Five game winning streak against ACC
Seven game streak against former BigEast members
Thirteen non-conference game streak


2021 Delaware Syracuse Temple
2022 Wagner BC Temple
2023 Wagner Va Tech Temple Miami
2024 Howard Akron Va Tech

Our rushing defense has been an issue this season, we currently rank 89th (out of 133 FBS teams) in rushing yards per game allowed at 161.3 ypg. On a per rush basis, Rutgers is even worse at 5.5 yards per carry allowed, which ranks 119th in the FBS. Mind you, this is also against some awful offenses relative to what we'll face later in the year.

Last year Rutgers ranked 45th in rushing defense (yards per game, 141.7) and 56th in yards per carry (4.0) over the course of a full season. So where is Rutgers getting beaten in the run game?

Two main areas: Outside runs and QB scrambles.

Here's how Rutgers' run defense performed against it's opponents this season on inside runs, outside runs and QB scrambles...

Virginia Tech
inside runs: 11/52 (4.7 ypc)
outside runs: 13/100 (7.7 ypc)
QB scrambles: 2/36 (18 ypc)

Akron
inside runs: 12/36 (3 ypc)
outside runs: 8/115 (14.4 ypc)
QB scrambles: 2/24 (12 ypc)

Howard
inside runs: 14/38 (2.7 ypc)
outside runs: 19/106 (5.6 ypc)
QB scrambles: 1/11 (11 ypc)

QB scrambles are more forgivable, as they're fairly infrequent and typically occur when a play breaks down. But the outside runs are gashing this run defense. I've noticed a few things on outside runs this year that I hope can change throughout the year.

1. Our LBs haven't been able to fight through the trash to get through the line nearly as often as they were last year. Toure and Jennings (along with Powell) did a great job of that last year.
2. Our DEs haven't been getting the push needed in the run game and backs are able to break contain and bounce things outside more often than last season.
3. On outside runs, opposing OTs and TEs have been very sticky to our LBs and Ss in pursuit which have opened holes to the outside.
4. We have been whiffing on a LOT of tackles this year. Last season, we had 52 missed tackles in the run game all season in 13 games (4 missed tackles per game, 4th highest tackling grade on PFF) and this season alone we have 20 missed tackles in the run game already (6.7 missed tackles per game, 89th in tackling grade on PFF).

I wish it was one thing and it was an easy fix, but I think we're seeing a lot of young players getting more reps than anticipated (Djabome, Kaj Sanders, etc) along with veterans not getting the jobs expected of them done in the run game enough. These are problems that need to get fixed, but a lot easier to deal with when you're 3-0.

So while I don't think Rutgers had it's best day yesterday along the OL, these PFF grades are certainly something worth pointing out. Each of our starting OL is ranked in the top 5 of their position group amongst qualifying players (ie they played enough snaps to qualify):

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We could be an annual nine win team in that garbage conference but I’d rather play with the big boys. Is that 5 of the last 6 now?

Watching the Saints - Eagles. Saints down by 3 with 48 seconds left. Eagles have the ball on their own 40. 3 kneel downs, Saints just stand there but they do take their last time out - why? They’ve already given up. Should have gone into the locker room with 48 seconds left.

In case you have noticed I hate the victory formation especially in a one score game.

Rant over.

@Richie, can we get Schiano's take on RU having to burn a timeout in the 3rd qtr to prevent a delay of game penalty, seemingly because VTech players were late coming off the field?

I know the rule that when the offense substitutes, it needs to give the D a chance to substitute players, but does that mean the departing D players can take their sweet time leaving forcing the O to call a timeout?

That’s said, I really want the B1G to win head-to-head matchups with other conferences…ESPECIALLY the ACC and the SEC. So I guess I want MSU to beat BC.

Thought this was well done, especially the intro part, quoted below, advising RU fans to look at the big picture more than the mistakes, given a win on the road over a solid opponent. And with regard to the "mistakes," I probably overreacted in the game thread to a few decisions, but looking back, I think I was really only annoyed with: i) the decision to go for it on 4th and goal, when a chip shot FG puts us up 3 scores; ii) the decision to go for the 53 yard FG instead of either going for it or pinning them deep in their territory by punting (which is what Greg would normally do) and iii) not returning punts (especially after the safety) when caught cleanly with lots of room. Lots of great calls, too, especially that last WR screen to Strong and the defense on the last VT drive, plus simply throwing a lot more and effectively given how much they were crowding the box on D.

But hard to get upset after a huge win, where we dominated the game statistically (422 to 320 yards and 25 to 14 first downs and 39+ minutes of possession) and could've easily won by 2+ TDs if we had just executed a bit better. Loved AK's game and I'm really liking how Strong, Miller and Fletcher are playing (despite the fumble) and was great to see Brown playing at a high level again and KM got some really tough yards. And so happy to see Powell and Bailey back. Hopefully Patel bounces back from his first bad game I can recall. 3-0 is good and Friday better be a sellout or close to it, especially with the weather likely being decent (and even if we get a shower or two).

https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...in-could-lead-to-a-special-season-politi.html

Perhaps it is best, after a game like this, to keep the focus on the big picture. And the view from 30,000 feet after Rutgers defeated Virginia Tech? Well, shoot, it’s pretty darn good!

The Scarlet Knights went into Lane Stadium, one of the toughest venues in college football, and came away with a 26-23 victory. They won the game thanks to a pair of brilliant fourth-quarter plays — one on offense, one on defense — to show a level of poise that bodes well for the rest of the season.

And this was the key game on the schedule. Everyone agreed on that. Beat Virginia Tech to finish the non-conference season at 3-0, and all of a sudden, the potential is there for a truly special season. Rutgers hosts Washington, the national runners-up, on Friday night in a game that could catapult them into the national rankings.

If that happens, each week on the calendar gets a little bigger. If that happens, the boulder might start rolling down the hill to the kind of autumn we haven’t seen in these parts for a good, long time. All that was only possible with a win in Blacksburg.

You would have signed for that when the day started, Rutgers fans.

In blood.

Seeing mixed forecasts so far.

I've seen some early forecasts that show rain Friday night.

And I have seen others where it shows no rain at all.

That was a perhaps once in a lifetime experience in Blacksburg taking on Va Tech and winning. Just a perfect day in every facet.

Beautiful countryside, rowdy town and raucous stadium environment. It really feels like a “Saturday down south” locale.

Super enclave for a college — it’s a pain in the ass to get there which makes BEING there magical, because you have to make a deliberate, intentional decision to do it

I don’t know if we’ll play va tech OOC again anytime soon; I would suggest there’s more downside to doing so than there is upside from a football scheduling perspective. However, from a fandom perspective, if we DO play them again I am 100% making the pilgrimage back to Blacksburg because that was awesome!

I did a deep dive of the VT boards and came away pretty encouraged.

Coming out of the game, I think we as a fanbase were generally happy with the offense, not happy with the coaching, and a bit worried about the defense getting gashed in the 4th.

VT fans, meanwhile, are obviously unhappy with the coaching but by and large they were very happy with the defense and pissed at the offense. They seem to think their offense just oozes talent…so the fact that we held them in check until the 4th is a great sign. We also know that Schiano and Harasymiak will get the defense right and that arguably our three best defenders were all a bit limited (Bailey, Powell, and Flip).

Still, Rogers mighy be the best QB we face all season and he loveees a good deep shot. In fact, the Washington offense seems pretty reliant on big pass plays so if we can limit those, we’ll be in good shape. The secondary will be absolutely key and if we know anything about Greg, it’s that he’ll have the secondary ready to play.

So, as a stand alone thread, in response to several posts buried in a thread that argued VT loaded the box totally, and RU did not adjust, I had the time, and rewatched the game, freezing and slowing the playback as needed, and charted EVERY RU offensive play. I am not going to go play by play here - way too long even for me. But I will give the breakdown, with some definitions, and some of my conclusions/opinions.

First, let's define a "loaded" in the box. One poster said VT was "loading" the box with 6-8 players. So, getting this out of the way: 6 or 7 "in the box" is not loading the box. That is 8 or more. The STANDARD defense of 3 or 4 DL, and 3 or 4 LB (a 4-3 or a 3-4 ... or even a 52 defense) will have 7 "in the box." That is NOT "loading" the box. That is a base defense.

And "in the box" is defined - by me - as within 5 yards of the LOS, and inside, or JUST outside the tackles. If a team run blitzes - that is different than "loading the box." Important to know and understand, but different.

I would add that sometimes it is difficult to decide which DB's, if any, are "in the box" against RU, since RU has a relatively common offensive formation with 2 WR's (slot and WR) bunched just outside the OT (not wide), plus RU often motions 1 WR from one side to the other, bringing the tracking DB from out of the box to into the box ... is that defender now "in the box" or not? I included him as in the box if he truly trailed or passed the coverage to another DB on the other side and neither DB made it all the way outside - in other words how far the RU WR ended up motioning, how far outside the OT he got before the snap.

One last item on "loading the box." Though loading the box is supposed to help with run defense, against a ZONE BLOCKING scheme it is less effective (now run blitzing - a different beast, and more effective than merely loading the box). How so? because an effective zone blocking execution essentially seals one entire side of the defense AWAY from the running lanes - if executed well. I once charted a number of Ray Rice's games in 2006 and 2007, when RU used zone blocking, and the OL was very, very good at it. Rice actually gained MORE yards in plays where the box was "loaded" than not. WHY? because with 8 or 9 in the box, if the OL creates lanes that seal one side of the defense from being part of the play (it entails the Center or 1 OG to get to the 2nd level of the defense and seal block an inside LB, the TE sealing the gap lane to one side or the other for a RB to find)), then there are fewer DB's back once the RB gets into the 2nd or even 3rd level of defense (i.e. 3-5 yards past the LOS). Monangai does well with this also because of his ability to make a moving DB miss, or because he can break the tackle.

Now run blitzing is different than loading the box - because run blitzing can more effectively fill the lanes - unless the OL and TE blocking HOLDS.

So here is the breakdown. I did it by 1st Half, by 3Q and by 4Q - because VT changed its pattern noticeably in each of those time frames:

First Half (35 plays):

6 In the Box - 6 times (17%)
7 in the box - 20 times (57%)
8 in the box - 3 times (9%)
9 or more in the box - 6 times (almost always 3rd or 4th and 2 or less) - (17%)

Third Quarter (21 plays):

6 in the box - 5 times (24%)
7 in the box - 12 times (57%)
8 in the box - 2 times (10%)
9 in the box - 0 times (0%)
10 or more in the box - 3 times (always 3rd or 4th and 2 or less) - (14%)

Fourth Quarter (16 plays):

6 in the box - 0 times (!!! - big change!) - (0%)
7 in the box - 5 times - (31%)
8 in the box - 5 times - (31%)
9 in the box - 3 times - (19%)
10 or more in the box - 3 times - (19%)

In the 1st Half, VT loaded the box about 26% of the time, and did NOT load the box 74% of the time.

I could calculate the 2nd half overall - but the pattern of VT's defensive scheme choices was starkly different in the 3rd and 4th quarters, so it does not seem valuable to do so.

In the 3rd quarter, VT's choice on loading the box or not was essentially similar to the 1st half.

BUT ... the 4th quarter, now ... VT completely altered their approach. In the 4th quarter VT only ran 6 or 7 in the box 31% of the time - vs 75% of the time in the 1st half and the 3rd quarter ... that is a huge change. You can see from above VT loaded the box with 8 players 31% of the time in the 4th Quarter, the same number of times they only put 7 in the box ... and another 38% of the time they had 9 or more defenders in the box.. Thus, in the 4th quarter, VT loaded the box 70% of their plays - though it was only 16 plays.

Now, let's add in the run blitzes. This is more difficult to identify. I only counted plays on which RU ran the ball (excluded pass plays or sacks), and only counted plays I interpreted as the LB's or DB's "blitzing" on the snap, not a LB and DB moving and reacting to filling a hole or lane. I counted 9 run blitzes in the 1st Half, and just 6 in the 2nd Half (and only 1 in the 4th Quarter). I speculate that when a team loaded the box, as VT did more of in the 2nd Half, and in particular in the 4th Quarter, it is not technically run blitzing. I may be wrong, but that is how I measured it. So there!

So ... when you then add in the VT LB's, DB's or DT's making plays vs the RU blockers making plays, you add the final dimension here. And I charted this also, looked very closely at plays that worked and those that did not work - though I focused more on the 2nd Half charting than the 1st Half charting. I would add, Schiano has long said that often a successful offensive running play can be blown up and fail with just ONE blocking assignment missed. I think the RU staff will have a lot of film work available to show OL's and TE's where they missed.

IMO ... the bigger issue with a tougher ability for RU to run the ball (only 4 runs of 10 yards or more, and NONE over 12 yards) was NOT VT's scheme (i.e. whether they were loading the box or not, or run blitzing or not). Rather, RU had blocking breakdowns, which caused more problems than the defensive scheme - to which you should give the VT DL, in particular, a lot of credit.

In the 2nd Half, I counted EIGHT (8) plays where the VT DT (once the LB) blew up an RU offensive lineman or the TE, those RU players missing key blocks, or getting overpowered, blowing up running plays - at least 6 of those 8 plays were with Monangai running.. I am not going into detail here on each of those plays, but the 2 most common plays were:

1) The TE (twice Fletcher, once Konopka) either not pulling fast enough to seal the lane, or simply getting over-powered by a DL.

2) An RU OL getting beaten and blown up: Asamoah most often, though it happened to Felter once or twice, Needham once and Zelinskas once.

3) On a couple of occasions it was BOTH the above happening

IF ... the TE and/or OLmake their blocks even 3-4 times of those 8-9 misses, from the flow of the play, Monangai gets AT LEAST 20 additional yards, maybe 25-30 additional yards. a line of 26 for 110 yards looks a lot better for Monangai and the RU offense than 26 for 86 yards, eh?

When the blocks to hold the running lanes/gap open were held, RU generally got at least 4-5 yards, sometimes more. I will say that again, the defense makes great plays too. In the 2nd half, in RU's 1st drive of the 4th Quarter, the score 23-15, RU at the 35 yard line ish, on 2nd and 2, the line and TE did GREAT jobs holding their blocks on an 8 man in the box overload by VT, Brown cut to the correct lane/gap being blocked and sealed open ... and a diving DB made an ankle tackle - because of the shallow depth of the safeties, and the side of the field it was on (away from the safeties), if that DB misses Brown's ankle, Brown has a 65-yard TD run ... a great save. He did gain the 1st down and 7 yards ... and even if the DB had not grabbed the ankle, but merely slowed Brown down (i.e. if Brown had kept his balance and broken the ankle tackle), the closing safety would likely have cleaned up (though he might have gained more than 7 yards). But a miss of Brown's ankle entirely meant a long TD run.

One last item, not related to the "loading the box" issue: AK being sacked 3 times:

1) The 1st sack was a blitz, Asamoah beaten badly that forced AK to step up into a LB playing spy on a delayed blitz.

2) The 2nd sack, with a minute left in the 3Q, was a 7-defenderr blitz. RU kept in to block both Monangai and Fletcher - so only 3 WR's in patterns (man coverage on all 3, plus safety help). The pocket really squeezed too fast for any WR to get open, let alone for Ak to find anyone.

3) The 3rd sack, on the next play (and yes, at 2nd and 16 a pass was called for), VT blitzed just 1 defender, making it a 5-man rush. Pierce blocked IN, against the DT, leaving Konopka on an island against VT's star edge rushing DE (#52) ... oops, what a HUGE mismatch. Konopka was destroyed and AK had no time to even finish his drop.

I hope you all enjoy this!

Thus far 8/12 82 yards, 1 TD 1 INT, 5 carries for 13 yards. It is halftime at the moment.

I'm sure he'll provide comments throughout the day...

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Great that we now have a schedule to work with, but does anyone know when actual game times will be released?

So ... in response to another thread about VT stacking against the run while loading the "box", I have been charting every single RU offensive play since I did not see VT loading the box. I am not quite done with this, still the 4th quarter left to chart (needless to say I am right: VT was not regularly "loading the box", though they did run blitz a fair bit.

BUT ... in charting this I got a chance to very closely look at that failed 4rht and goal from the 1 in the 3rd quarter.

Though I am not sure I would have run that play to the short side of the field (can only run it to the right because AK should not be running it to the left as he is a righty) from the 1 yard line, because there is no field depth (i.e. the entire field is just 11 yards from the LOS to the end line of the end zone - and depth of field keeps the safety away from helping cover the leaking TE), the problem with the play was EXECUTION, not the play call.

If RU had executed, they probably (not definitely) would have scored.

Here is what happened:

1) Balli is snapped

2) Fletcher, lined up on the left side, just outside of the LT Pierce, spins to "pull" as if to block (as he often does to block the DE on the right side of RU's line in that formation) ... OR to skip the block on the right side of the line, and either block the LB (usually #25 on VT), or slip behind the LB (either blitzing or trailing) to be open ... a BLOCK springs Athan for an open run, or if he slips behind him, an theoretically open short pass from AK. That is the DESIGN.

3) BUT ... Zelinskas, the center, who had a pretty good game otherwise, is driven back into the backfield by the VT DT, into Fletcher's path.

4) Fletcher STUMBLES over Zelinskas and the DT (both on the ground, almost), and the timing is now completely RUINED.

5) Fletcher never makes it to block #25, to force #25 to make a choice, AND the safety on that side has time to come up because the timing is ruined.

6) Fletcher, because he can't get there in time for the block/slip, ends up just running a short rout into the flat, but the safety has had time to come up and cover, while #25 comes unhindered to run right at Athan, who has to dump it incomplete, with no where to go.


IF ... the timing had not been messed up by a fine play by the VT DT beating RU's center, either Fletcher blocks #25, which could have sprung AThan to the outside for a possible easy TD (not sure the safety could have gotten there in time - and AK is bigger than the safety also), or #25 pauses, and Fletcher maybe gets into the flat befroe the safety gets there to cover.

So ... execution by VT's DT, and RU's missed block by the center messed up the play more than it was the bad call.

Got down to Tyler's place around 8:45 PM: we grilled some meat, then headed out to the Whiskey Jar. Just got back, about to enjoy a glass of Caol Ila 12 before heading off to bed.