Rutgers - Uconn game thoughts
There is no doubt that Rutgers football has improved in leaps and bounds. The fact that they are 7-0 says a lot about the tremendous job that Greg Schiano has done with the program. A few years ago, the mere suggestion that Rutgers would be 7-0 and have a legitimate chance to win the Big East conference and obtain a BCS bid was laughable and the stuff of dreams. Yet, here they are, basking in the national spotlight and receiving compliments at every turn. Sunday nights’ game at home was supposed to be a coming out party for the Scarlet Knights but it revealed that Rutgers still has a long way to go to deserve its Top 15 ranking.
Connecticut was a team that Rutgers was supposed to hammer. The Huskies had been playing a QB shuffle over the prior few weeks and their top tailback was out for the game. The game started out as scripted with Rutgers going right down the field and scoring on a Ray Rice touchdown. They later added another TD and a FG to go up 17-0 and looked well in route to a big win. However, it could have been more. Uconn looked like an inexperienced high school team with dumb penalties killing the chance for any sustained drive. The score could well have been 24-0 or 30-0 with the way Uconn was playing but Rutgers failed to capitalize. Just before the half, a Uconn miscue opened the door for Rutgers to put the proverbial nail in the coffin if they could cap off a short drive but Rutgers QB Mike Teel was picked off and Uconn stayed in the game. What was concerning about the interception was not it was picked off but it was just an awful read and decision by Teel. The receiver was between the linebacker and corner on a 15 to 20 yard out pattern on the right side making it a tough pass to complete over the linebacker coverage. (It may have been a safety and not a linebacker but the coverage was there). It was a pass that should never have been thrown and opened up some questions about Teel and the Rutgers offense. The questions being, was Teel a top QB? Could he be counted on to make the right reads? Would he be able to lead the team down the field against better defenses?
The second half lead to more doubts than answers. Rutgers had 6 possessions in the second half, 5 if you throw away the last drive which was in run out the clock mode. In those 5 drives, they ran 21 plays for 52 yards. There were 4 punts and a turnover on downs and 0 points. They did this against Connecticut. Name one defensive player on Connecticut. Name the unanticipated defensive scheme that Uconn befuddled Rutgers with? As far as the naked eye could tell, the Huskies said let’s take away Ray Rice and make Teel beat us through the air, which he could not. Half his passes were not near the receiver or were bad decisions. Is this really a top tier offense that will be able to move down the field against a Louisville or West Virginia? Based on its second half performance against Connecticut, it did not appear to be. Conversely, the Rutgers defense made freshman tailback Donald Brown look like an All-American. The kid ran for 200 yards with a non-existing passing game. He single-handedly kept Uconn in the game until Rutgers blocked a Uconn punt that effectively ended the game. Rutgers knew the run was coming but had trouble stopping it. Any sort of play action pass from a better offense would have sustained these Uconn drives but no such weapon was available in their arsenal.
All teams have bad games. Win and move on being an apt saying for many situations. A lot of those games can be explained away by turnovers and disastrous penalties. Rutgers won the turnover battle by 1 and only had 3 penalties for 25 yards. One penalty lead to nullifying a 25 yard gain but Rutgers rebounded to score a touchdown. Neither of these stats explain why Rutgers kept Uconn in the game. Plain and simple, Rutgers could not move the ball against Uconn at home. Rutgers prevailed and has a week and a half off before taking the field again at home against Louisville. The crowd will be fired up regardless of how Louisville performs against West Virginia this week. They will need the emotion to win this game. They may stay in the game for a while with their athletes but at some point Mike Teel may have to lead a big drive and nothing last night indicated he could do it against a good opponent.
Game Notes:
Rutgers has let it be known that are going to recruit South Florida heavily. Apparently, they even have billboards down there. How much does this cost the state of New Jersey?
Let’s give credit where credit is due but Gary Thorne, Rod Gilmore and crew went a little over the top in their praise of Rutgers last night. Guys, lets critique the game and offer your analysis. Rutgers is better but the program has not arrived.
One question the announcers did debate was who would you prefer coaching if you were Schiano; Rutgers or Miami. The consensus was that Schiano was better served at Rutgers. Fewer expectations and no need to inherit the mess in South Florida. Valid points but if Schiano is that good of a coach a few years of restoration may not be a small price to pay when within 5 miles of your house is all the talent that you need.
Ray Rice is good but don’t you have to win some games against real good opponents to be considered a top 4 Heisman candidate?
Love Brian Leonard. Maybe if they used him a little more last night, they could have moved the ball more effectively.
Running comments from 10/28
Well the marquee game of the early day is of course Notre Dame and Navy more for the chance of an upset than the expectation of two evenly matched teams. Notre Dame has an impressive couple of series end in a field goal which should keep the game interesting for a little while. The key here is how will Navy's QB run? What has he learned in the last few weeks of practice?
By the way, what was CBS doing in the lead in for this game? A mission impossible theme? Come on Navy; don't participate in this Hollywood related lead in. You flip to that after watching Corso to do his usual pregame pick in which he impersonated the devil based on a South Carolina cartoon depicting him as one. Thus, he predicted the Volunteers to win countering Herbstreit going with the Gamecocks. It would be interesting to see Kirk's reaction week by week over the season when Corso announces his pick. He seems to display a mix of fake laughter, real laughter and just general acting.
Back to the game and Navy is on the move and Michigan has scored an early touchdown. Let’s see if the Wolverines can get their offense back in gear this week. I predicted a Michigan national championship in preseason but they will not get there by scoring just 20 points a game.
Navy ends its drive with a missed 32 yard field goal from the center of the field. They moved the ball well but teams always look off balance against that attack early in the game.
Two technology advances I would like to see. Better replay angles. Now can cameras not zoom more effectively today? It appears from a few glances that Samardzija did not catch it but it should be easier to tel. The other is voice activated remote control. When you are eating chicken wings it would be nice to yell out 'Channel 25' to get back to ESPN instead. People now say "How did we watch TV without a remote control", soon they will say "People actually physically changed the channel" or some derivation of that.
Illinois and Mississippi but up early. May have to flip to those games in a while. Big first down by Navy maybe they can parlay that into some momentum. I have to find out who the color commentator in this game is. He has misfired a few times ... Navy drew them offsides, offensive pass interference, failure to pick up on his partner's analysis that Navy's running game 3 and 4 yard runs were not the 7 and 8 of the previous drive.
Indiana may actually be improving for real. They have some real athletic receivers. Navy in for the touchdown! We may have a game here.
21-3 Illinois. Wow. Does not look good for the Badgers. Actually, who does a bowl take if both Michigan and Wisconsin are 10-1? Probably Michigan. So a 10-1 Wisconsin program that travels and will make the bowl money will be left out. Michigan always will be a sexy pick. Who would be the 2 at large teams right now? The Michigan-Ohio St. loser, ND obviously and then? An SEC school or the loser of USC-Cal? Obviously, the bowl will decide but as a fan who do you want to see?
OK, now flipping it to ESPN 360 to watch BC-Buffalo. Just a lose, lose game. There is a monsoon in New England and one of the worst teams in the country is coming in so there will be no one there. Nice 12th game addition by BC. They are not making any money on this one. Maybe schedule a real D1 team. Of course, DeFilippo's thoughts on this are well established and here is the end result. Enjoy Gene!
I think Gene is great but our OOC football schedule once ND comes off it is brutal and unexciting.
Notre Dame's tight end John Carlson is going to be a great one based on his pass catching and run after the catch skills.
24-17 Illinois and they miss a WIDE open 4th and Inches on one man delayed pass out of the backfield. Reminiscent of the Mackovic call against Nebraska in the Big 12 title game years ago which to this day is one of the gutsiest calls I have ever seen.
We need a federal oversight committee to figure out Michigan St. Down 30-7 to Indiana. Indiana's improving but come on.
So, now that ND is up big it’s down to the Wisconsin and Auburn games. First play I see in the Auburn game is a Brent Schaefer interception. Auburn now with good field goal position and only down 10-7. 14-10 Auburn. After seeing that last Schaefer pass not too sure he will stay mistake free the rest of the game and keep Mississippi in it.
One hour to the Minnesota - Ohio St. game. Love the caption on the StarTribune's website today. "Underdog Minnesota draws inspiration from last week's opponent, North Dakota State, which almost upset the Gophers." Someone out there must have fallen off a stool after seeing that one but hey it would be the upset of the year or decade for that matter.
BC goes up 31-0. Breathing a little easier. On a wet field after a program enhancing win, this had letdown all over it. Still don't think they will cover the 37 points.
Had a trip planned to Madison today but my friend back out. Would have been fun to see this game and then watch the BC hockey game tonight.
Mississippi is 1st and goal after a huge holding call on Auburn. Tied game.
If Crane does not catch that high snap, we have a 31-7 game. Instead Sid vicious hits again and the shutout is intact.
With ESPN Gameplan, you would expect that the Wake Forest game is on, but it’s on ESPN U. Who has this? What area of the country do you have to be living in? Wake Forest has its destiny in its hands and that’s not Gameplan worthy? Why is the U not included in Gameplan? How does that work? The amazing thing is that I am upset about not watching Wake Forest on the last weekend of October. BC's win makes them 7-1 and if Wake wins it means that next week's game is a top candidate for Game day. But Game day probably needs to do a Big 12 thing so would not be surprised if they go out there but I will have to recheck the schedule.
Reggie ball fumble ... right on queue. Touchdown Canes.
Virginia won 14-7. They are improving. 2007 sleeper right there.
As expected, the crowd in Corvallis is going nuts. Good first drive so far, the Beavers need to cash in. Ohio St. scored without trying on their first possession.
NC just tied up Wake Forest at 7. I have not watched a second of the biggest outside cocktail party. Georgia is terrible right? OK defense but unless Florida self destructs I do not see this as being a game.
Johnson finally catches a ball - 43 yard gain. Every play - throw to him. As the announcer was pointing out, he went and got the ball. That’s receiving.
Oregon St. had a chance to go up 10-0 on a field goal. But of course, it’s a big game and Alexis Serna does not get enough air under it. Meltdown coming or later LSU redemption?
So, I call my Dad to complain that I do not have ESPNU and he remembers he has it and is just as interested in the game as I am. Dumb luck for him.
One of the scores on the bottom of the page was between LaSalle and Husson. Now, a lot of us know LaSalle basketball with the L train and Tom Goal but Husson? I will have to research this school later. May be a good school but how many Husson alums are glued to the bottom line?
BYU is crushing Air Force. The Cougars are way under the national radar but fans in Boston know the quality of that team.
Why Eastern football is different than the Pac 10/ Oregon St. When you have the ball inside the 1 one second down, you pound it in. Unreal implosion by the Beavers. No East Coast bias here. But every team in the Northeast runs it there.
Alexis Serna - 53 yarder. The kid is good. Knocking him earlier but congratulations to the kid for having a great career after an awful start.
Roughing the punter on G Tech. 81 - Maguire. If I were a coach, the kid would be sitting. Could there be a worse penalty. Though, it was that very penalty that helped BC in Tallahassee last week. And then Miami gives it right back. This conference really is BC's to lose. No great teams. Just don't turn it over and they can do it. 21-0 Florida. As predicted, no contest.
Great stuff right now. Nebraska, Miami and USC in great games. USC down 13. California has smoked people. Cal looking like the class of the conference.
Louisville, West Virginia and Rutgers do not make the Big East a great conference. Blows my mind that a few 'top' teams can skew a leagues perception. Throw any of these teams into the other 5 BCS conferences and would they go undefeated?
But, up 8 with 6 to go, Serna misses a FG
Great call by the USC game announcer calling this the defining moment of Booty's young career after a big completion to Jarrett and yes I have now checked in on Georgia. 4th and 2 and not only does USC convert but that was the play? (Down the sideline to Smith) Guts, guts and maybe some stupidity.
Florida gets lucky on a non face mask call. Professionals do not like small QB's but what is to be said when 6'5" Booty gets his last pass knocked down?
Texas Tech looking good on a drive already up 7-0. Maryland up 7-0 also. At this moment I do not see Texas coming back and thinking Maryland is one of the more underrated teams in the country. Whoever watched the Maryland-West Virginia game saw a Maryland team with talent that just had lots of early bad turnovers. By the way, no good Big East games on a surprisingly good day of football.
Florida St. ties it up 7-7 and Ron Franklin completely misses the TD call by the ref right in front of the play. How does he miss that? It is OK to miss a call but what is he looking at?
Replay hurt Texas Tech. That whole area needs to be really analyzed. I am not just saying right and wrong but its complete impact on games this year. Is this better for college football? I think not. Regardless in the Texas game, pick six for the Raiders so the overturn does not hurt them.
OK, time to get away from the TV for a bit...
Initial Thoughts Headed Into this College Football Weekend
Last thing I expected in Blacksburg last night was a complete lack of offense by Clemson. Herbstreit nailed it straight on by saying that Clemson had to at least try to look down the field. The Hokies D just feasted on the predictable running game. Interested to see how Clemson rebounds from that tough defeat.
Lets see what the off week did for the youngsters at USC. They are a few notches below usual in the experience department but have taken the best shots of decent teams in their conference and have survived. If USC wins big tomorrow then the rest of the country should be on watch out later. If they do not then I would be surprised if they beat Cal.
Wish Navy had their QB. Despite that I expect Navy to give the Irish a decent test but for ND to once again extend their winning streak. People knock ND's schedule but going to Air Force in November will not be a walkover for the Irish. There is no excuse not to blow out North Carolina. They may be the worst BCS team in the country off the top of my head.
Wisconsin could be the most underrated team in the country right now. There only loss was in the Big House to a Michigan team before Manningham went down. If they go 10-1 are they a BCS crasher? No one is discussing this but you know the people from Madison will travel.
Miami - Georgia Tech? No idea what to expect here since its at Georgia Tech. The whole stadium will be watching to see if Tech goes to Johnson on the first play. Put him in the slot - throw it 5 yards. Do something, anything to put the ball in the hands of a future top pick. Also to be watched ..... Miami's pregame attitude. Will they be stomping? Will Lamar Thomas be in attendance? Prediction - Canes 24-7. Canes smother Reggie Ball.
Baylor has improved slightly. Texas A&M has done nothing to impress. Bears in a shootout?
Looking forward to Sunday night football. Connecticut (awful) against Rutgers. Rutgers is a lot better but they are not a top 15 team are they? Its tough to tell since they have not played a real good opponent. Pittsburgh is competitive and Illinois can hang in some ball games but when the best team you have played is arguably Navy then there is a lot left to prove. They'll have their chances though but this is West Virginia's league to lose. Everytime I watch the Mountaineers I think they are going to score. Do not see Louisville or Rutgers outscoring them.
Why is Wake Forest not on gameplan? Who gets ESPNU? This is a team that is a botched field goal away from being undefeated. They are like Rutgers but with that tougher game on their schedule. They too will have their chance to shine.
