It Was the Pitts
Well, the Scarlet Knights saw their faint conference championship hopes get washed out with the rain on Friday night at Rutgers Stadium. Having had a few days to digest the loss, there are few things that concern me as we head into the second half of the season.
In his postgame press conference, Coach Schiano mentioned that the staff made a conscious decision to ask Tom Savage to throw the ball between 35 and 40 times in the Pittsburgh game. In retrospect, it's easy to say this was a bad decision, but I was personally baffled by Rutgers' first two offensive series. The lucky bounce on the punt aside, they were more or less dreadful. Last year, RU beat Pitt throwing the ball. But last year we had a senior quarterback and two receivers who are currently on NFL rosters. I'm not taking anything away from Savage in regard to where he is in his development, but perhaps taking a more balanced approach would have made more sense.
Two years ago, we beat Pitt using little more than a power running game. I realize that two years ago we also had Ray Rice, and I'm not making comparisons, but Joe Martinek and Jourdan Brooks have proven to be effective in a north/south running game. At home in the bad weather running the ball, using clock, and keeping the game close in my opinion is always the way to play.
The coach also mentioned that some bad positioning in the secondary led to some of Dion Lewis's huge runs in the second half. But I think the time of possession also became a factor. It seemed that the Rutgers defense was on the field quite a bit. I haven't looked at the official boxscore to see what the TOP actually was, but it just seemed that the RU defense too a lot more snaps than the offense did.
In the coach's defense, the reporters seem to be asking about DeAntwan Williams quite a bit. But I agree with the coach in that it wouldn't have made a bit of difference who was carrying the ball on Friday night. Rutgers only ran twenty times, and a lot of those were keepers out of the wildcat formation. Schiano has shown in the past that he's not afraid to start a younger guy over a more established player if he thinks it will give RU a better chance of winning. So, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Plus, I think Martinek has been fairly impressive in his own right and has earned the carries he's getting.
Previewing the Army game, a lot is always made of the academy's triple option. The Black Knights are an improved team over last year, especially offensively, but let's not get crazy. Granted their QB was banged up, but they lost to Temple this past weekend. RU should win this game by 20. If they don't, it'll be a long season.
In his postgame press conference, Coach Schiano mentioned that the staff made a conscious decision to ask Tom Savage to throw the ball between 35 and 40 times in the Pittsburgh game. In retrospect, it's easy to say this was a bad decision, but I was personally baffled by Rutgers' first two offensive series. The lucky bounce on the punt aside, they were more or less dreadful. Last year, RU beat Pitt throwing the ball. But last year we had a senior quarterback and two receivers who are currently on NFL rosters. I'm not taking anything away from Savage in regard to where he is in his development, but perhaps taking a more balanced approach would have made more sense.
Two years ago, we beat Pitt using little more than a power running game. I realize that two years ago we also had Ray Rice, and I'm not making comparisons, but Joe Martinek and Jourdan Brooks have proven to be effective in a north/south running game. At home in the bad weather running the ball, using clock, and keeping the game close in my opinion is always the way to play.
The coach also mentioned that some bad positioning in the secondary led to some of Dion Lewis's huge runs in the second half. But I think the time of possession also became a factor. It seemed that the Rutgers defense was on the field quite a bit. I haven't looked at the official boxscore to see what the TOP actually was, but it just seemed that the RU defense too a lot more snaps than the offense did.
In the coach's defense, the reporters seem to be asking about DeAntwan Williams quite a bit. But I agree with the coach in that it wouldn't have made a bit of difference who was carrying the ball on Friday night. Rutgers only ran twenty times, and a lot of those were keepers out of the wildcat formation. Schiano has shown in the past that he's not afraid to start a younger guy over a more established player if he thinks it will give RU a better chance of winning. So, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Plus, I think Martinek has been fairly impressive in his own right and has earned the carries he's getting.
Previewing the Army game, a lot is always made of the academy's triple option. The Black Knights are an improved team over last year, especially offensively, but let's not get crazy. Granted their QB was banged up, but they lost to Temple this past weekend. RU should win this game by 20. If they don't, it'll be a long season.
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