. Rutgers football under Kyle Flood. 

Gary Nova threw a nice touchdown pass to Brandon Coleman for a touchdown, and that was Rutgers only highlight of what I watched.

The program is a disgrace right now, Kyle Flood is emulating Nero, and they will probably go 3-9 next year and be competitive again when they have a different coach in 2015 or 2016.

Game 9: Cincinnati

Cincinnati scored a total of six points in their last two games against Rutgers, but those games might as well have been a lifetime ago. Rutgers defense isn't nearly that good anymore.

In those last two contests with the Bearcats, Rutgers has had a dominant ground attack, and I would expect to see that again today.

Rutgers is banged up and will be with out Darius Hamilton and Betim Bujari, but Lorenzo Waters and Paul James will be back.

Cincinnati is a winning team, Brandon Kay is a QB with a pulse, and Tommy Tuberville has a huge edge over the head coach opposite him. Rutgers is probably going to lose.

Cincinnati 38 Rutgers 31

Rutgers and Red Zone Inefficency

 Back in May, I came across this article about the best and worst redzone offenses in college football over the 2010-2012 seasons, going by touchdown percentage. Rutgers was the third worst team in the country by this measure, and only Colorado State and Boston College were worse. Throughout those three seasons, the Scarlet Knights came away with a touchdown just 49% of the time they moved the ball inside their opponents twenty, and the redzone inefficiency was a significant part of the problem for an offense that has struggled mightily in recent years. The issue has reared its ugly head again for the Scarlet Knights in 2013 (they are 75th in TD% inside the redzone), especially in their most recent game against Temple..

Against the Owls two weeks ago, the reasons for not scoring touchdowns in the redzone were pretty cut and dry. They committed a few penalties, lost a fumble, and failed to convert a fourth down. But what is the deeper cause of this problem that dates back four years now? Let's take a look at the best redzone offense and see if there is a common thread:

Via Coachingsearch.com

With the exception of a few Air Raid teams like Texas Tech, East Carolina, and Louisiana Tech (who run a lot of screens, which are basically run plays, in the redzone), most of these teams have dominant running attacks. They go about it different ways, Wisconsin and Stanford do it with the behemoth lineman and power plays, Oregon does it with their spread zone, and Air Force does it with the triple option, but they can all rely on their ground attack to reach the endzone from short distances. That seems to be the ticket here, running the football.

Football has become an increasingly pass heavy game at all levels recently, but it's still difficult to throw the football in the redzone.The reason for this is all about spacing. When you have a condensed field, there is obviously less room vertically, so there is less ground the other team's defense has to defend. They are closer to one another in coverage, and have a better chance of making a play on the football. There also isn't enough room for your receivers to get the proper spacing necessary for the pass plays to work. Bill Walsh, who coached two hall of fame quarterbacks and is one of the most influential men in today's passing game, knew the limitations of passing in the redzone, and he famously relied on the power sweep in the redzone.

Even though Rutgers has branded itself as a run first team, they have not been a great running team since Ray Rice left. Their best players on offense have been receivers like Kenny Britt, Mohamed Sanu, Brandon Coleman and Leonte Carroo, so they have had to rely on the passing game a lot, and that leaves them short in the redzone. Those guys theoretically should dominate in the redzone with their size and physicality, and they all have scored their fair share of touchdowns, but passing the ball is still the lower percentage option. The running game is much more reliable time in and time out.

Now what can be done about this? Well, having Paul James back this week will help a lot. He had six touchdowns in the first four games of the season, and his vision could be a huge asset on the goal line. One of the other things I think they could do is give the ball to Savon Huggins more in the redzone. He has been a disappointment, but he is serviceable in short yardage situations. Another thing that could help is running some read option plays close to the goal line. Going back to the best offenses in the redzone, you see a lot of teams with running quarterbacks (Colin Klein at Kansas State, Denard Robinson at Michigan, Braxton Miller at Ohio State, etc.) who can utilize their quarterback's wheels in the redzone. Gary Nova isn't the fastest quarterback in the world, but he's not exactly slow either and Rutgers has dabbled with zone reads a little bit this year.

The team has simply left too many points out on the field over the past few years, and they will need to rectify this if they want to take the next step as an offense.

Pondering the Uptempo Offense

During Rutgers' most recent game, the Scarlet Knights had a lot of success on offense in the two instances they went uptempo against Temple. With 1:07 left in the first half, they drove 51 yards to get into field goal range, and with 1:53 left in the second half, they went to the hurry up on their way to scoring the game winning touchdown. Those two drives would have resulted in 10 points if Rutgers had a competent kicker, and it could have easily been 14 if they had any time outs left in the first half.

Gary Nova looked cool, calm and in control while operating at this high speed, completing 9-13 passes for 120 yards with a touchdown on those two drives. Watching how easy it was for them to move the ball was almost hilarious. And it made me think: should Rutgers start going up tempo more? Tom Luicci of the Star Ledger asked Kyle Flood about picking up the pace on offense, and he pretty much dismissed that idea. But I think he needs to reconsider his stance on this topic.

Rutgers tried running an uptempo spread offense in 2009 and 2010, and it was an unmitigated disaster. The offensive line could not pass block at all, and no running back could run the ball with out being embarrassed. It was so bad that Tom Savage was kept off the field to keep from being injured, and it may have been a big reason why he decided to transfer (even though Rutgers switched back to pro style before he left). That experience understandably soured the program and presumably Flood on this philosophy, but let's consider why it didn't work on the banks like it did in most other places.

There were two major reasons why this offense didn't work at Rutgers, and one of those reasons no longer applies. The main factor why the offense didn't work was Kirk Ciarocca's incompetence as an offensive coordinator. Don't think I need to add much more to that, just look at how he's doing at Western Michigan. He's not here anymore. The other reason I think it didn't work was the entire coaching staff (including Flood, the offensive line coach at the time) did not buy into this scheme. This may still be an issue, but really who knows? Ron Prince has done a pretty solid job so far at Rutgers, and he seems open minded to trying new things. He does have some experience with no huddle/uptempo offenses from his time on the Colts coaching staff when they had Peyton Manning.

Luicci went on to say that he believes Flood does not want to change the offenses identity of a run first, grind it out offense, but these two ideologies are not mutually exclusive.They can still rely heavily on the power running game, while playing at this accelerated pace. I have wanted to see a team deploy this strategy for a while, but it hasn't happened yet. Imagine how broken a defense's will would be in the fourth quarter if they were getting body blow after body blow like they were playing Stanford, while playing at the frantic pace Oregon makes their opponents play at.

Considering how good the offense and Nova specifically has looked going fast paced against the likes of not only Temple, but Fresno State, Arkansas and SMU as well, it needs to be a bigger part of their offense. Maybe there can be a compromise and they could go fast paced some of the time, but not all the time, similar to what you see in the NFL. The offense has looked stagnant at times, and the fast paced style of play could give them the jolt they need. They have plenty of receiving options, and if they can spread a defense out, throw the ball around and then substitute and go to the power game, they may catch some defenses off guard* and create a numbers advantages inside or match up advantages on the outside.

*You have to allow the opposing team to substitute when you substitute, but if the other coaching staff is unprepared for the fast pace, they could be caught off guard and make a mistake.

I don't see Rutgers going uptempo in a non two minute drill anytime soon, but it's certainly something fun to think about. Considering that the temperature on Flood's seat is rising, he should give this more thought. The easiest way to appease a frustrated fan base is scoring points. There are some draw backs to going uptempo, namely wearing out your own defense, but the risk is worth the reward in my opinion. I think that the fast pace style of play should be a bigger part of Rutgers offense, but they should not run it exclusively.

Rutgers Escapes With Last Minute Victory Over Temple

Today we spell redemption G-A-R-Y

 How can you not feel great for Gary Nova right now? After all the negativity he had to go through last week, dealing with empty threats of being benched and hearing from fans and the media about how awful he is and how the next opponent's quarterback should have his job, he shut everyone up with one of the best games of his career in the Scarlet Knights come from behind 23-20 victory over Temple. The team once again turned in a very poor performance overall, but they were able to pull out a victory late against the 1-7 Owls.

Rutgers began the game offensively with a very conservative game plan and rightfully so after Nova's previous two games. They ran the ball on their first eleven offensive plays, but still managed to move the ball into Temple territory on each of their first two possessions on the back of Justin Goodwin. Yet somehow, they came away with zero points. They could not convert a fourth and one on their first possession, as Temple linebacker Nate D.Smith burst through the line unblocked to bring Goodwin down in the backfield and a penalty besieged their second possession, forcing them to punt from Temple's 35. If you follow Big 10 people on twitter, you will realize Kirk Ferentz does this all the time too, so Rutgers will fit right in.

Late in the first quarter, Nova was finally allowed to throw the football, and his fine passing eventually resulted in three points. He picked up a first down completing a pair of passes to tight end Tyler Kroft, and he threw a nice ball on a corner route to Brandon Coleman to get into Temple territory. He hit Leonte Carroo on a crossing route to get the Knights down to Temple's four, but three consecutive penalties set Rutgers back and they had to settle for a field goal. They weren't action penalties either, they were mental errors that were the result of the team being undisciplined and disorganized. That's coaching, if you ask me.

Following a three and out on the previous possession, Nova led the team on an impressive drive while going uptempo with just over a minute left in the half. They didn't have any time outs left, since they wasted them earlier (coaching), and had to settle for a 40 yard field goal attempt that Kyle Federico missed.*He completed first down passes to Coleman, Pratt and Carroo on the drive that ultimately resulted in zero points.

*Rutgers has two! Two! Place kickers on scholarship and they can't even make a chip shot field goal.

The Knights began the second half offensively with a three and out, but struck quick with a three play touchdown drive the next time they had the ball. Gary Nova made perhaps the most impressive throw of his career, stepping up in the pocket to elude a pass rusher while keeping his eyes down field and hitting his second read, Quron Pratt, on a deep crossing route over the middle. Pratt made a nice run after the catch, and the play got Rutgers down to Temple's 6 after the 41 yard gain. Michael Burton was finally rewarded for all his great blocking this year with the a score of his own on a toss from Nova, on Jon Gruden's favorite play, Spider 2 Y banana. And then of course Federico missed the extra point.


Rutgers moved the ball again on their next possession as Nova converted a pair of third downs with passes to Carroo and Pratt, but the drive once again stalled out in Temple territory and Rutgers was forced to punt. On their final possession of the third quarter, Savon Huggins (remember him?) took a screen pass 14 yards, but Rutgers once again had to punt after Nova was sacked. On that play he was sacked, Temple jumped offsides, but the top notch, world class Big East officials missed it. Even more stunningly, it was the second time in the game Temple got away with jumping offsides on defense. Incredible.

Trailing by four early in the fourth quarter, the Knights' defense came up with a big turnover, and Ron Prince called for the home run ball on the first play after the sudden change. Nova connected with his trusty side kick Carroo on the go route for a 34 yard score off a play action fake. Rutgers had its' first lead of the day, but unfortunately, it didn't last long, as the defense gave it right back. Rutgers offense seemed poised to create another lead change, thanks to some Temple penalties and a couple scrambles by Nova, but Goodwin lost a fumble in the redzone and the Owls recovered with 8:54 remaining. It seemed like the cutback lane was open for Goodwin on the play, but he ran into traffic and lost the ball.

Rutgers came dangerously close to not getting the ball back (more on that in a bit), but they did get another opportunity to win the game. With the ball at their own 28 with 1:53 left, Gary Nova would have to lead another fourth quarter comeback, and that's just what he did. Looking very comfortable once again going uptempo, Nova completed short passes to Huggins and Kroft to get Rutgers to midfield. Pratt hauled in another pass for a first down, but after a sack, Rutgers faced a do or die 4th and 10 from the Temple 33. And as he has done so many times this year, Gary Nova found Leonte Carroo open down the sideline for a deep bomb that resulted in a touchdown. It was a very risky throw, but his trust and confidence in throwing to Carroo really showed and he threw a beautiful ball for the game winning score with just :35 seconds left.

Nova had a phenomenal day, obviously, and the rest of the offense was pretty good too. Nova made some great decisions, even tucking the ball and running when nothing was there. They ran the ball very effectively early in the game, but saw a drop off later as they failed to secure blocks at the second level of Temple's defense. The offensive line was blowing Temple off the ball, and they did a good job in pass protecting, even though they allowed two sacks (remember: Temple was offside on one of those). It was nice to see Carroo, Pratt and Kroft reemerge after being put in hibernation, and Ron Prince called yet another solid game. It wasn't all peaches and cream though. Rutgers was very inefficient in the redzone, making four trips inside the 20 and coming away with only three points on those possessions.This has been a problem with this offense for a few years now. I'm also not sure why Savon Huggins doesn't get the ball at all. He hasn't lived up to the hype, but he's still and ok option, especially in short yardage situations and when Goodwin is struggling a bit.

 The defense had some what of a bounce back game after being embarrassed a few times this year, but they were merely solid and not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination. Things got off to a great start for Knights' defense, as freshman Delon Stephenson, making the first start of his career, intercepted PJ Walker's first pass on the second play of the game. They followed that up by forcing a three and out, thanks to two plays in the backfield. Djwany Mera stuffed a Zaire Williams run for a loss of five, and wide receiver Ruhan Peele sacked Walker on a corner blitz while temporarily filing in on the depleted secondary.

After those two impressive stops, Temple started to find their groove offensively. Walker moved the ball down field with the quick underneath passing game, and Williams broke off a pair of eleven yard runs. Walker capped the drive with a nice deep ball to Robbie Anderson over tight coverage from Stephenson in the endzone for six points. The Owls once again moved the ball on their next possession, but they wound up punting from midfield, and that really helped them in the field position battle. Especially after Nick Marsh shanked a 26 yard punt. Beginning at Rutgers' 36, the Owls drove methodically into the endzone, with some nice runs and the short passing game. Walker hit Kevin Harper in the flat for the score. Temple went into the break with a 13-3 lead.

Ike Holmes batted down a third down pass to force a three and out on Temple's first possession of the second half, and Kevin Snyder and Darius Hamilton teamed up to stop Walker on a read option to force another three and out the next time the Scarlet Knight defense took the field. The Owls managed to get their lone first down of the third quarter on their final drive of the period, but Marcus Thompson made  tackle for loss and Quanzell Lambert chased down a scrambling Walker on third down to force another punt. Jamal Merrell intercepted a pass from Walker early in the fourth quarter, and that  eventually led to Rutgers taking the lead for the first time. The defense looked dominant, but unfortunately, that didn't last.

Walker continued to gash the Scarlet Knights with the short passing game, and the Owls continued to pick up first downs by taking small bites. Temple converted a fourth and one along the way, and Kenneth Harper took a third down hand off twenty five yards for the score, making Rutgers' first lead short lived. On the play, Rutgers was bringing pressure off the right side, and everyone else was bailing. There was nobody on the left to defend the run, except for Darius Hamilton who was being triple teamed.

Temple got the ball back with 8:54 left in the game, and they very nearly ran out the entire clock. The Owls were piling up 5 yard run after five yard run, and were chewing up a ton of clock. It wasn't like they were just out physicaling Rutgers upfront, it was a matter of being out schemed. Rutgers inexplicably was playing with two deep safeties against a run first offense, and when a linebacker had to go out to cover the slot receiver, the Knights were left with six defenders in the box against six blockers, plus the tailback and the running quarterback they had to account for. So that's basically 6 against 8. You are not going to get many stops this way. They respected Temple's passing game more than Houston's or SMU's or Fresno State's, which absolutely blows my mind. The lack options int he secondary may have something to do with that, but still. Fortunately, Kevin Snyder and Steve Longa met in the backfield on a cross dog blitz to bring down Harper on a fourth down play to force the turn over on downs and get the offense back on the field to win the game.

Temple did get the ball back with 35 seconds left, but Peele put his helmet on the ball while making a tackle, and forced the ball out and also recovered it. One game in and he's already the team's best defensive back!

I thought the secondary played their best game of the season against Temple. Peele made some big plays and I thought Stephenson and Glashen were  pretty solid. Jonathan Aiken did a nice job filling in for the injured Lorenzo Waters, and Waters absence may have been a reason why they didn't bring a safety down in run support more. Walker completed 67% if his passes, but only averaged 6.5 yards per attempt. The run defense gave up more yards than they should, but again, it was a numbers issue. Holmes and Hamilton (who is third on the team in passes defended, by the way) were both doubled on almost every play, but Longa and Snyder did a nice job cleaning up and preventing big runs.

Rutgers escaped with a win, and although it was to get back in the win column, the cracks in the program's foundation were on full display. They were sloppy, undisciplined, borderline unprepared and out schemed. There is too much talent on the roster for the team to struggle and need some luck to beat Temple like this, and it was just more fuel to the fire for a fan base quickly turning against Kyle Flood after a very, very bad month. The school is just 5-6 in their last 11 games dating back to last season, and they have not beaten a winning team in that time. Flood needs to pretty much win 4/5 to end the season to inspire confidence in the fan base.

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.