Rutgers’ Reign Ruptured

The Scarlet Knights sure would have liked to inject some of Ray Rice’s legs into their offense on Wednesday night. South Florida upset Rutgers 28-27 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Big East battle featured a rusher just as prolific as Rice, but he belonged to the Bulls. Moise Plancher ran for a career high 135 yards to help USF upend the Knights and improve to 5-3 on the season. Plancher, however, also nearly cost the Bulls the game. Offensive lineman, Jacob Sims, recovered Plancher’s fourth quarter fumble and returned it for the winning touchdown. Fans know the Big East is the laughingstock of college football this year, but Rutgers has been the toughest foe for South Florida since their entrance into the conference. The Bulls finally got over the hurdle last night with a one-point home victory.
South Florida snapped a four game losing streak behind B.J. Daniels’ two touchdown passes, a pair of field goals, a safety, and a fumble recovery for a score. Daniels finished with 149 yards through the air and was picked off once. He was 10-of-17 on the night. The USF signal caller connected for two first half touchdowns as the teams went into the locker room knotted at 17-17. Evan Landi’s four yard reception midway through the first quarter gave the Bulls a 7-0 edge. The touchdown was set up by Terrence Mitchell’s 47 yard punt return. Rutgers came back to tie the game with .44 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Mason Robinson returned a punt 60 yards for the Scarlet Knights’ first touchdown.
Chas Dodd completed 19-of-22 passes for 139 yards behind center for Rutgers. Mohamed Sanu snagged seven passes and threw the only touchdown pass for the Knights. Sanu’s toss came late in the second quarter, with South Florida ahead by four. Rutgers recorded a field goal to begin the second quarter. The Bulls bounced back with Daniels’ second touchdown pass, a six yard pitch to wideout, Dontavia Bogan. Sanu’s 21 yard pass to Mark Harrison gave Rutgers a three point lead with 6:28 left in the half. Maikon Bonani kicked a 47 yard field goal to tie the game with less than a minute before the break.
Joe Martinek, who finished with -6 yards rushing, managed a one yard touchdown run to begin the second half and give Rutgers their biggest lead of the night. The Bulls were whistled for 35 penalty yards during the momentum-swinging series. Bonani’s 21 yard field goal cut the Scarlet Knight lead back to four points and a safety to end the third quarter cut the advantage to two. Kordell Young caught a screen pass in the end zone, but was tackled before crossing the line to give the Bulls a pair of points. Daniels was intercepted on the first play of the fourth quarter. The home team still trailed by five after Rutgers’ San San Te booted a 30 yard field goal. The safety net wasn’t enough for the Knights as the Bulls scored the game’s final, and winning, touchdown. Rutgers is now 4-4 on the season.

Parting Points: Motor-mouth in the Motor City? That’s right, Randy Moss is a Titan. Oh, and Buffalo claimed Shawn Merriman.

Does it get any worse for the NJ Devils? Martin Brodeur will bounce back, but Zach Parise is out for three months.

Sources say the NCAA is going to drop charges against Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez.

RIP Sparky Anderson.

Raven’s Runner: Rutgers’ Ray Rice

Everyone knows the Baltimore Ravens have an historically scary defense. Ravens and defense are practically synonyms in this decade. The team’s 2008 second round draft pick out of New Rochelle raised the running back bar at Rutgers University for three years. Ray Rice was the all-time leading rusher for Jerseys’ Scarlet Knight and now is creating a stir in Baltimore’s backfield. He turned pro as a junior but not before leading Rutgers to a 52-30 International Bowl game victory over Ball State last season. The Big East stud scored four touchdowns against the Cardinals and stacked up 2,0124 total yards on the season. Eight straight times the talented tailback totals topped 100 yards.
Rice has transitioned terrifically to NFL-caliber football after setting practically every rushing record at Rutgers. In his rookie season so far, he has not scored a touchdown. His numbers are deceiving though. Last Saturday was a good breakout game and his performance gave fans something to cheer about. He tied his game high of 64 yards against the Raiders. In his season debut, Rice also tallied 64 ground yards while the Ravens went on to defeat the Bengals 17-10. He had 3 receptions in both of those victories, further proving his value as a yard accumulator.
Rice ran for 280 yards in one game while in college. I was impressed with Ray’s predecessor, Brian Leonard, who was the 2007 52nd draft pick out of Rutgers. Leonard was selected by St. Louis. More of a visionary and hard rusher through open holes, Rice is even more striking. Baltimore has considered utilizing Rice as a kickoff return man. This is a great idea in keeping him in action and adaptable throughout the game. Willis McGahee and LeRon McClain compute the main rushing yards and complete the overcrowded Ravens’ backfield. Rice is the third stringer with something to prove. I think Baltimore should hand the ball to Ray more often. Increasing his workload would improve his effectiveness and enable him to enrich his style, gaining experience. He already knows how to cut inside and outside. All he needs is the time. The rookie has great hands and ball handling ability, similar to Emmitt Smith. If there was a rip on Rice coming into the season, it was for being too small for the NFL. Scouts did not consider him an everyday running back. I would like to see him prove everybody wrong.

Parting points: Something gives me the feeling they will be popping the champagne in Philadelphia tonight.