We gotta walk before we can run, and Saturday we took a significant step forward in realizing our potential.
- we held Indiana scoreless in the second half
- Artur played with confidence
- Artur completed his first of what will be many TD passes
- there were fewer missed tackles
- there were fewer penalties
- WRs flashed, especially Shameen Jones, who caught his first TD pass, and Bo Melton, who had a terrific run, in addition to a fourth down conversion, thx to stretching out past the marker. Eddie Lewis continued to be productive, and solidified his hold on the third WR slot
- Blackshear continued to be our best player from scrimmage
- team played with confidence, even when down big, and battled back, to make the margin respectable
- Pacheco threw what should have been a TD pass, but what instead setup a TD
- defense was especially good on 1st and second down; need to get better on third down.
- Bateky notched a sack
- Kevin Wilkins played his best game, and ended up with 11 tackles
- Justin Davidovicz booted a 52 yard field goal
- Tyreek Maddox- Williams forced a fumble
- Damon Hayes notched an interception on a terrific fourth down play which prevented a touchdown
- Offensive Line played its best game of the year
- Stadium was loud with few people and facilitated a fourth quarter comeback
- Artur Bashers now look like Fools
While it wasn’t a win, that was as good a result we could expect without winning. We showed we belonged on the field with a Big Ten adversary. We got the confidence to know that we can execute, especially in critical fourth down situations. The kids hard work is paying off, and this should motivate them in their preparation this week. If we have Blessaun Austin, we win that game because Indiana doesn’t make as many third down conversions, which killed us. We need to take our second half effort, extrapolate that over the remainder of the season, and improve upon it. Do that, and come November we could be the most dangerous team in America, with a chance to knockoff a few heavyweights, especially, Penn State. With Artur as our QB, we are capable of beating anyone. But for now, it should be one opponent at a time. My only focus is on our next opponent- Illinois.
Illinois comes to town sporting a 2-2 record. They’ve beaten Kent State and Western Illinois, while falling to South Florida and Penn State. They are led by a two headed tandem of running backs in Ike Epstein and Reggie Corbin, each sporting an impressive 6.8 ypc average. These cats are the key cogs powering a rushing attack which averages 253 yards per game. MJ Rivers and AJ Bush are the passers and they average around 165 yards passing per game. What’s eye opening is that Illinois is giving up 295 yards passing, and 212 yards rushing to its opponents.
This bodes well for a Rutgers offense, which has struggled to score. I think Artur notches his first 300 yard game, and a good number of long balls which fell incomplete last week, get completed this week. Defense does just enough to hold on for the win
Rutgers 30
Illinois 27
- we held Indiana scoreless in the second half
- Artur played with confidence
- Artur completed his first of what will be many TD passes
- there were fewer missed tackles
- there were fewer penalties
- WRs flashed, especially Shameen Jones, who caught his first TD pass, and Bo Melton, who had a terrific run, in addition to a fourth down conversion, thx to stretching out past the marker. Eddie Lewis continued to be productive, and solidified his hold on the third WR slot
- Blackshear continued to be our best player from scrimmage
- team played with confidence, even when down big, and battled back, to make the margin respectable
- Pacheco threw what should have been a TD pass, but what instead setup a TD
- defense was especially good on 1st and second down; need to get better on third down.
- Bateky notched a sack
- Kevin Wilkins played his best game, and ended up with 11 tackles
- Justin Davidovicz booted a 52 yard field goal
- Tyreek Maddox- Williams forced a fumble
- Damon Hayes notched an interception on a terrific fourth down play which prevented a touchdown
- Offensive Line played its best game of the year
- Stadium was loud with few people and facilitated a fourth quarter comeback
- Artur Bashers now look like Fools
While it wasn’t a win, that was as good a result we could expect without winning. We showed we belonged on the field with a Big Ten adversary. We got the confidence to know that we can execute, especially in critical fourth down situations. The kids hard work is paying off, and this should motivate them in their preparation this week. If we have Blessaun Austin, we win that game because Indiana doesn’t make as many third down conversions, which killed us. We need to take our second half effort, extrapolate that over the remainder of the season, and improve upon it. Do that, and come November we could be the most dangerous team in America, with a chance to knockoff a few heavyweights, especially, Penn State. With Artur as our QB, we are capable of beating anyone. But for now, it should be one opponent at a time. My only focus is on our next opponent- Illinois.
Illinois comes to town sporting a 2-2 record. They’ve beaten Kent State and Western Illinois, while falling to South Florida and Penn State. They are led by a two headed tandem of running backs in Ike Epstein and Reggie Corbin, each sporting an impressive 6.8 ypc average. These cats are the key cogs powering a rushing attack which averages 253 yards per game. MJ Rivers and AJ Bush are the passers and they average around 165 yards passing per game. What’s eye opening is that Illinois is giving up 295 yards passing, and 212 yards rushing to its opponents.
This bodes well for a Rutgers offense, which has struggled to score. I think Artur notches his first 300 yard game, and a good number of long balls which fell incomplete last week, get completed this week. Defense does just enough to hold on for the win
Rutgers 30
Illinois 27
