Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Iowa Hawkeyes Preview
The Iowa Hawkeyes swoop into High Point Solutions Stadium to
take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday, September 24th, kicking off at
high noon. Rutgers opened as a 14-point
underdog at home, but as of this writing the line has dropped to 13. But it's
still expected to be Iowa
by two touchdowns. I however, feel that the game will be much closer. The
Scarlet Knights have enough talent on the offensive and defensive lines to keep
the game fairly tight. If I was a betting man, with that spread I'd take RU.
In his weekly Monday press conference previewing the
upcoming contest, Coach Ash gave his overall impression of his team thus far.
He said that he likes "our desire to continue to fight." It's a
testament to them that they've been able to come back from such deep holes.
Let's hope that Rutgers gets off to a faster
start this week in their first-ever meeting against the Hawkeyes.
In terms of planning for Iowa ,
Ash stressed that Rutgers will "have to
play mistake free" and that "it's gonna be a game that's won or lost
at the line of scrimmage." It's clear that this was stressed to the team
as both Darnell Davis and Julian Pinnix-Odrick echoed the importance of winning
the line of scrimmage in their player interviews, as did defensive coordinator
Jay Niemann in his press conference. Coach Ash also mentioned that field
position will be important as his Scarlet Knights look to defeat his favorite
team as a child.
There's a change to the defensive depth chart this week
because of Najee Clayton leaving the program. Ronnie James, brother of former Rutgers tailback Paul James, has moved from safety to
strong-side linebacker to back up starter Greg Jones. Alongside James on the
depth chart backing up Jones is freshman Tyreek Maddox-Williams. Niemann
mentioned that James just started practicing at the position on Sunday and that
they are "hoping for the best" in terms of getting him ready. As a fan,
I'm concerned about any player changing positions the week of a game,
especially when that player is just coming off an injury. But I recall that
James was one of the players singled out early in camp for the strides he made
bulking up in the offseason conditioning program. The added muscle should help
him in his move up from the defensive backfield.
Niemann was asked about the play of the defensive line as a
whole and he singled out Sebastian Joseph and Darnell Davis as having had their
best games so far against New Mexico .
Ash was asked the usual questions about Chris Laviano and
the coach stressed that Laviano will remain the starter as long as they feel he
is the guy that gives them the best chance to win. The struggles in the passing
game run deeper than the quarterback as Ash mentioned. It is a combination of
"protection issues," "routes not being run right," and
"passes not thrown the right way." Offensive coordinator Drew
Mehringer felt the same way, stating that the struggles are an "offense-wide
issue."
Mehringer stressed that Iowa is a well-coached team and its
defensive players rarely get out of position and "tackle well in
space." Therefore the offense needs to be disciplined and play
"mistake-free" football. And in this regard, one thing that bodes
well for Rutgers is that the red zone offense
has been tremendous, scoring on all eight opportunities inside the 20.
This is just an aside. But in looking at the season
stats so far I found it interesting that Anthony Cioffi is tied for second on
the team in tackles, while Nick Arcidiacono is RU's second-leading receiver. I
think both of them have flown a little bit under the radar in terms of the
press paying attention to their contributions.
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