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.

As for as game planning for Illinois, not a lot was said. Ash felt that the Illini have a physical defensive line. Defensive Coordinator Jay Niemann stressed the need to prepare for both Illinois quarterbacks, since Rutgers is unsure who the Illini will play. Niemann also stressed that Rutgers needs to improve its open-field tackling.

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