The Dawgs Ramblings

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.

posted by oceanjay @ 8:23 PM