Rutgers-South Florida open post

Rutgers (4-5, 3-2 Big East) at South Florida (6-3, 1-3 Big East)          TV: SNY

The skies are gray, but the rain's stopped and it's 82 degrees. I'm not complaining.

While we're talking warm weather, we may as well move on to bowl talk. There are 34 bowls now, up from 28 three years ago, and 52 teams have already become bowl eligible. Rutgers isn't one of them. Yet. Over at ESPN.com, Brian Bennett says since 2003, no BCS team that started 1-5 finished in a bowl, but the Scarlet Knights are definitely aiming to change that. Today (obviously) goes a long way in doing that.

So... one of the keys is going to be the match-up between USF DE George Selvie and RU LT Anthony Davis. The line's been steadily improving, but it's still not anywhere near the line that neutralized Selvie last year. The Bulls' secondary could be easy pickings for Mike Teel - if Selvie isn't knocking him down every snap.  

32:12 before kickoff: The sun's come out and it's bright. Rutgers is in all white, South Florida's in all green and the guards are doing a really good job keeping anyone from climbing the pirate ship behind the north end zone. I think Greg Schiano keeping the kids in the bubble, with the temperatures jacked up, was smart. When I asked him in the Monday press conference if he'd be doing that, I don't know that I honestly thought he would. But really, what else could replicate today's steamy conditions?

13:35 left in the 1st Quarter: Not the most auspicious start for the Scarlet Knights, what with Teddy Dellaganna kicking the opening kickoff out of bounds and then the refs whistling a second penalty on the day's second play, a pass by Matt Grothe. The Bulls marched to Rutgers' 15 and then they were the ones undone, getting called for a chop block and then losing the ball on an oustanding poke-out by Kevin Malast. It made me think of the way Virginia Tech's defenders play.

10:08 left in the 1st Quarter: Caleb Ruch started at left guard, Damaso Munoz at strongside linebacker. The Knights did a decent job with Selvie on that drive, once snapping the ball before he was even set, but leaving tackle Terrell McClain wide open for that second down sack, on the USF 43, was inexcusable. Rutgers punted and wasted a prime chance to get the Bulls on their heels.

6:38 left in the 1st Quarter: Rutgers isn't getting any pressure on Grothe and that is NOT good. This kid can do all sorts of frightening things with even a modicum of time. Right now, he's getting tons of time.

Start of 2nd Quarter: Kenny Britt passed Tres Moses as Rutgers' all-time leading receiver on that previous one-yard pass from Mike Teel. Now we've started the second, and Kenny's again in single coverage, begging for a fade. Rutgers has instead run Joe Martinek from the seven (for two yards) and from the five (for three yards) and just called its third time-out of the half. Urgh.

13:25 left in the 2nd Quarter: How about Mike lowering his shoulder and bulling his way in there? Rutgers ran the same play at West Virginia, only from five yards out and Mike went into the end zone standing up. Rutgers is up 7-0.

10:15 left in the 2nd Quarter: The Rutgers fans have packed a section on the lower level in the southeast corner and then another two sections way up high in the same area. The press box is closed here and so it's hard to hear all that much - though I DID just hear some pretty loud booing when Jim Leavitt decided to kick the field goal on a fourth-and-four from the five yard line. It's 7-3 Rutgers.

8:29 left in the 2nd Quarter: Okay, that was kind of funny. It's third-and-10 after Mike gets sacked and Mike finds Timmy Brown wide open. He throws him a perfect ball and Timmy... drops it. South Florida safety Carlton Williams, seeing Timmy on his knees and hunched over, walks over to the Rutgers wideout and... taps him on the butt. And then a South Florida assistant rips into Williams. You know, we asked Greg about goading South Florida - the most penalized team in the league - into more penalties and he said that doesn't really happen. Maybe we should've asked if penalties are contagious. Rutgers just got whistled for ANOTHER on a punt. That's four flags in 21:39.

6:34 left in the 2nd Quarter: What the heck is going on here? I'm not liking that pitch to Kordell so he could throw across the field to Mike Teel AT ALL. Mike jumped and made a great catch, but imagine if he got walloped while up in the air? The play went for no gain, then Dom Natale comes in at QB to run for no gain and then on third down, at the South Florida 23, Mike's pass gets tipped and caught by Carlton Williams, the flag for the mauling Tiquan Underwood gets waved away and another Rutgers drive ends in South Florida territory with a pick.

5:21 left on the 2nd Quarter: If you missed that... Rutgers intercepts Grothe, South Florida intercepts Teel three plays later and then, three plays after that, Rutgers intercepts Grothe again. Only this time, Jason McCourty was smart enough to run it the 29 yards into the end zone and try to stem the messiness. Remember it was Jason who batted down that last two-point conversion here two years ago, sealing Rutgers' 22-20 win.

:26 left in the half: I'm hearing the R-U chant. Great 41-yard kick return by Jason McCourty, awesome 21-yard, third down connection between Mike Teel and Tiquan Underwood (Mike threw under a lot of pressure and Ti made the type of catch, cut and run he would last year) and a very solid two-yard touchdown pass to Jack Corcoran on the left side of the end zone. Last year's tackles, Jeremy Zuttah (now of the Bucs) and Pedro Sosa (who's on the Dolphins' practice squad) are on the sideline, taking it all in. Pedro's in a red shirt, Jeremy's in a black shirt and I saw them both smile.

I don't know who's still smiling, though, as long-snapper Jeremy Branch is being helped off the field by two trainers. It might be a knee and that would not be good. I don't even know who the back-up long snapper is. Give me a minute and I'll think of it...

Halftime: Andrew DePaola is out there practicing long snapping. Is there anything this kid doesn't do? The walk-on QB became a wideout last spring and then worked his way into the top six rotation this season. He's been Rutgers' holder for two years now (and that's part of the reason Greg was wary of using him at wideout, in case he got hurt), it was against South Florida last year that, on a fake field goal, he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Brock and he's snapping to kicker San San Te and punter Teddy Dellaganna right now. Do-everything DePaola, Tom Luicci just called him. I'd say it fits.

9:44 left in the 3rd Quarter: I don't know if that could've been a better drive. Twelve plays, 82 yards, 5:16. A good mix of pass (five) and run (seven, between Kordell AND Joe Martinek), and left tackle Anthony Davis playing fullback on the one-yard touchdown run by Martinek. The Knights are up 28-10 and I'd love to hear from someone who thought that South Florida plus-8 line made sense.

1:43 left in the 3rd Quarter: It looks like someone yelled fire. People are streaming out of this place as the rain just came schreeching down. So much for that home crowd advantage. The Rutgers fans haven't moved anywhere...

:26 left in the 3rd Quarter: Mike Teel just threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Shamar Graves, the South Florida fans are REALLY booking it out now and the Rutgers fans are doing the R-U chant. I've never seen a stadium, filled with 47,216 people, empty that fast.

3:32 left in the game: Rutgers scored 115 points in its first seven games. Take out the 38 against Morgan State and it's 77 points against Division I opponents. Joe Martinek just scored again (yes, Greg Schiano once again has his starters in late in a blowout), that puts Rutgers at 49 points today and so the Knights have scored 138 in their last three games. Makes you wonder where they were earlier in the year, huh?

3:00 left in the game: I'm going down to the field. And to take a quick glance at the final minute of Notre Dame-Navy. The Irish are killing me. Can they not close out a game?

Comments

[rutgersguy]

Gonna be a tough game today. I think we're gonna have to tackle and block physically today. Also we must contain Groethe and also must bring him down. We can't let him wiggle away and make plays.

Little worried about those "horizontal" plays I normally love because of the great speed of USF to chase them down or quickly snuff them out. That's one of the reasons I say it's absolute must to block them well. Maybe more misdirection and "fake" type plays to take advantage of their speed and possible overpursuit and use it against them. If their secondary is as bad as people say some pump fakes and double moves by the wrs will be even more effective against them. Also have to minimize any mistakes and boneheaded plays. They're coming off a bye at home and I think will be quite prepared and hungry.

[rutgersguy]

Wow didn't realize they lead the Big East in total offense in terms of yardage, 418 yds/game. Obviously, points matter most but still pretty good.

[rutgersguy]

Hope the guys stay hydrated don't wanna see the mass cramping like last nights bball game.

[rutgersguy]

Aww man geez, they start off at the 40 yd line. Darn it.

[rutgersguy]

Oh man that's crap I didn't see much of a penalty their, D'Imperio stayed on that guy stride for stride.

[rutgersguy]

Man I said we can't let Grothe wiggle out and make plays, gotta contain him. Geez.

[rutgersguy]

That was a turnover? Mmm not sure of that.

[rutgersguy]

Wow actually that was a completed ball, good job guys he had, I was mistaken. Nice job Malast beautiful.

[rutgersguy]

I usually bash Big East officials but that was a good call, give credit when it's due. Nice play to Kenny there.

[rutgersguy]

Not bad like the hand off end around to Britt, those plays can be tough because of USF's team speed.

[rutgersguy]

Yes finally good job quick out, is just as good as runs for short yardage. But like I said agains the speed of USF blocking is very crucial won't be as easy as it is on others.

[rutgersguy]

Darn it, gotta block better guys.

[rutgersguy]

That's fine let's try to pin them deep. We moved the ball enough to tip the field back, it's ok after the start we had.

[rutgersguy]

Inside their 20, not bad. Let's hold'em now.

[ruccs]

HOW IS THE RUTGERS CROWD OUT THERE?

[rutgersguy]

I don't like the 2 man rush myself in any situation.

[rutgersguy]

Gotta tackle him better man, I was woried about this.

[rutgersguy]

And if he's gonna run a lot make him feel it and try to know the ball out too, no weak tackles hard nose clean hitting.

[rutgersguy]

Using a lot of moving pocket with him, so far they've done a good job with it.

[rutgersguy]

We weren't set on that play come on guys, and again tackle better.

[rutgersguy]

Gotta get them off the field in this heat long drives will be killer on our defense.

[rutgersguy]

Good coverage there.

[rutgersguy]

Great delayed blitz, good job Ryan.

[rutgersguy]

Need to hae a nice drive here give our do some time to rest. Why do I always hold my breath on punt return catches, I should say Campbell has been doing well lately.

[rutgersguy]

Aww man what was that again, no one there except the USF guy. Who was that too even, geez. I was saying we need a good drive give the D a rest and we don't even get past one play.

[rutgersguy]

And unlike our turnover that's around midfield good field position for them, geez just throw it away.

[rutgersguy]

Aww man penalty darn it. Maybe on offense we should stick ot the short and horizontal stuff. Forget about their team speed if we can't trust Teel to make smart decisions. See what we can do with the short stuff.

[rutgersguy]

Nice hit Jason, that's what I like to see. Physicality!!!

[rutgersguy]

Almost intercepted I think, good job defense.

[rutgersguy]

Good job Courtney that's what we need out of you.

[rutgersguy]

No good defense did it again. Great job guys! Now come on offense no boneheaded stuff, defense is playing well offense needs to step it up. Defense won't last out in this heat unless the offense can carry its load.

[rutgersguy]

Nice job Joe, need some physicality in the run. Good to see.

[rutgersguy]

2 timeouts already, hmmm hope we don't need them later.

[rutgersguy]

Yea Joe, I love it great physicl tough run.

[rutgersguy]

Nice play action I saw the lbs bite on that one, That's because of Joe's tough running. Good job.

[rutgersguy]

Joe reminds me so much of Jacob Hester from LSU last year.

[rutgersguy]

Nice try, but smart to tuck it.

[rutgersguy]

These short plays are gonna be tough against them, have to blcok down field wrs lbs rbs.

[rutgersguy]

Nice job Ti, very crucial conversion.

[rutgersguy]

Gotta score a TD here, would be huge boost to momentum and confidence.

[rutgersguy]

Might be able to run physically with Joe for a play see what he can do.

[rutgersguy]

Pitch to Martinek, not bad pitches with Kordell seem to do better. Not seen Martinke in that situation as much.

[rutgersguy]

How bout 4 wide draw hand off to martinek.

[rutgersguy]

Aww man another timeout, all gone. Geez.

[rutgersguy]

I think the 4 wide draw to Martinek could work. Spread them out some.

[rutgersguy]

Fade is ok, but I can't recall Teel ever throwing a great fade pass in the endzone or us ever scoring on one. I think from a little farther out we've done it but not so much from this close, at least I can't recall.

[rutgersguy]

Nice job I love it!!! QB draw works too I suppose a draw is a draw.

[rutgersguy]

Playcalling has become so much better I think pas of late it's not even funny. From that WVU game on it's become steadily more fun to watch.

[rutgersguy]

Gotta do a better job on the kickoff return, not deep enough kick and better coverage needed. BTW on that extra point it was ugly, went through but still. Normally wouldn't care but because of the 2 blocks earlier in the year have to shore that up.

[rutgersguy]

Come on Kevin gotta make that tackle. Hit'em hard but also bring'em down.