Sometimes the best offense is a good defense and so it was for the Rutgers football team in Saturday’s road-opening win at Maryland. The Scarlet Knight “d” forced five Terrapin turnovers and converted two of them into touchdowns. One was on the opening play of the game when linebacker Antonio Lowery returned an interception 36 yards for a score. Then, in the third quarter, d-back Joe Lefeged forced a fumble that defensive end George Johnson recovered in the end zone for a t-d that gave R-U the lead for good at 17-13. The offense finally came alive in the fourth quarter when running back Joe Martinek scored twice in the final five minutes to blow the game wide open. Martinek finished with 147 yards rushing. All of this was done with true freshman starting quarterback Tom Savage on the bench. Savage was held out of the game after suffering a head injury in last Saturday’s home win over Florida International. Fifth-year senior Dom Natale filled in and, although he was only 4-for-12 in the air for 42 yards, he did his job by not committing a single turnover. So, a solid win for the Scarlet Knights who win their third straight game to improve to 3-1. They now get a bye week before returning home on October 10th to face Football Championship Series team Texas Southern. It’s a well-deserved week off and a chance to get Savage well enough to get back onto the field.
Archive for September, 2009
The Rutgers football team plays its 2009 road opener Saturday afternoon at Maryland. The Scarlet Knights are 2-1; the Terrapins of the Atlantic Coast Conference are 1-2. The big story is whether R-U true freshman starting quarterback Tom Savage will play, after suffering a head injury in last Saturday’s home win over Florida International. Head coach Greg Schiano said after Thursday’s practice that Savage has a 50-50 chance of playing. If he doesn’t start, then fifth-year senior Dom Natale, who started the opener and showed nothing in the debacle with Cincinnati, would get the nod. With all that said, the q-b situation has prompted Las Vegas oddsmakers to knocked Rutgers down to just a one-point favorite after starting the week as a three-point favorite. So, here’s the bottom line, whether it be Savage starting or Natale starting…or even fifth-year senior Jabu Lovelace…none of them have ever started a road game on the collegiate level…and no matter how bad Maryland might be…that will be the determining factor, particularly if the Knights fall behind in the second half. So, I’m going with Rutgers to lose at Maryland 17-14. Kick-off in College Park is set for 3:30; you can hear the game on Good Time Oldies, 1450 WCTC beginning at two with our pre-game show “Rutgers Gameday.”
The Rutgers football team is over the five-hundred mark for the first time on the young 2009 season. The Scarlet Knights are 2-1 after their second straight win—a workmanlike 23-15 victory over Florida International Saturday afternoon in Piscataway. Sophomore running back Joe Martinek had 121 yards rushing on 23 carries while the defense was steady, giving up on 42 yards rushing on 23 F-I-U carries. Plus senior linebacker Ryan D’Imperio returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away. But the story line coming out of the game was the injury to true freshman starting quarterback Tom Savage, who suffered an undetermined head injury after being tackle. He left the game for good at that point and, although it has not been determined yet whether Savage suffered a concussion, his early status for the first road game of the season—next Saturday at Maryland—appears to be uncertain. Stay tuned. As for the game analysis, the Scarlet Knights notched a win they were expected to get, albeit in less than spectacular fashion…finishing off a two-week period where they needed to get better after the opening-day debacle in the Cincinnati loss. How much better remains to be seen. We’ll get a better picture in the Maryland game, with or without Savage.
The Rutgers football team looks to win its second straight game and improve to 2-1 on the 2009 season when it hosts Florida International Saturday. The Golden Panthers out of Miami, led by former R-U assistant coach Mario Cristobal, are a Football Bowl Subdivision team…so don’t be fooled by the name Florida International. F-I-U is not to be confused with the two Football Championship Subdivision teams on Rutgers’ schedule, namely Howard and Texas Southern. The Golden Panthers come in at 0-1 after losing at number-four Alabama 40-14 last week. And, although Cristobal is building an up-and-coming program…in some way in the image of his former boss Greg Schiano…it’s not in Rutgers’ class yet. So, I pick the Scarlet Knights, with true freshman Tom Savage at the helm again, to beat Florida International 27-10.
A WIN AS EXPECTED
It doesn’t come anywhere close to wiping away the sting of last Monday’s 47-15 season-opening home loss to defending Big East champion Cincinnati but the Scarlet Knights took care of business Saturday afternoon in Piscataway, blowing out Football Championship Subdivision team Howard 45-7. True freshman quarterback Tom Savage did a credible job in his first collegiate start, completing 8 of 13 passes for 223 yards and two touchdown passes, one a 68-yard hook-up with wide-out Tim Brown. And the ground attack came alive with sophomore Jourdan Brooks gaining 124 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns including a 57-yard jaunt. Meanwhile, the defense had a decent effort, giving up only 7-points and 264 yards. So, the Scarlet Knights are on the board in 2009 and have another F-C-S home opponent in Florida International coming up next Saturday. It will be one more chance for head coach Greg Schiano to get his team ready for the road opener on September 26th at Maryland of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Rutgers football team looks to improve to 1-1 Saturday afternoon when it hosts Howard in a game you can hear on Good Time Oldies, 1450 WCTC. Kick-off is 3:30. R-U has faced Howard only one other time…that in 2006…a 56-7 Scarlet Knight win over the Football Championship Subdivision team. And, although it won’t be that lopsided this year…and although true freshman Tom Savage will be making his collegiate starting debut at quarterback, which could be rocky at times…and although the defense looked non-existent in Monday’s loss to Cincinnati…I pick R-U to beat Howard 28-7, almost by default.
Give Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano credit for his decision to start true freshman quarterback Tom Savage in place of fifth-year senior Dom Natale in this Saturday’s home game against Howard. The door was left wide open when Schiano blew out Savage’s redshirt (barring an injury in the next game or two…Lord forbid!) by playing him in the second-half of Monday’s season-opening loss to Cincin
To the victors go the spoils
Here’s what happens when you open defense of your Big East football championship with a 47-15 whooping at Rutgers on national t-v—Cincinnati has vaulted into the new A-P Top-25 media poll at number-23. AND the Bearcats’ veteran quarterback Tony Pike has been named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for his three-touchdown pass performance. As for the Scarlet Knights, they lost all 83 of the “Others Receiving Votes” from the pre-season poll.
Exposed on Opening Day
Before we jump on fifth-year senior quarterback Dom Natale and throw him under the bus, let’s begin with the Rutgers football defense as the main culprit in Monday’s season-opening 47-15 blow-out home loss to defending Big East champion Cincinnati. From the opening play of the game, Bearcat veteran q-b Tony Pike has his way with the inept Scarlet Knight “d”…dictating tempo, finding wide receivers open all over the place and pretty much having his own way. Then you throw in Natale who was no help in his collegiate starting debut. Even with that 20-play opening drive that tied the game at 7-7, Natale looked unsure of himself early on, then exacerbated things by throwing three first-half interceptions to allow Cincy to blow the game open 31-7 at halftime. The only bright spot was true freshman quarterback Tom Savage throwing his first collegiate t-d pass to tight end Shamar Graves in the fourth quarter, followed by a two-point conversion…opening the door wide open for speculation about whether head coach Greg Schiano should start Savage this coming Saturday at home against Howard, now that the glare of national t-v has left town and the pressure of opening up against the league’s reigning champs is gone…particularly with Florida International waiting on deck. And, why not start Savage?! Now that you’ve blown his redshirt this season…and now that Natale has shown you why he’s never played in his career…you have nothing to lose by going with Savage against the Bison. The only stipulation for Schiano is…once you start Savage…stay with Savage. Bite the bullet…grow with him…and see if his talent will keep your team’s prospects alive in ‘09. Oh, and by the way, straighten out the defense in a hurry because that’s as much of a concern right now as the rudderless offense.
I went on record in my first post of the 2009 Rutgers football season that the Scarlet Knights would win their season opener at home on Monday against defending Big East champion Cincinnati 17-10. As for the entire ‘09 campaign, I’m not as optimistic, mainly because of the lack of an experienced quarterback. Without departed record-setting senior quarterback Mike Teel, I think the Scarlet Knights will lose at least two games in the final minutes when the q-b…whether it be fifth-year seniors Dom Natale or Jabu Lovelace or true freshman Tom Savage…will not have the wherewithal to mount a comeback…leaving R-U at 7-5 on the season. Since at least two of my projected wins will come over what used to be known as Division One-Double-A teams, Rutgers will have to get seven wins instead of the usual six to qualify for a bowl berth…and that total will put the Scarlet Knights on the bubble for one of the Big East’s post-season slots.
