RU Vs. USF Stray Thoughts ... To Start (Long)

[njligernj]

Hey lets keep the posts to a short novel here. If I wanted Hemmingway I would go to the library.

I disagree. I've really enjoyed the in-depth analysis. Easy to skip over if you're not into spending up to two whole minutes reading.

[___ Eats It]

Rutgers drinks pee.

[smazza]

Big East Game of the Week

Rutgers (4-0) at South Florida (3-1)  8:00 PM EST ESPN2 Friday September 30th

Why to watch: After sneaking into the No. 23 slot of both polls this week, Rutgers’ Q rating has never been higher, and now the spotlight is on with a 4-0 record for the first time in 26 years.  The program’s done a terrific job getting to this point, but how will it handle the increased pressure and scrutiny that comes with expectations? A loss on national television will almost certainly cost the Knights a lot of the equity they’ve amassed this month as people now will be watching.  South Florida had hoped to join Rutgers in perfection before dropping a 13-7 decision to Kansas on Saturday. With their opponents getting all of the attention, the Bulls would love nothing more than to grab the spotlight, while getting an early jump on the third spot in the Big East pecking order behind West Virginia and Louisville.  While he’s in Tampa, Greg Schiano might want to shoot down I-75 for a cup of coffee with Miami athletic director Paul Dee.

Why Rutgers might win: Yeah, the running tandem of Ray Rice and Brian Leonard has been Rutgers’ chief catalyst, but the defense has been the unsung hero of the program’s emergence.  The unit, which hasn’t allowed more than 16 points in a game and is No. 4 nationally in total defense, will suffocate a Bull attack that’s far too dependent on one player, freshmen QB Matt Grothe.  South Florida has scored just 31 points the last two weeks, getting absolutely no support from the running backs.

Why South Florida might win: No one Rutgers has played this month comes close to the South Florida defense.  Spurred by a tenacious trio of veteran linebackers, the Bulls allow only 15 points a game and have given up just a pair of touchdown passes all year.  One of these days, sporadic Scarlet Knight QB Mike Teel will have to do more than dish out handoffs, and that day is this Friday.

Who to watch: Bulls Stephen Nicholas and Ben Moffitt are two of the best linebackers you’ve never seen play. Now you’ll get a chance. Their jobs on Friday night are simpleâ€â€contain Rice, the country’s fourth-leading rusher and don’t forget about Leonard, who can demoralize a defense in a multitude of ways.  If they can force Teel to make plays on third and long, South Florida will hand Rutgers its first loss of 2006.

What will happen: No matter what happens Friday night, the big winner is the Big East, which has a showcase game involving someone other than West Virginia and Louisville, for a change.  Although South Florida always plays well in Raymond James Stadium, it won’t have the offensive artillery to out gun the Scarlet Knights.

CFN Prediction: Rutgers 26 ... South Florida 20 ... Line: Rutgers -4

Must See Rating: (5 skip the birth of your first born - 1 Studio 60 on the Sunset

[windbane]

Windbane,

While I would rather RU successfully run the ball, so as not to put the offense on Teel's (RU QB) shoulders, if the CB's are in single coverage on the WR's, and the safeties are close to the LOS in run support, I like the match-ups for RU ... I have yet to see a safety successfully cover Harris (RU's TE) ... he egnerally feasts on safety coverage.  And with that set-up, if Harriss or Leonard beat just ONE SINGLE DEFENDER, it is a TD ... that is just the way it sets up with that type of defense.  Plus, with the safeties in run support, and besically single covering HArris, if any of our WR's beat the CB's even on simple slants, theer is no safety support, and a big gainer is likely.  Which all presupposes that the RU QB can and will successfuly deliver the ball, and the OL will successfully protect.

I'm not going to assume we will move our safeties up to play the linebacker position.  Being able to cover man-to-man on the corners is ALWAYS a plus.  Assuming just 1 CB can do that is a real bonus to a defense (think Cowboys with Deion Sanders where 1 side of the field was covered by him).  I think freeing up the safeties to help with run support and cover the TE or 3rd WRs is a good thing.  The safeties hopefully wont be playing that far up considering we do have some nice Linebackers sometimes.

also, if safeties cant cover your TE then I guess we'd have to use a nickel defense with another CB on your TE.  but you make it seem like he cant be convered, so we'll see what happens.  I dont see us playing nickel considering RU will be trying to run, so I'll trust a safety or even 1 of our LBs to cover the TE.

this is all assuming you dont just do crossing routes like Kansas did last week to rip us apart.

[windbane]

Windbane,

While I would rather RU successfully run the ball, so as not to put the offense on Teel's (RU QB) shoulders, if the CB's are in single coverage on the WR's, and the safeties are close to the LOS in run support, I like the match-ups for RU ... I have yet to see a safety successfully cover Harris (RU's TE) ... he egnerally feasts on safety coverage.  And with that set-up, if Harriss or Leonard beat just ONE SINGLE DEFENDER, it is a TD ... that is just the way it sets up with that type of defense.  Plus, with the safeties in run support, and besically single covering HArris, if any of our WR's beat the CB's even on simple slants, theer is no safety support, and a big gainer is likely.  Which all presupposes that the RU QB can and will successfuly deliver the ball, and the OL will successfully protect.

I'm not going to assume we will move our safeties up to play the linebacker position.  Being able to cover man-to-man on the corners is ALWAYS a plus.  Assuming just 1 CB can do that is a real bonus to a defense (think Cowboys with Deion Sanders where 1 side of the field was covered by him).  I think freeing up the safeties to help with run support and cover the TE or 3rd WRs is a good thing.  The safeties hopefully wont be playing that far up considering we do have some nice Linebackers sometimes.

also, if safeties cant cover your TE then I guess we'd have to use a nickel defense with another CB on your TE.  but you make it seem like he cant be covered, so we'll see what happens.  I dont see us playing nickel considering RU will be trying to run, so I'll trust a safety or even 1 of our LBs to cover the TE.

this is all assuming you dont just do crossing routes like Kansas did last week to rip us apart.

[jellyman]

Windbane,

I'm not going to assume we will move our safeties up to play the linebacker position.  Being able to cover man-to-man on the corners is ALWAYS a plus.  Assuming just 1 CB can do that is a real bonus to a defense (think Cowboys with Deion Sanders where 1 side of the field was covered by him).  I think freeing up the safeties to help with run support and cover the TE or 3rd WRs is a good thing.  The safeties hopefully wont be playing that far up considering we do have some nice Linebackers sometimes.

also, if safeties cant cover your TE then I guess we'd have to use a nickel defense with another CB on your TE.  but you make it seem like he cant be convered, so we'll see what happens.  I dont see us playing nickel considering RU will be trying to run, so I'll trust a safety or even 1 of our LBs to cover the TE.

this is all assuming you dont just do crossing routes like Kansas did last week to rip us apart.

wind,

I do not know all the proper nomencalture on patterns.  But I do know that RU loves to run crossing routes with the TE, and has been successful with that.  RU also like to run crossing routes witht he WR's.  RU will take 2 WR's wide, and run the inside WR up and out and the outside WR across the middle underneath ... and usually ONE of them is then open.

If USF does not play the safeties up ... then I think RU will have reasonable success running.  If USF's D-line is not pretty good, then RU will run easily, no matter how good your LB's are (not to say the USF LB's won't make nice plays ... surely they will).  Why do I say this?  Because Rice is really superb at finding the creaes and seams in the blocking schemes, and RU's OL is bog and athletic.  If the DL's cannot make the OL's block ONLY them, then that leaves at least 1 pulling (or not pulling) OL to block a LB,a nd also Leonard the FB to block ... and Rice will get to pick and choose where to go after the defense commits.  

If a team plays 8 in the box, that implies they have 8 players lined up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, and though not inside the tackles, at least just outside the tackles.  That implies the safeties (or at least 1) are pulled up too close to the LOS to get a quick enough drop back into pass coverage if RU runs play action.  One of the reasons RU has run so much this year is that teams have NOT sold out to the run, and have NOT played 8 in the box even 25% of the time.  This has surprised me all year, as you would think RU's opponents would want to make Teel beat them with hsi arm.  But the ACTIONS on the field have not played out that way.  And I cannot remember very many plays at all where a team played 9 in the box.

By the way, I do not say Harris CANNOT be covered (I mean I did kind of say that) ... I did not mean that.  But it is tough to cover him.  He is seriously good, and at 6'6" 260 with good speed ... well you can see how that might result in match-up problems.

I think it will be an exciting game for us USF and RU fans, though I wish it would only be exciting for the RU fans.

[BigShoop]

Why do you think the safeties are gonna be covering the TE? ANY of 3 LBs has the speed to cover him quite easily.....

[jellyman]

Why do you think the safeties are gonna be covering the TE? ANY of 3 LBs has the speed to cover him quite easily.....

Then the LB's are going to have to get back into pass coverage awfully fast, or they will not be providing as much support to the run game.  If they are able to successfully get back intop pass coverage on play action, then I am okay with that ... because that means they are not attacking the line of scrimmage against the run.

[JoeB]

From the D I saw last week, we played a vanilla zone defense.  Hopefully we'll stack the line most of the night, and let our cover corners actually cover somebody.  If Trae and Mike are that good, let them cover these guys.  Teel is decent, but he's not Brady Quinn.