Rutgers' Defense Dominates in 10-3 Win

On the day news broke of Rutgers' impending Big 10 membership, the Scarlet Knights played like a Big 10 in beating Cincinnati, winning on the strength of their defense and power run game. The defense, led by Khaseem Greene, held the number 1 scoring offense in the Big East to just three points, making big play after big play, and locking things down in the redzone. On the offensive side of the ball, Savon Huggins carried the ball a school record 41 times with Jawan Jamison limited, and he was able to power his way through the defense and take a lot of time off the clock. They set the tone of the game too, making the Bearcats play a slow paced game, rather than their up-tempo style. The victory improved the Scarlet Knights to 5-0 in Big East play for the first time ever, and they are one win away from clinching at least a share of their first conference title.

Kyle Flood and Dave Brock have been criticized for being overly conservative, but they came out aggressive in their play calling on Saturday, and Gary Nova completed a deep ball to Brandon Coleman for 41 yards on the Knights' first play of the day. The Rutgers' drive eventually got into the redzone, but it did not result in any points, as Nova threw an interception while trying to throw the ball away under duress. Huggins started to shoulder the load on the next series, carrying the ball 5 straight times, picking up 20 yards. The drive continued as Miles Shuler took a screen pass 10 yards on a 3rd and 1, but it was derailed by a holding penalty, for what feels like the thousandth drive set back by penalties this year. The infraction negated a 16 yard pass, and the Knights were unable to pick up another first down, even after Jamison took one of his few carries of the day for 16 yards on first down. The initial drive of the second quarter was ruined by penalties too, and it resulted in another punt.

Rutgers lone touchdown drive of the day came on their next possession, as they started on their own 3 yard line. Huggins was running well down hill behind and offensive line that was punishing the Bearcats' front, and it set up the play action pass perfectly. Nova had plenty of time to throw after faking the hand off, and he was able to hit Mark Harrison in stride on the post route for a 71 yard touchdown to make it 7-0. The Knights followed that up with another nice drive next time thy had the ball. Jeremy Deering started it off, taking a reverse 20 yards, and Huggins ran it up the gut to get into Cincy territory. Brock made another aggressive play call, calling for a double pass, but Tim Wright's throw was just barely out of Huggins' reach, on what would have been a touchdown. Jamison broke off another 15 yard run to get the ball into the redzone, but the Knights came up empty again, as Nova stared down Shuler in the endzone and the safety snatched it away from him. It was a disappointing way to head into the locker room, but the Knights had to have felt great about how Huggins was running and how the line was blocking.

The Scarlet Knight offense didn't exactly come out of the locker room on fire, going three and out on their first two possessions, but they were able to put together a nice, time consuming drive towards the end of the third quarter. Huggins was starting to wear the defense down and pick up big chunks of yards, and Nova converted a 3rd and 13 with a pass to Tim Wright to get the ball down to the 9. They were not able to move the ball much further though, and they had to settle for a field goal. The attempt was blocked, and the Scarlet Knights came up empty in the redzone for the third time of the day. At the start of the fourth quarter, they were able to put together a similar drive, riding Huggins and the offensive line, and they took nearly 7 minutes of the clock. After Huggins picked up 35 yards on the ground and Nova completed two passes, one each to Harrison and Wright, Nick Borgese drilled a 42 yard field goal through the uprights to give the Knights a comfortable 10-0 lead. From there, Rutgers just ran out the clock. Huggins broke off his longest run of the day, a 25 yarder, and tied Jamison's school record for carries in a game with 41.

Despite only putting 10 points on the board, Rutgers' offense played very well. They had over 400 yards of total offense and ran the ball at will. Savon Huggins had by far the best day of his career, with 178 yards on his 41 carries, behind a dominant offensive line. RJ Dill delivered some crushing blocks while pulling outside on sweeps, and Antwan Lowery was punishing people with pancake blocks all over the place. Betim Bujari, Kaleb Johnson and Taj Alexander also pushed people around to create holes. Nova made one bad mistake on his second interception, but other wise played well. The deep ball was thankfully back, and Mark Harrison had a big day, going over 100 yards. There's just something that makes him perform better at Nippert Stadium. It was very reassuring to see the offense play like this after some sub par outings.

The defense came out onto the field to open the game, and they punched Cincinnati in the mouth right away. Khaseem Greene stuffed stuffed George Winn early on, to set the tone for the rest of the game. The Bearcats were able to move the ball a bit on their next possession, but Greene stepped up again, tackling Brendon Kay in the backfield for a loss of two, and delivering a punishing hit to Winn to cause an incompeltion. Cincy had to settle for a field goal attempt, and the kick was no good, as it sailed wide right. The defense was gashed two plays in a row by Cincinnati's ground attack, due to some missed tackles, but the Knights clamped down and forced another punt. Kay took one of his few shots down field on the following series, and Logan Ryan played the ball perfectly and intercepted it near the endzone. Scott Vallone then made pretty much every play the next time the defense was on the field. He batted down a pass and pressured Kay into a bad throw, nearly getting a sack, to force another Bearcat punt. With the way the defense was dominating, the 7-0 half time lead seemed much larger.

Early in the third quarter, the defense started to bend a little bit. Travis Kelce and Robert Abernathy were able to pick up some big yards after the catch, advancing the ball to Rutgers 17 yard line. But as they did all day, the defense stepped up and made plays to keep them off the board. Marvin Booker chased Kay down on a read option on first down, and Ryan was able to make a play on a perimieter run on 3rd down to force a 4th and 1. Butch Jones, probably thinking that he would have limited opportunites to score, decided to go for it. On the 4th down play, the defensive line got a strong push, led by Darius Hamilton,  Steve Beauharnais quickly diagnosed the play and filled the hole, and Greene finished Winn off with the tackle. Hamilton and Beauharnais made their presence known again on the following series, as Hamilton  recorded a tackle for loss with the speedy Abernathy running, and Beauharnais picked off a pass while lurkling over the middle on the ensuing play.

The Bearcats completed a 25 yard pass at the tail end of the third, but the Knights were able to force two straight incompetions to cause a Cincy punt early in the 4th. The defense got a bit more aggressive after taking a 10-0 lead, and brought the house on a 3rd and 3. Winn caught a screen pass behind the blitzers, and took it 30 yards to midfield. The Bearcats competed two more passes, but then the Knights smelled blood on the water and started teeing off on Kay. Booker picked up a sack, and Greene recorded another, and Cincy had to go for it on 4th and 25 at this point. Beauharnais hurried the quarterback, and Brandon Jones provided nice coverage to ensure the pass fell to the ground. The Bearcats' last ditch effort got them into RU territory again, but Greene recorded another sack, and Cincinnati kicked a field goal with 1:17 left to ruin the shut out. Rutgers recovered the onside kick, and left Nippert Stadium victorious.

The defense played about as well as you possibly can and nearly shut out a very good offense. Greene led the effort once again and picked up Big East defensive player of the week honors for the second week in a row. Beauharnais, Vallone, and Hamilton did a good job stuffing the run, and various Cincinnati receivers were lost on Logan Island. The defense as a whole locked everything down, forcing incompletions and making a lot of plays in the backfield. Like they did against Isaiah Pead last year, they held all Big East caliber tialback George Winn to his lowest rushing yardage output of the season.

Rutgers imposed their will on Cincinnati by being more physical than them and slowing the pace down to their speed, rather than the up-tempo pace Cincinnati likes to play with. Savon Huggins had his break out game (which I totally called), possibly giving the Knights a 1-2 backfield combo going forward. The offensive line dominated, and Nova played solid overall, and Mark Harrison led the receivers with a 100 yard day. The defense dominated, and players at all three levels played some of the best football they have in their entire careers. This is the type of game Rutgers needs to play week in and week out (scoring more points in the redzone though, of course). They are one win away from clinching at least a share of their first Big East title.

Breaking News: Rutgers in Negotiations to Join the Big 10

Rutgers won today thanks to a dominant defensive effort, and I'll write the game recap eventually, but that's going to take a back seat for now.

Multiple sources are reporting that the Big 10 is in negotiations to add the University of Maryland as their 13th conference member, and if they come to an agreement, Rutgers will join them as the conference's 14th member. Obviously this is great news for Rutgers, since the Big 10 is the richest conference in the country, thanks in large part to the Big 10 Network, and that will help Rutger' athletic department's bottom line a great deal. More importantly for fans though, it will improve the football program's prestige a great deal and it will also help in recruiting. Playing yearly games against Big 10 teams should spark fan interest and help attendance.

I've been trying to avoid blogging about conference realignment since there so much crap spread around to sell Rivals subscriptions, but this is the real deal. ESPN has very strict rules when it comes to breaking news, so when they report stuff it's true. Rumors of Maryland joining the Big 10 have been swiriling on message boards all week, but I didn't think there were any teeth to it for the a fore mentioned reasons. This is a lot for me to wrap my head around at once, so I'll hopefully write more about this topic later this week.

Game 10: Cincinnati

Rutgers is 8-1 (4-0) and alone atop the Big East standings, and they start a daunting 3 game stretch to end the season today, in their house of horrors, Nippert Stadium, against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincinnati is once again one of the best teams in the Big East, and they present a major road block to the Scarlet Knights, who have not played an opponent of this caliber yet this season. Rutgers hasn't played their best football of late, but they have been much better on the road than at home this year. They need to get off to a fast start today, as they may not be able to dominate in the second half against a very good team like they do against inferior teams.

Rutgers On Offense
Rutgers has been uber-conservative with their play calling this year, sitting back and hoping the other team just beats themselves, but they may not be able to get away with that this time. It looks like Jawan Jamison will play after injuring his ankle last week,  but I would expect him to carry a lighter load with Savon Huggins picking up the slack. Cincinnati has a small but quick front 4, so I would look for the Knights to run right at them, down hill, and maybe not run as much wide zone, which has been the staple of their offense. The offensive line needs to push people around, and they should probably cut block on the backside to prevent penetration. With Cincy's corners giving receivers tons of cushion, I would expect a lot of quick screens to the outside. Hopefully they will attack the middle with some slants and crossing patterns too, as the Bearcat linebackers are not great in coverage and leave the middle vacated quite often when they blitz. These runs and shot passes will hopefully draw the defense up, allowing Nova to attack them deep. Cincy blitzes a lot too, so Nova and the line need to figure that out and pick them up.

Rutgers On Defense
Rutgers made a lot of position changes before last season to get more speed on the field in order to stop offenses just like Cincinnati's. It will be strength vs strength when the Bearcats run the ball to the outside, which they do so often. Khaseem Greene should have plenty of opportunities to make plays in space, and the corners need to provide run support, like they usually do. If they run right at Logan Ryan, I like Rutgers' chances. The defensive line mush get pressure on Brandon Key, and make him uncomfortable when he drops back and throws deep. Cincy throws a lot of deep balls, and the defensive backs must use their ball skills to knock passes down and hopefully get some interceptions. Cincinnati is at their best when the run the ball to the left, so Rutgers should some how try to get them to run right. The right side of Cincy's line can get pushed around. Tight end Travis Kelce is a very good receiver, and the linebackers need to keep him in check.

Injuries
It looks like Kyle Federico will miss another game. It's possible Jamison doesn't play, but Kyle Flood says there's a 75% chance he will be a go. Right guard Andre Civil is out, and Taj Alexander, who started against USF and has been getting a solid amount of playing time, will get the starting nod in his place.

Prediction- Rutgers 27 Cincinnati 24
I think Rutgers defense will be able to hold the Bearcats' ground attack in check and force Kay beat them with his arm, and I don't think he can do that. I'm hoping the offense gets out of their slide and unleash Nova, but I think they will be able to run the ball like they did early in the year. The Knights will of course probably make a big play on special teams too,

Know You Opponent: Cincinnati

Nippert Stadium has been a house of horrors for Rutgers over the years. The Scarlet Knights are 1-6-1 all time at the 35000 seat stadium, including the defensive embarrassment in 2010, and the 2006 team's first loss in November of that year. The 2012 Scarlet Knights have been very good on the road, and they will look to buck this trend Saturday, in a major test against a Cincinnati team that is very dangerous, even though they probably aren't as strong as some of the teams they have had in the past. The history of this series matters very little right now, you can't change the past, you can only control the future. Rutgers seems to be treating this like a really big game, as they should be, and they need to come out to fast start in this one.

The Bearcats So Far
Cincinnati is 7-2 so far this year, including a 3-1 record in Big East play. They got off to a 5-0 start by embarrassing Pitt on national TV, beating two FCS teams, Miami Ohio and a Virginia Tech team that is experiencing a major down year. They were tripped up on the road against a very good Toledo team, and followed that up by losing an over time thriller to Louisville on a Friday night. They have rebounded in recent weeks by beating Syracuse and Temple, despite going through a quarterback change.

Coaching
The Bearcats are led by fourth year head coach Butch (Bitch) Jones, who is 48-26 as a head coach, winning at least a share of 3 conference titles along the way, during his time at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones, who was a grad assitant at Rutgers once upon a time, is well versed in the spread offense, previously serving as Brian Kelly's offensive coordinator for the Chippewas and Rich Rodriguez's wide receiver coach at West Virginia. As a head coach, he has had some very good offenses running a run heavy spread that is very difficult to stop, and it may have caused Rutgers to change their defensive personnel up a little bit last year in order to stop it. Jones reportedly turned down the head job at Illinois a year ago, and he was also linked to the job opeing at North Carolina that eventually went to Larry Fedora. He made some recent comments urging fans to show up for the games, and there have been rumors that he has grown frustrated at Cincinnati. His name will pop up again for job openings this December, and he may or may not jump ship.

Mike Bajakian is the Bearcats' offensive coordinator, and the Oradell, NJ native was also once a grad assistant at Rutgers. He has been Jones' offensive coordinator every year he has been a head coach, and Bajakian also has a bit of NFL coaching experience. Obviously he guides the spread offense Jones has in place. Tim Banks and Jon Jancek are the co-defensive coordinators, and they run a 4-2-5 defense that utilizes both man and zone coverages.

Offense 36th in PPG, 7th in yards per carry, 58th in pass efficiency, 16th in yards per play
Munchie Leagux said he was better than Teddy Bridgewater in the week leading up to Cincinnati's game against Louisville, and things really got bad for him after that. He went on an interception binge, and he was replaced by senior Brandon Kay late in the Syracuse game. Kay isn't the kind of athlete Leagux is, but he can run the ball and does a decent job as a game manager. He is not accurate, but he can get the ball to receivers down the field. The Bearcats love to run the ball in their spread offense, and they have a two headed running back monster featuring George Winn, who gets the bulk of the carries, and the very speedy Ralph David Abernathy IV. Both backs are averaging over 5.5 yards a carry. Cincinnati's offensive line is very weird. The right side of the line gets pushed around, while the left side dominates. Left tackle Eric Lefeld in particular is a very good player who could get some all conference recognition. Tight end Trais Kelce (I'm assuming he's related to Philadelphia Eagles lineman Chris Kelce, who was also a Bearcat) is their leading receiver with 422 yards and 4 TDs. Nobody on the team has more than 25 receptions, but they have some deep threats at the position. Cincinnati runs a very basic spread offense. The run a lot of zone plays, including zone reads. They run horizontally a ton, but it works for them. They will run some screens and throw deep balls, but they don't have a complicated passing attack.


Defense 21st in PPG, 42nd in yards per carry, 23rd in pass efficiency, 41st in yards per play
The Bearcats run a 4-2-5 defense that emphasizes speed more than size. Their defensive line is very undersized, but they make up for it with quickness and they make a ton of plays in the backfield. They may struggle when you run right at them, but they can penetrate and chase you down on outside runs. Their best defensive player early on, end Walter Stewart, suffered a very unfortunate career ending back injury against Fordham, and they do not have a stand out player up front with out him. Cincinnati's linebackers are very big. Greg Blair is their leading tackler, and he is pretty strong against the run. The Bearcats have their linebackers blitz up the middle on passing downs often, but when they drop into coverage they aren't particularly quick. The Bearcat defensive backs are asked to play multiple zone coverages in addition to man coverage. The corners give plenty of leverage to receivers, so they can be beat on quick passes. Their main goal seems to be to protect the side line, so they are often beat on deep post routes, especially when playing man to man coverage. The defense has a rover who usually plays in the box and sometimes over the tight end or slot receiver. They will play two deep safeties on passing downs, and the strong safety will lurk down on running downs. The free safety some times plays on the hash, so you may be able to hit some long passes to the weakside if your receiver can win a one on one match up. They are ball hawks back there though; their DB's have a combined 9 interceptions this year.This isn't a very physical unit, but they are really fast. They bring pressure up the middle and from the field, but you can out muscle this defense on the ground and through the air and put some points on the board.

Conclusion
Cincinnati has been one of the top teams in the Big East for a few years now, and should provide a major test for Rutgers. They have great teams speed on offense and defense, but they don't have a ton of size, and their passing attack on offense is a bit lacking. If Rutgers can stop the run, I think they will have a successful day and finally end the string of bad games at Nippert Stadium. Nippert the streak in the bud, if you will.

Week 12 Picks

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

Temple 20 Army 28
The Owls were already a bit of a mess offensively, and they may be with out Montel Harris in this one. As we saw last week, Army's offense can be tough to stop, and Temple doesn't have the kind of athletes Rutgers does to slow it down.

USC 42 UCLA 34
The Trojans have been a disappointment this year, and the Bruins have been a surprise, but think USC is still the better team. Marqise Lee may be the best player in the country right now, and I think he and Matt Barkley will do enough to win and put SC in the drivers seat to win the Pac 12 south.

South Florida 14 Miami 28
The Canes have been very good offensively this year, with freshamn Duke Johnson providing plenty of fireworks. USF will have a true freshman QB starting his first game on the road (albeit in a non hostile environment) and the Bulls will not be able to keep up.

Clemson 44 North Carolina State 27
NC State has been very inconsistent offensively this year, while the Tigers have been playing very good football since their loss in Tallahassee in September.

Texas Tech 37 Oklahoma State 30
Oklahoma State is on, I believe, their third starting QB of the season, and the Red Raiders have played surprisingly good defense this year.Seth Doege has been one of the top QBs in the Big 12.

Ohio State 45 Wisconsin 40
I haven't watched much Big 10 football this year, but this could be a good game. Both teams can score.

Utah State 43 Louisiana Tech 41
This game is for all the marbles in the WAC. The Bulldogs have a high power offense, but The Aggies are a very good team all around, and Gary Anderson is one of the best coaches you don't know about.

Oklahoma 56 West Virginia 41
Poor Geno Smith. The Mountaineers just can not play defense at all.

Syracuse 27 Missouri 28
The battle for bowl eligibility. The Tigers have been dominated in SEC play, but I think they can pull this one out at home.

Kansas State 63 Baylor 38
Much like West Virginia, Baylor can not stop anyone, let alone Optimus Klein, the Wildcats' o-line and Wizard Bill Snyder.

Stanford 24 Oregon 50
Stanford does not have enough speed on defense to stop Oregon. They couldn't beat them with Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh, I just don't see them beating them with out those two.

BYU 17 San Jose State 24
This is a pretty interesting mid-major match up. Both teams have very good defenses.

Big East Announces Divsions For 2013-14

Earlier this week, the Big East announced the division alignment it will utilize in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, as it welcomes six new members to the conference and awaits the arival of Navy and the Big East's 14th member in 2015. The divisions will change again in two years, maybe to a zipper format, but in the mean time the divisions will look like this:

East- Rutgers, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida
West- Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU, Temple

The East features 5 of the reaming 6 Big East teams, and seems to be much tougher than the west. I thought that either Cincinnati or Louisville should have been placed in the west because it made more sense for balance (Cincy, Louisville, Rutgers and Boise are pretty clearly the top 4 programs in the New Big East right now) and geographical purposes, but Temple will be in the West instead. I guess they must have agreed to this when they joined the conference this year. Regardless, it looks like Boise will have a relatively easy path to the conference championship game, while the teams in the East will have quite a battle.

For Rutgers, this isn't a drastic change. They will still be playing half of their conference games against teams they have grown accustom to playing every year, with the only difference being they will play UCF and three of the teams on the western front instead of Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia. They will still likely be competing against the teams they are competing against this year for a spot in the conference title game. With any luck, Boise State will play Rutgers twice in this period to boost strength of schedule, draw fan interest and get on TV, etc.

This is just a small step to making the new Big East a success, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

Rutgers Struggles in 28-7 Victory Over Army

 Every fault this Rutgers teams has shown this year was on full display in this game. They were way to conservative on offense, committed too many penalties, got off to a sluggish start in the first half, and they handled Gary Nova with kids gloves. In spite of all that, they were able to defeat and overwhelmed Army team by three touchdowns, thanks to some timely plays on special teams and defense, and another big second half effort.

Rutgers knew they were going to have limited opportunities on offense against an Army team that eats a lot off the clock when they have the ball, but that didn't stop Dave Brock and Kyle Flood from being extremely conservative. On the opening drive, Nova completed an 8 yard pass to Mark Harrison to convert a third down try, and the offense proceeded to go backwards from there. A hold by DC Jefferson nullified a nice run by Jawan Jamison, and a run by Jamison for a loss of 5 and a false start penalty set up 2nd and 27. They might as well just have punted on this down, because they followed it up with a screen and a run play on 3rd and 20, before they did punt on 4th down, wasting their only possession of the quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights had by far their best drive of the game. Jamision started it off with runs of 14 and 7 yards, and a play action boot leg pass from Nova to Jeremy Deering advanced the ball into Black Knight territory. Jamison kept the sticks moving on the drive, including on a 4th and 1, setting his team up with a 1st and 10 from the Army 16. On this play, Jamison took the pitch to the outside, and threw the ball to a well covered Brandon Coleman in the endzone. Coleman went up and got it for the score, to tie the game up at 7. Rutgers went 3 and out on their next possession and then took a knee right before the half, and they went into the locker room with the score still 7-7.

Rutgers' first possession of the second half was derailed by another holding penalty and it resulted in a punt after a three yard route was called on 3rd and 11. They were able to sustain a drive the next time they had the ball with some dinking and dunking through the air, but the drive stalled and resulted in another punt. Jamison injured his ankle on the next possesion, and Savon Huggins was called upon to carry the load. After the offense was set back by an illegal hands to the face penalty, they had to punt yet again, after another short pass was called on 3rd and long. Huggins did an admirable job filling in for Jamison, and he put a few nice runs together to get advance the ball into Army territory late in the 3rd, but a Gary Nova pass was a bit to high for Miles Shuler, who deflected it into the hands of an Army defender for an interception.

Fortunately, they were able to get the ball back in great field position after a 9 yard punt, and Nova was able to bounce back, hitting Brandon Coleman on a deep pass for a 31 yard touchdown, one of only three passes thrown 10+ yards down the field by the offense all day. The Scarlet Knights had a 14-7 lead and they would hold onto it for good. Huggins capped the offense's day with a one yard touchdown plunge following a bad snap by Army on a punt. Overall, the offense did not play well. They were hamstrung a bit by play calling, and despite a solid day on the ground, the offensive line did not have a great day. They committed penalties and gave up a sack, and did not dominate like they should have against Army's front 7. They've been great all year, but they had a down game on Saturday. Both backs ran well, and Nova had an alright game, but you would have liked to see the receivers get more chances down the field, as they had a big size and speed advantage. Hopefully this teaches the coaching staff you can't be THAT conservative.

The defense only gave up 7 points, but they didn't exactly turn in their best effort in this game. Army's flexbone attack tore them up a little bit on the ground. Most of the damage was done by the pitch man, or the third option in a triple option offense, but they were gashed up the middle a few times as well by the fullback belly. On the opening series of the game, Army scored their lone touchdown of the day on a 16 play drive. Army QB Trent Steeleman was making all the right decisions, and slot back Trent Maples was able to pick up chunks of yardage on the outside. Army converted 3 out of 4 third downs tries on this drive, and they converted a 4th down attempt the only time they failed on third down. A 26 yard run by Larry Dixon on a belly up the middle was the big play of the drive, setting the Black Knights up at the Rutgers' 6, thanks in large part to a missed tackle. Steelman finished off the drive himself with a one yard run.

Army was able to to reach Rutgers' territory again on their next drive, but the Scarlet Knight defense was able to put the clamps down and hold them to a field goal, thanks in large part to Darius Hamilton stuffing a third down run. Army then attempted a 43 yard field goal, and Marcus Cooper was able to get a burst off the edge and block it. It was a huge play that totally swung the momentum of the game, and Rutgers followed that up with a score on offense to make it 7-7 instead of 10-0. Steeleman led another nice drive on Army's next series, reaching Rutgers' 13, but Lorenzo Waters was able to force a fumble that fell into the waiting arms of Logan Ryan, and the Scarlet Knights escaped again with out giving up a point. Army was able to get a 34 yard punt return right before the half, after another missed tackle, and a 4th down pass to Malcolm Brown set up another field goal try for the Cadets. Rutgers was able to block their second kick of the day on this attempt, with Jamal Merrell doing the honors this time around.

The Scarlet Knight defense stepped up in a big way after in the second half, after the Black Knights ran all over them in the first half. They were able to force two straight three and outs as Khassem Greene stuffed Steeleman for no gain on a 3rd and 2, and Scott Vallone made a play in the backfield to force a punt on ensuing possession. The Black Knights began a possession in Rutgers territory towards the end of the quarter, but Greene was able to force yet another fumble, and Marvin Booker was able to recover the loose ball.

Army inexplicably passed the ball and failed to convert their first third down try of the final quarter, as Logan Ryan forced an incompletion. Army's punt only traveled 9 yards, and it set up a score by the Scarlet Knight offense. Duron Harmon came up with a big 2nd down stop the next time the defense came out on to the field, and Ryan broke up a third down pass. This punt attempt by Army was even worse than the prior one, flying over the punter's head for a 35 yard loss, to set RU up at the Army 1. With the two tocuhdown lead, Army had to come out of their comfort zone and start throwing the ball. They moved the ball into RU territory, but Logan Ryan made a stop in the backfield on a 4th and 2, to force the turnover on downs. Army's last ditch attempt to come back got off to an inauspicious start after Vallone recorded a sack, but they converted a 3rd and long to keep the drive moving. Two Dixon runs set the Black Knights up at the 24, and on a triple option play, Duron Harmon intercepted the pitch and ran it back 73 yards for a score, to ice the game away for good, 28-7, with less than a minute left.

The defense was getting gashed in the first half, but they made key plays, and dominated in the second half. Greene had a huge day, recording a career high 22 tackles in addition to the forced fumble and a pass defended. He picked up Big East defensive player of the week honors for the second time this year. In addition to Greene, Lorenzo Waters, Steve Beauharnais, and Scott Vallone tied or set their career high in total tackles in this game. They allowed 5.5 yards per carry, but that is a full yard below Army's average coming into this game, and it was likely much lower than that in the second half. Hopefully they were able to avoid cut blocks so they will be fully healthy for Cincinnati this week.

All in all, Rutgers did not play very well in this game. The offense stumbled, the defense looked worse than usual, and they sleep walked through another first half. Thankfully they were still able to win by three touchdowns, in spite of all that. The penalty problem crept back up after not being a problem for a few games, but they were able to overcome them once again. Hopefully this team has gotten the bad out of their system after these last two games  and will play better down the stretch, as they have three huge Big East games coming up as they look to win the program's first conference title.