Rutgers vs. Maryland Review

I'm finally getting around to posting my take on the RU/Maryland tilt that took place last Saturday. In my preview, I felt that the key to the game for Rutgers was slowing the Maryland rushing attack, particularly Ty Johnson. Well, the Terrapins rushed for 318 yards in the game, with Johnson racking up 168 yards on just 11 carries, good for over 15 yards a clip. Their No. 2 back, Kenneth Goins, was also unstoppable, gaining 81 yards on just 10 carries. As a team, Maryland rushed for 7.1 yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns in the 31-13 victory. On the bright side, the RU defense didn't allow a touchdown through the air, but Maryland only threw 16 times.

Brandon Russell got his first career start at linebacker and led the team with 12 tackles. Another bright spot was that the Rutgers defense recorded 4 sacks and 9 tackles-for-loss. And I thought Julian Pinnix-Odrick and Darius Hamilton both finished their careers with strong games. JPO had five tackles, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a half sack. Hamilton finished with six tackles.

The Rutgers offense actually moved the ball pretty well. The Scarlet Knights had 22 first downs to the Terrapins 17. But unlike Maryland, Rutgers didn't have a lot of big plays. Both Justin Goodwin and Robert Martin averaged over five yards per carry and had a rushing touchdown. But Goodwin did have a costly fumble inside the Maryland ten-yard line that came on what had been a nice pitch and catch.

Quarterback Giovanni Rescigno played a solid, but unspectacular game. He finished 22 of 39 with no touchdowns or interceptions. He was errant on some throws but also was victimized by some dropped balls. Speaking about Gio and the passing game, Coach Ash said "[Gio] did some things okay today. He missed some throws. We need to get more consistent at the quarterback position. We need to get more consistent at the receiver position, too. We dropped a lot of balls this year."

The special teams was dismal and really had been a negative all season once Janarion Grant went down. Much like the defense, though, there are quite a few players on special teams that will be returning next year, including punter Michael Cintron and kicker David Bonagura, as well as long snapper Alan Lucy. There were also quite a few freshmen and sophomores lining up at key positions on special teams. Hopefully, with another year in the system they'll be able to clean up some of these coverage mistakes. Starting field position was certainly not in Rutgers favor in most games. As Ash put it, "our special teams were not very good this year."

Next week I'll post some season wrap-up comments. I intend to post once per week throughout the winter and spring, with an extra post around signing day. As a general rule, I don't post too much regarding commits or decommits, since so much can change so quickly. I will probably post regarding any early enrollments since they will be locked in for all intents and purposes.