Rutgers Preview
October 24, 2007 10:32 AM | General
October 24, 2007
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A sea of red awaits West Virginia when it travels to Rutgers for a Saturday afternoon Big East clash against the Scarlet Knights at Rutgers Stadium.
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| Quarterback Patrick White ran for 89 yards and a touchdown and passed for two scores in one half of action against Mississippi State last Saturday.
AP photo |
An overflow crowd is expected to watch Rutgers play its second Top 10-ranked opponent in consecutive games for the first time in 138 seasons of playing football.
Last Thursday night Rutgers knocked off No. 2-rated South Florida, 30-27, in a game that turned on a Rutgers fake field goal that went for a 15-yard touchdown. Rutgers held South Florida to 115 yards rushing and just 10 second-half points.
On Saturday, the 5-2 Scarlet Knights get another crack at a Top 10 team when No. 6 West Virginia arrives for a noon contest. The Mountaineers (6-1, 1-1) have won 12 straight over Rutgers since 1994 and all six since Rich Rodriguez and Greg Schiano both took over in 2001.
“We haven’t beaten them – that is just stating a fact,” said Schiano. “Last year I thought we played very well – we were just a couple plays short of winning. When you’re playing at that level, it’s a very fine line.”
The first two times Schiano and Rodriguez met in 2001 and 2002 the Mountaineers won by lopsided scores of 80-7 and 40-0. Rodriguez says it’s ridiculous even bringing up those first two games in the context of this weekend’s contest.
“Everything has changed since then. Our rosters are different and their roster is different,” Rodriguez said.
Schiano agrees.
“I don’t think we were playing with the same weapons in the early years,” said the Rutgers coach, now 35-43 in his seventh season.
Schiano has taken care of that through excellent recruiting. The Scarlet Knights have several big-time players to contend with on both sides of the football.
The headline player is junior tailback Ray Rice, a 5-foot-9-inch, 205-pounder who is now second in Big East career rushing behind West Virginia’s Avon Cobourne. Rice leads the conference with 999 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns.
Last week against South Florida Rice ran 39 times for 181 yards. He has carried the football at least 34 times in each of the last three games and shows 109 carries for 471 yards and four touchdowns during that span.
Rodriguez doesn’t believe having that many carries will be an issue for Rice because he’s been so durable in the past and has two extra days of rest heading into this weekend’s game.
“He has nine days to recover because they played on Thursday,” Rodriguez said. “He’s strong and a well-built guy. He has taken his shots and has taken a lot of pounding before and it hasn’t affected him at all. I’m sure he will get a lot of carries on Saturday.”
What West Virginia has to be particularly conscious of is not keying too much on Rice because just when they start to do that the Scarlet Knights will play action pass and throw the ball downfield to a pair of gifted receivers in Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt.
Underwood is ranked second in the Big East with 789 receiving yards (20.2 yards per catch) to go with six touchdowns. Britt is eighth with 667 yards on 29 catches for an impressive 23.0 yards-per-catch average. It is rare having two starting receivers each averaging more than 20 yards per reception.
“They have a lot of big plays in their passing game,” Rodriguez said. “They have a lot of explosive players and Underwood is one of them. We know about him and he stands out when you watch Rutgers on film.”
Quarterback Mike Teel is 18-5 as a starter and is moving up the school record book in several categories. Teel is fifth in career passing yards (4,914), sixth in career completions (331) and seventh in career touchdown passes (28).
This year the junior is second in the Big East in passing averaging 285.1 yards per game. Teel is completing 58.9 percent of his pass attempts (116 of 197) and has thrown 14 touchdown passes against just six interceptions.
Rodriguez said his defense can’t afford to let Teel sit back in the pocket and pick the secondary apart.
“You have to hurry the throw and hurry the routes,” Rodriguez said. “One of his best attributes is he knows the offense so well, and he’ll find the right guy.”
Defensively, Rutgers likes to bring pressure and force teams into long yardage situations on third down. The Scarlet Knights are ranked third in the Big East in passing defense (170.4 ypg.), fourth in total defense (306.1 ypg.), fifth in scoring defense (18.6 ppg.) and fifth in rushing defense (135.7 ypg.).
“They are a lot like us and they aren’t that big up front so they move a lot,” said Rodriguez. “Some of their schemes aren’t conventional and they move around a lot. They are very active, and they’ve replaced a couple guys from last year.”
Linebacker Kevin Malast leads Rutgers with 55 tackles. Free safety Courtney Greene shows 54 stops to go with two tackles for losses and a pair of pass breakups.
Defensive end Jamaal Westerman leads the team with nine tackles for losses and six sacks.
“Coach Schiano serves as their defensive coordinator and everyone is on board,” Rodriguez said. “Their defense has worked well for them the last couple of years.”
West Virginia, Rutgers and South Florida are right in the thick of the Big East race one loss behind 2-0 Connecticut. The Huskies have a big game at home against South Florida this weekend while 1-1 Pitt plays host to 1-2 Louisville.
The goal of winning a Big East title is still very much out there for everyone.
“I know we have a lot at stake,” said Rodriguez. “At the same time, you’ve got a bunch of teenage guys and you can’t let their focus get out of hand.”
The Mountaineers are playing just their third ranked opponent on the road since 2002. It was in 2002 when West Virginia last defeated a ranked team away from home, knocking off No. 17 Pitt 24-17 at Heinz Field. The Scarlet Knights come into Saturday’s game ranked 25th in the latest AP poll.
ABC will televise the game in a split national broadcast. The network will also show the Colorado-Texas Tech game at noon.
Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Bonnie Berstein will handle the call.
