Forgetting About Michigan, Looking Ahead to Illinois
I've decided there's really no point in breaking down the Michigan loss. It's
simply best to leave it in the past. After facing three Top 10 teams in the
first six games, Rutgers fans can look forward
to the upcoming schedule of good, but not great teams. Of course if the Scarlet
Knights play they way they did Saturday, I'm not sure the opponent matters. But
I'd like to think the future showings will be closer to the effort put forth
against Iowa, which means that Rutgers has a chance to be competitive in each
of their remaining home games and a couple of the road contests. Another thing
in Rutgers favor right now is that area
football fans are reeling over the Jets and Giants both having losing records.
It helps take negative attention away from Rutgers
and focus it on the pro teams.
Head coach Chris Ash confirmed the news this week that
starting strong-side linebacker Greg Jones is lost for the season to a neck
injury and that his football career is over. Jones will remain with the team to
aid in the development of the younger players, particularly Tyreek
Maddox-Williams, who has taken over for Jones at the SAM position. It's a little
eerie that Jones's career ended as the result of a neck injury, considering
that he attended Colonia High, the same school as Eric LeGrand. Despite the
outcome, Jones's story is an inspiration. He came to Rutgers
as a walk-on who had bounced around different colleges. Previously a running
back, he moved to safety, and then became a linebacker. He earned a scholarship
and eventually a starting position on a Big Ten football team. It goes to show
that if you believe in yourself you can overcome the negativity of so-called
experts that doubt you and make you doubt yourself. Greg Jones, I'm sure, will
be a success in whatever he chooses to do after college football.
This is now the third Rutgers
starter, all seniors, lost for the season. Jones was injured with about six
minutes left in the first quarter of the Ohio State
game. The score was 0-0. Since then Rutgers
has given up 136 points in 7 quarters and 6 minutes of play. Not saying there's
a direct connection. His replacement, Maddox-Williams, ended up leading the
team in tackles during the Ohio
State game. But has been
an extreme freefall since that moment.
The highlight of the Michigan
game was probably the debut of the Dark Knight uniforms. You have to hand it to
the equipment team, Nike, and anyone involved in that decision. It would be
cool to make them the night uniforms for home night games maybe once or twice
per year. You don't want to wear them so often that it loses the uniqueness.
Plus, we are the "scarlet" knights, so our teams should wear the red
more often than not.
During the game I made a tweet critical of Zach Allen's
decision to not go down sooner after he picked up first-down yardage on a
scramble. He took a direct hit and fumbled. At the time, I was frustrated
because the game was not yet out of reach. While Allen certainly could've made
a better decision, I commend is willingness to put his body on the line. The
guy hasn't played quarterback since high school with the exception of a few
snaps here and there. He's then thrown in against the No. 4 team in the country
featuring a defensive line full of NFL prospects and arguably the best player
in college football in the secondary. No fun.
Moving on to the Illinois
game, Ash emphasized the need to put "the first half behind us." Rutgers ' four losses have come against teams with a
combined record of 21-2. And the Iowa game Rutgers could have won. Illinois comes in at 1-4 on the year and
according to Ash is "very similar to us." The Illini are rebuilding
as well and have some questions at the quarterback position. For Rutgers , the quarterback position is set, at least for
the start of the game. Chris Laviano will start once again. And based on what
we've seen from Tylin Oden and Allen thus far, it makes sense. Neither had done
anything to make you say that they deserve more time.
Ash and Offensive Coordinator Drew Mehringer seem to be in
agreement that the main problem with the offense is line play. Ash said,
"We have to play better on the offensive line. We've struggled to run the
football in the past two games. We've struggled to protect the quarterback in
the past two games." In his press conference, Mehringer added "We're
an offensive-line driven offense." "We just didn't have the
production from those guys necessary to be successful." After the O-line,
Mehringer singled out the need for the wideouts to improve. Ash seemed to feel
the same stating, "we're not getting open against press coverage right
now."
Kiy Hester missed the Michigan
game due to injury. For this week, Hester is back on top of the depth chart at
free safety with K.J. Gray still listed as his backup. As a result, Ross
Douglass started at safety. Josh Hicks was also moved to safety to help out
with that decimated position group. Zack Heeman started over Tariq Cole vs. the
Wolverines, but Cole is back atop the depth chart that was released Monday.
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