Rutgers "improvement" disposed of and exposed by short-handed Tar Heels, 17-13;  Schiano in denial about problems

The Birthplace of College Football - Rutgers wavered all during yesterday's game between the wildcat offense led by Mohamed Sanu and the passing attack formulated around former freshman sensation Tim Savage to show little improvement as the 110th offense in the nation to feebly fall ,17-13, to North Carolina (1-2)  who has six defensive starters sidelined while under NCAA investigation. The Tar Heels outgained Rutgers, 295-244 yards.  Fans and media question Head Coach Greg Schiano's offensive strategies which seemingly show a lack of confidence in the primary bright spot in Tim Savage, who returned from a solid freshman season as the only returning QB in the Big East.  The insertion of Sanu throughout the game did little to improve an offense that showed weak capabilities previously against a mediocre FCS team (Norfolk State) and a struggling Sun Belt team (FIU).  In a post-game press conference, Schiano blamed an injury to for Savage's performance, but his ineffectiveness was well exposed before that happened.  Optimism regarding the promise of Freshman back-up Chas Dodd wanes based on his short performance.  CFF Guest Game analyst Frank Scarpa, like us but a Scarlet Knight fan, still questions Schiano's capabilities as a game day coach.  As much as the HC has pointed RU in the right direction during his ten years on "the Banks", maybe it's time for RU's football program  to consider where it is and where it wants to go.  Its record stands at 2-1, and we don't see a lot of promise for the balance of this season.  We believe that even the new Pin-Stripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium looks like a stretch for another weak sister in this year's "Big Least".

  The Scarlet Knight defense held UNC to a four and out on its first series and countered with a drive resulting in a 32-yard FG by San San Te for a 3-0 lead.  Savage(16 for 29, 150 yards, 2 INTs) led the team on the drive to the 20-yard line before Sanu came in to run the wildcat in the red zone.  On the ensuing NC possession, a Ryan Taylor fumble was recovered by Antonio Lowery to put RU on the Tar heel 21-yard line.  Sanu came in a QB.  From the ten, he stepped back before darting up the middle, cut right, and put six on the board to give Rutgers a 10-0 lead which lasted for the duration of Q1.

     In the second, RU was in position to extend the lead after blocking an NC punt to start at the 38, GGA Scarpa wanted to see his Knights go for the jugular with a quick strike to the end zone.  However, Sanu ( 9 rushes for 74 yards, 1 for 1, 7 yards passing) came in under center.  When he couldn't make any progress, Savage was called on to go to the air.  LB Bruce Carter picked off the first  Savage pass and returned it 51 yards to the Rutgers 28.  The Heels drove to the one where Johnny White finished it off, and Casey Barth's PAT closed the gap, 10-7.  That's how the score ended at the half. 

      The Scarlet Knight Marching band entertained at the half.  Our other GGA, Andy Jacobson, took cover in the shade on a hot, sunny day in the upper deck.  Andy, our Florida Gator connection, enjoyed the game with us and his daughters Spenser and Bailey.  Spenser is in her Senior year at UNC and came to root for her Tar Heels.   They invited us to a great tailgate with Andy's friend Dave who was set up right alongside Rutgers stadium. There was plenty of great food coming off the grill. We haven't seen Andy in several years.  It was great to see him.  He's a veteran of our many tailgate parties held in the past at Meadowlands games and at Princeton.  We reminisced about his field goal kicking prowess against Charlie Roberts at old Palmer Stadium.  I think he pulled a muscle in the end.  Andy has set up arrangements for our first trip to The Swamp later this year to see his Gators play South Carolina which is shaping up to be a great game.  He's going to try to make it down there with us.  We hope he does.  We can root against the Old Ball Coach.  It should be a great time!

     After forcing a Rutgers punt to start the second half, QB TJ Yates (22 of 30, 204 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD) engineered a drive from the 20 to the five.  From there, he connected with his TE Taylor who coughed it up on some hard hits at the goal line.  The ball rolled through the end zone.  After further review, the call stood as Taylor had crossed the plane of the goal line before fumbling.  North Carolina now led for the first time, 14-13.  Joe Lefeged's kickoff return gave RU great field position at the UNC 40.  Again, the Knight's offense could not fully capitalize, and settled for San San Te's 39-yard FG to make the score, 14-13. Rutgers looked to take control again when Kasheem Greene intercepted a Yates pass to take over again at midfield. Once again, the offense stalled.

   To start the fourth, the resulting punt was blocked and Carolina look to extend the lead.  Like RU, its offense could not take full advantage and the settled for Barth's 25-yard FG.  Rutgers needed  a TD to take advantage trailing, 17-13, But Andy and Frank couldn't believe how many RU fans started heading to the exits.  As inept as the Scarlet Knight offense played, how can they give up on their team down by four with 9:34 remaining?  Why do people bother if they're not going to stick with their team right up until the end?  The futility through the end though still proved our point that Schiano is not an effective game coach.  He may be a great recruiter, but it's hard to tell how good his players really are when his ineffective game plans impede his players' skills.  Many in recent years have joined the professional ranks as early draft picks, so he must be doing something right, but he just can't get this program to the next level.  Rutgers used a lot of time moving the ball the next series as it seemed like two steps back and one step forward.  On several sets, Savage was able to convert on third and longs.  He was sacked four times this day by NC while Sanu was dropped for a loss once.  Eventually, the drive ended with S Matt Merletti's INT at the UNC seven.  RU burned three time-outs to save time to get the ball back from the Heels for one last chance.   A punt from the nine by C.J Feagles, frosh punter and son of former NY Giant P Jeff Feagles, resulted with RU taking over at the UNC 34 with 2:21 remaining.  The Knights needed six.  With no TOs left, play-calling put RU in a fourth and fourteen situation from the 38, and the final pass by the 110th-ranked offense in the nation (and falling) once again fell incomplete to finish teh game with a whimper, not a bang.

      Carolina went to the victory formation to notch their first win of the season after two tough losses by the same score of 30-24 to LSU and Georgia Tech.  The suspensions have hurt, but the Heels and Spenser return happily to Chapel Hill with the win. They'll host East Carolina next week before delving into ACC play.  On the other hand, things look bleaker for Rutgers than anticipated with high hopes again entering this season.  Tulane should not offer much of a challenge next week, but "RU-tude" could raise its ugly head if Rutgers takes them too lightly.  Subsequent games against improving UConn and Army may find the Scarlet Knight on the surprising end of the final results.  The media describes the Knights' next three games as winnable, but we don't see any guarantees in any of them the way this team's lack of an offensive game plan indicates total disarray and a lack of confidence in what was supposed to be a strength coming into the season.  We're glad we didn't jump on any RU ticket plan this year.  We have much better games to see, but we'll be keeping an eye on the banks of the old Raritan.

Extra points:  Post-game press reports indicate that Schiano defends his strategies and attributes Savages problems to a couple of hard knocks, but we saw issues prior to those hits.  Just the fact that he relied heavily on the wildcat in red zone situation throughout the game indicted that he's not confident in savages ability.  Media reports have harped on this kid since he signed on with ?RU in his junior year in high school.  Now it seems like he's being tossed aside for an entirely new game plan.  He was the "second coming" according to reports after a successful freshman year.  It's funny how we heard the same about D.C. Jefferson who they wooed away from LSU.  He now plays TE.  He jumped offsides twice and didn't get much action afterward versus UNC.  RU hypes up these players. Sometimes they make mistakes, but sometimes the punishment seems quick and unforgiving by this coaching staff.  If this continues, we see Savage bolting at the end of this season.

53,038 showed up to see UNC for the third biggest crowd in Rutgers Stadium.  We were part of the previous third largest crowd at last year's Pitt-RU game.

The Big Least was 0-4 on the big stage this past week.  Besides RU, Cincinnati lost to Oklahoma, 29-27, WVU lost to LSU, and Pitt look the worst falling to Miami on Thursday night, 31-3.  A review of the results thus far indicate no major wins by the Least against any significant BCS competition.

Rutgers' loss was the 28th we've witnessed among the 48 we've seen them play to put them alone in first in the College Football Fan record book.  They are ahead of both Army and Navy by one.  We'll see Navy host SMU on Oct. 16.

UNC is 4-1 in the annals of our History.  We've seen them win twice at Rutgers. We first saw them defeat Navy at Annapolis, 21-19, in 1985. In 2003, Arizona State beat them in our first trip to Chapel Hill on the last play of the game, 33-31.  In 2005, we watched them upset Utah, 31-17, again in Chapel Hill.