The Sports Xchange
NCAAF Team Report – Rutgers – INSIDE SLANT
The big news at Rutgers is off the field, where the Scarlet Knights agreed to become the newest member of the Big Ten in 2014-15 on Tuesday. But in the meantime, there’s a Big East football title to compete for in 2012.
Rutgers enters the weekend alone in first place in the conference with a 5-0 league record. But the upcoming game against Pittsburgh will be a challenge for coach Kyle Flood for a host of reasons.
For starters, the offense hasn’t looked great. Last week’s 10-3 victory over Cincinnati was on the shoulders of the defense, in part thanks to two Gary Nova interceptions in the end zone. He has 11 turnovers in the past four games, though the stats are skewed somewhat by his nightmare six interception game against Kent State. Flood doesn’t appear to be panicking just yet.
“I think Gary has learned from every mistake he’s made this year. I think he’s gotten significantly better as the year has gone on at making good decisions,” Flood said. “The stat sheet says two interceptions in the last game. But from a coaching perspective, it’s really only one, because the other one he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds and couldn’t get enough on it because we busted the protection. I know the statistics go down that way. But in terms of coaching him and his decision making, he made right decision on that play, and the situation didn’t allow him to execute it.”
There’s also the off-the-field stuff. All the focus in New Jersey is on the Big Ten move, and there’s also the danger of looking ahead to next week’s finale against Louisville that, barring a Rutgers win and a Louisville loss this weekend, will decide the title.
“I think when you have the opportunity as a football program, as a coach, as a player, to do something that’s never been done in the history of your program — and we’ve been playing football as long as anybody has been playing college football, as the sign says in our stadium — we are a very focused group,” Flood said. “The football people in this building are focused on one thing, and that is trying to be 1-0 against Pitt. We have very qualified people on campus led by Tim Pernetti and Jason Baum that will handle everything else.”
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NCAAF Team Report – Rutgers – NOTES, QUOTES
–As the stories grew about Rutgers’ pending move to the Big Ten, coach Kyle Flood kicked the matter upstairs.
“I’m going to stay out of it,” Flood said Monday. “We have 11 days left in our season. I think what I’ve said to the players is what I say to myself. We’re going to control the things as a football program that we can control. And the only thing we can control this week is our performance against Pitt, so that’s where we’ll put our focus.”
–Anyone following the Scarlet Knights and Panthers probably learned this years ago when the two were underclassmen, but Rutgers Khaseem Greene and Pitt running back Ray Graham are half-brothers, adding a dose of sibling rivalry to the holiday week matchup.
“I think (Greene) approaches this game like they have a really talented running back on the other side,” coach Kyle Flood said. “It happens to be his brother, but talented nonetheless.”
–This week matches up the two best teams in the Big East in turnover differential, with Rutgers the best at gaining the extra possessions and Pitt second.
“We’re certainly going to go into the game with securing the football being a major priority. Anybody who touches the football, whether it’s the center, the quarterback, the receivers, the tailbacks, tight ends, et cetera. And on defense we’ll do everything to take it away, as long as it fits into our tackling system,” Flood said.
SERIES HISTORY: Pittsburgh leads Rutgers 21-8 (last meeting, 2011, 34-10 Rutgers).
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: Whether Rutgers starts Jawan Jamison or Savon Huggins this week, it’s a safe bet that the Scarlet Knights will try to pound the ball down the Panthers throat, both because the backs are capable of doing so and because it decreases the turnover risk. Though the coaching staff excused one of his two interceptions against Cincinnati, they will be looking for him to make better decisions in the red zone this week. Expect to see him look for Brandon Coleman more often this week, trying to hit the big play.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: It’s safe to say that Rutgers has some familiarity with Pitt’s starting running back, since the Panthers’ Ray Graham is the half-brother of Rutgers linebacker Khaseem Greene. But despite Graham’s impressive recovery from his torn ACL, it’s the passing game that’s actually been more prolific. The Panthers have been known to turn the ball over, so there should be some opportunity for the secondary to make plays.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We’re certainly playing defense at a high level. But nothing we’ve done in the first ten games of this season will get us anything this week. We’ve got to go back to work this week and focus on being 1-0, and make sure that all of the things that have allowed us to perform well in the past, we’re continuing to do those in preparation. So we can hopefully do a good job this week against a very talented offense at Pitt.” — Rutgers coach Kyle Flood.
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NCAAF Team Report – Rutgers – STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK’S GAME: Rutgers at Pittsburgh, Nov. 24 — The Panthers have dominated the series, winning 21 of the 29 games between the two teams since the series began in 1981. However, the Scarlet Knights have been the better team recently, with five wins in the last seven meetings.
KEYS TO THE GAME: Pitt has had the unfortunate tendency to have bad things happen to it in key spots, and with its usual defensive pressure Rutgers can help make that happen again. But the offense is going to have to look sharper and avoid the mistakes that have plagued it in recent weeks.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
QB Gary Nova — Nova has 10 interceptions over his last four games. That’s not good. He’s also done a good job running the offense, and has Mark Harrison and Brandon Coleman as big targets who are tough to defend. It’ll be interesting to see how aggressive the coaching staff will allow the offense to be, given its recent propensity to make mistakes.
LB Khaseem Greene — Greene shared Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago, and is poised to get a lot of hardware this offseason as well. But he’ll have extra incentive to put up big numbers this week, as he’s going against his brother, Pitt running back Ray Graham.
K Nick Borgese — With Kyle Federico still battling injury, it’s a good bet that this redshirt freshman will be the starting kicker again this week. He hit a 42-yarder against Cincinnati, and though he’s been inconsistent he’s come through in key spots and doesn’t lack for confidence.
ROSTER REPORT
–RB Jawan Jamison was limited against Cincinnati because of a sprained ankle, but should be ready to carry more of the load against the Panthers.
–OG Andre Civil missed last week with a sprained ankle and is questionable for the Pitt game.
–K Kyle Federico has missed the past five games with a hip injury, and it is uncertain whether he’ll be able to play this week.
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