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A year ago almost to the day, the Cincinnati Bearcats and Rutgers Scarlet Knights absolutely ripped apart the Carson Field turf at Nippert Stadium as the two teams combined for over 1,000 offensive yards, 15 touchdowns, and 107 points in what turned out to be the highest scoring game in Big East football history. Both teams essentially let their defenses sit back and relax in the locker room before the games and allowed the offenses to enjoy some target practice. This year will be different as both squads are boasting more experience, talent, and depth on defense. By now you should know all the about Cincinnati’s defense but here’s a look at the major players on that side of the ball for Rutgers.
The first player all offensive coordinators need to be aware of is linebacker, and letter ‘E’ enthusiast,#20 Khaseem Greene who leads the Big East in tackles (105) and has adapted well since moving down from the safety position. He clearly has a nose for the ball and will be in charge of keeping Isaiah Pead contained. Not to be outdone is #42, the 6’2″ 235 lbs Steve Beauharnais, who is a load to block and leads all Big East linebackers with 12 tackles for loss. Finally, defensive tackle #91 Justin Francis commands double-teams inside and leads the Scarlet Knights in TFL’s, sacks, and is third in tackles behind the two guys I just mentioned.
As a unit, Rutgers’ arguable strength is their pass defense which is 1st in passing yards per game (174), 1st in interceptions (16), and 1st in touchdowns allowed through the air (8). On the flippity flop (yea, that just happened) the Scarlet Knights’ rush defense is the worst in the Big East with 147 yards per game and, while they have individual talent in Greene, Beauharnais, and Francis, have allowed over two hundred rushing in each of their last three games. This bodes well for a Cincinnati team that will lean on Isaiah Pead to carry this offense and likely reincorporate the inside/outside zone reads with Munchie Legaux as quarterback. It’s surprising that Rutgers’ rush defense isn’t better considering they get to they are 11th in sacks and have such a strong secondary. Usually a strong secondary starts up front but it looks like the lineman and backers as a whole aren’t getting it done against the run.
Switching gears, I’m cautiously optomistic when talking about the Rutgers offense. In the offseason Head Coach Greg Schiano hired former Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, who ran those anemic offenses under Dave Wannstache before he was shown the door. Essentially Rutgers exchanged one boring pro-style attack for a new, still boring one. Despite the always dangerous weapons of Mark Harrison and Mohamed Sanu (both of which will be drafted someday), Rutgers ranks 61st in the nation at just 231 passing yards per game and 118th in the nation with 90 yards per game on the ground. The latter stat should excite Bearcats fans because of Cincinnati’s 2nd ranked rushing defense.
The Scarlet Knights have been flip-flopping between Chas Dodd and Gary Nova at quarterback. This seems to be a recurring theme at Rutgers where they haven’t been able to find a solid starter at that position since Mike Teel graduated. First it was the true freshman sensation Tom Savage in 2009, who was replaced in his sophomore campaign with freshman Chas Dodd, who has been replaced this season with true freshman Gary Nova. At this point in the season it’s been quarterback by committee at Rutgers, which is never good for an offense. Most recently, Nova was benched in the Scarlet Knights’ win against South Florida for Dodd, who led them to victory. Statistically, both have had similar performances over the course of the season with Dodd regaining this #1 quarterback spot since that game so I expect him to be the starter against Cincinnati, especially the way he torched the Bearcats last season.
Finally to the running game, which as I mentioned has been non-existent all season. That’s troublesome for a Scarlet Knights team that a.) possesses an offense that relies on the run to set up the pass and b.) is facing the 2nd best defense in the country against the run. I fully expect the Bearcats to absolutely tear apart Jawan Jamison and the highly rated recruit Savon Huggins on Saturday. The pair has combined for only 700 yards on the ground this season.
One of the most overlooked units on the Scarlet Knights is their special teams which has already recorded a blocked punt for a touchdown and a returned kickoff for a touchdown. They are very fast off the edge much like Pittsburgh and are always dangerous to block a punter or field goal during the game. With the blocked field goal last week against West Virginia, Cincinnati’s coaching staff will have to clean up any problems in that area or Rutgers will surely take advantage of it.