Rutgers should avoid letdown in homecoming week

By Greg Wiley
The Phanatic Magazine

Homecoming won't provide much of a test for Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has been impressive in its first two games of the season, scoring a combined 79 points. That number could double come Saturday when the 13th-ranked Scarlet Knights host Norfolk State, a FCS (formerly I-AA) program, in its annual homecoming contest.

Norfolk State is not going to provide much of a test for Rutgers, but if Appalachian State's upset of Michigan proved anything, the Scarlet Knights have to be ready to play. Give a team like Norfolk State an inch and it'll make the most of the opportunity.

So, the moral of the story is score early, score often, and don't let up. Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano said during his weekly press conference that he hasn't even spoken to any of the reserves regarding seeing any playing time. As a matter a fact, the only thing that matters right now to Schiano is seeing his team play better on both sides of the ball.

"Twenty penalties in two games. We've dropped passes. Defensively we've made mistakes. We can play better," said Schiano.

"Our football team right now is concerned with how good we can be," he said. "It's so early in the year that we haven't played to the level that we've expected of ourselves. So that's the challenge. The challenge is to find out how good we can be.

"When we play our best we can beat anybody in the country. We haven't played our best."

Junior running back Ray Rice needs to continue to his outstanding start to the season. He leads the nation in total rushing yards with 359 and has six total TDs this season. As he goes so will Rutgers and if he wants to rack up some useful numbers come Heisman Trophy time, this is the game to do it.

Mike Teel has been solid at QB this season. He has completed 71.4 percent of his passes this season for 594 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.

Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt led the wide receivers. Underwood has 352 yards and two TDs on 16 catches, while Britt has tallied 158 yards and score on just seven catches.

Schiano didn't give much incite into Norfolk State. He said that defensively the team likes to blitz and that its blitz coverage is solid. He also said that offensively the team is much like his own, but with a lot less shifting.

The Spartans have played just one game this season, defeating Virginia State, 33-7. Last week they had a bye and therefore have had two weeks to prepare for the biggest game on their schedule.

Daryl Jones is the team's leading rusher, going for 125 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in the opener. He also had 21 receiving yards. Dario Walker leads the Spartans with six receptions for 70 yards. Casey Hansen is under center for Norfolk State. He completed 22-of-42 passes for 245 yards with one interception in his first game.

Rutgers will have a bye week before taking the field again on September 29 at home against Maryland.