Look what Santa Claus has placed in Rutgers Football’s Christmas stocking: a vulnerable, tradition laden program, beset by numerous injuries in the trenches. I cannot have dreamed of a better non-BCS bowl situation for Rutgers. Our best attended bowl game EVER, in a mostly filled Yankee Stadium, with all eyes in the college football world, and many
eyes from the NFL Scouting World focused on Rutgers vs. Notre Dame. I can’t think of a better prelude to Rutgers
Big Ten play. In anticipation of this historic matchup, Rutgers for the first time has sold all its allocated
tickets, and many more fans are expected to purchase tickets via ticketmaster. What they are sure to witness is an engaging and entertaining matchup,that will end with Rutgers victorious.
There are a multitude of factors which favor a Rutgers victory over Notre Dame:
- Thanksto injuries, Rutgers is deeper, more experienced and more talented, especially
on the offensive line, defensive line, qb, rb, and wr corp, than its blueblood
opponent
- Since Louis Nix went down, Notre Dame has beenvulnerable to the run
- Rutgers secondary has taken its lumps, and is now better prepared to defend against
Notre Dames passing attack
- There isn’t a corner on Notre Dames roster that can effectively cover Brandon Coleman
1 on 1
- Paul James is 100%
- Tommy Rees Completion % for the season is 53.7%
- The freshmen in our secondary are no longer freshmen, as they’ve taken their lumps and grown up
Notre Dame is very different from last years team, which played in the National Championship Game. In addition to losing 6 players to the NFL draft, including star linebacker Manti Teo, Notre Dame lost starting quarterback Everett Golson to
academic attrition. But most importantly, Notre Dame has suffered significant injuries in its offensive and defensive lines, giving Rutgers a good opportunity for victory.
Notre Dame enters the matchup, sporting an 8-4 record, down from 12-0 last year. The Fighting Irish
are led by 6’ 1.5” senior quarterback, Tommy Rees, who has thrown for 2938 yards completing 197 passes out of 367 passes thrown. (53.7%) He is reported to be able to get rid of the ball quickly, and he generally makes few mistakes, thought it would appear from his 53.7% completion rate that accuracy isn’t his forte.
Rees is supported by the following offensive players:
RB: Cam McDaniel (5-10 207 lbs), George Atkinson (6-1 220 lbs), Tarean Folston (5-9 207 lbs)
WRs: TJ Jones (5-11 195 lbs), Davaris Daniels (6-1 203 lbs)
TE: Troy Niklas (6-6.5 270 lbs) Ben Kovack 6-5 261 lbs
The RBs are tough runners and TJ Jones, who went over 1,000 yards receiving, will be playing Sundays sometime soon.
Troy Niklas is a huge tight end, and averages 35.2 yards/game receiving per und.com.
The Irish quarterback and receivers will be going up against a Rutgers secondary that has been beleaguered for much of this season, but has also played much better in recent games.
CB – Gareef Glashen 5-10 180 lbs,
CB – Anthony Cioffi 6-0 180 lbs,
SS – Lorenzo Waters 6-0 205 lbs
FS – Jeremy Deering 6-2 200 lbs
The Rutgers offense is managed by sr signal caller Chas Dodd, who salvaged the season through his mistake free play against USF, throwing for 179 yards, completing 19 of 24 passes. Also available is Gary Nova, who threw for
2159 yards and had three game winning td throws against Temple, Arkansas, and SMU. I wouldn’t surprise me if both
play.
The quarterbacks are supported by a deep and talented wr and te corp, one capable of significant productivity, if the ball can be delivered accurately.
WR – Brandon Coleman 6-6 220 lbs, Carlton Agudosi 6-6 205 lbs
WR – Quron Pratt 6-0 190 lbs, Leonte Carroo 6-1 200 lbs,
Ruhann Peele 6-1 185 lbs
TE – Tyler Kroft 6-6 240 lbs, Paul Carrezola 6-2 240 lbs
Brandon Coleman is reported to have received a Round 3 draft grade last year, but wasn’t as productive this year. An especially productive outing against Notre Dame should boost his draft stock. Quron Pratt was the offensive MVP, as he was one of the most consistent receivers I have ever witnessed at Rutgers. He too will be playing Sundays next year, as there is an NFL place for people like him who catch everything. Not flashy, but gets the job done. Leonte Carroo is the
best overall receiver on the team, and is poised to be an All American in upcoming years, yet he suffered an awful injury against UCF, and his status is in doubt. Carlton Agudosi has Dwayne Jarret size and potential. Ruhann Peele
has played both ways and had 79 yards receiving against UConn. Tight End Tyler Kroft was the leading receiver for Rutgers this year, and at times, flashed All American potential.
The Rutgers offense will be going up against an Irish Secondary that has allowed its opponents to complete 60.6% (230 completions out of 379 attempts) of its passes according to UND.com.
CB- Bennett Jackson 6-0 195 lbs
CB- Keivarae Russell 5-11, 190 lbs
FS- Matthias Farley 5-11, 204 lbs
SS- Austin Collinsworth 6-1 205 lbs
Pittsburgh had 243 yards receiving vs this group. Rutgers, with better personnel, should be able to surpass that total.
The composition of the Irish offensive line has changed considerably form the beginning of the season as they lost starting center Nick Martin, starting right tackle Christian Lombard, and starting left Guard Chris Watt, and starting nose tackle Louis Nix, to injury. Consequently, Notre Dames starting 5 OL are as follows:
RT: Ronald Stanley, 6-5.5, 317 lbs, So, (12 starts)
RG: Steve Elmer, 6-5.5 317 lbs, Fr (3 starts)
C: Matt Hegarty,
6-4.5, 309 lbs, Jr, (1 start)
LG: Connor Hanratty, 6-4.5, 300 lbs, Jr (3 starts)
LT: Zach Martin, 6-4, 308 lbs, 5th year Sr
(Seasoned Veteran)
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20131225/SPORTS0302/312259993/1087
Despite the injuries, Notre Dame ranked #8 Nationally in sacks given up, quite an impressive accomplishment, given their strength of schedule. Nevertheless, the line is materially different from the line which played most of the season, so that
ranking no longer applies.
Rutgers counters with a group of seasoned though undersized veterans, used to defeating larger linemen, via superior technique.
DE – Marcus Thompson, 6-2 260 lbs, Sr
NT – Isaac Holmes, 6-2, 270 lbs, 5th year Sr
DT – Darius, Hamilton, 6-4, 260 lbs, Sophmore
DE – Dwany Mera, 6-1, 260 lbs, (3rd year So)
SLB – Jamal Merrill, 6-4 220 lbs, Sr.
MLB – Steve Longa 6-1 220 lbs
WLB – Kevin Snyder 6-3 235 lbs
Thanks to their efforts, Rutgers had the #4 rushing defense in the country. This despite going against much larger offensive lines, such as Arkansas’. Arkansas had 101 yards rushing against Rutgers but 182 yards rushing against LSU. We were fine against and SEC line, I think we’ll be fine against Notre Dames. Notre Dames OL vs Rutgers DL is probably the key matchup of the game. If Notre Dame can effectively run the ball, they will likely blow out Rutgers. However, if Rutgers defensive linemen, can gain penetration on each offensive snap and disrupt Notre Dames offense, its going to be a LONG Day for Notre Dame.
In contrast to Notre Dames OL, Rutgers experienced OL enters
the game intact:
LT: Keith Lumpkin 6-5, 318 lbs, (3rd yr So)
LG: Chris Muller 6-6, 300 lbs (r-Fr)
C: Dwayne Hendrickson 6-2 290 lbs, (Sr)
RG: Caleb Johnson 6-4, 305 lbs, (Jr)
RT: Taj Alexander 6-4 290 lbs/(rs-jr) Andre Civil 6-3 285
lbs (rs-sr)
Rutgers Offensive line has had its ups and downs, struggling against Arkansas and Louisville, but has progressively improved, and has only allowed 2 sacks within the last two games.
Notre Dames DL lost its best player, Louis Nix, to a season ending injury, and its current depth chart should look something like this.
DE: Day 6-2 290 lbs
DL: Jarron Jones 6-5.5 305 lbs, Tyler Stockton 5-11 284 lbs
DE: Stephon Tuitt 6-6.5, 312 lbs
OLB: Shembo 6-1 258 lbs
ILB: Fox 6-3 245 lbs
ILB: Calabrese 6-1 250 lbs
OLB: Smith 6-2.5 230 lbs
The loss of Louis Nix, was especially significant, as he is a projected high NFL draft pick. Since the Irish lost Louis Nix, they have given up 247 rushing yards to BYU and 261 rushing yards to Stanford. That is more than double the 112 rushing yards they gave up to Pittsburgh.
What should have been a BCS bowl ending season for Rutgers, has instead ended with the PinStripe Bowl. Nevertheless, Rutgers is in the BEST non BCS bowl that it could have landed, and has a fantastic opportunity, so for that, we should be thankful.
As for the game itself, Notre Dames numerous injuries on the offensive and defensive lines have rendered them vulnerable, and Rutgers needs to capitalize, and I sense we will. We played well in all phases of the game against USF and I sense we will perform similarly against Notre Dame.
Professor George Horton used to say something to the effect that, “if you’ve prepared, the final exam can be a wonderful experience.” Rutgers has prepared and is poised to make its final exam, the pinstripe bowl, wonderful and memorable for its fans.
Ultimately, Rutgers is able to run and pass over Notre Dame, and the defense stops the run, but gives up a ton of passing yards, but nevertheless is able to get the stop that gives Rutgers the victory.
I’m calling for :
Rutgers 31
Notre Dame 27
Sources:
Bowl Media Guide
http://www.scarletknights.com/football/guide/
und.com
