Rutgers finally catches some breaks
There were two clear MVPs for the Rutgers University football team on Saturday: the right upright and the left one.
Connecticut kicker Tony Ciaravino clanged two field-goal attempts against the posts, including a potential game-winner from 42 yards out, and the Scarlet Knights held onto a 12-10 victory before a Homecoming crowd of 42,491.
It wasn't all luck; staunch second-half run defense and superb special teams play helped Rutgers improve to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big East. Connecticut (5-2) dropped its second straight game without starting quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, who broke his foot three weeks ago.
The win was more of a morale booster than anything else, but it does keep Rutgers' faint hopes for a bowl bid on life support.
"We went out there and busted our tails, kept fighting, kept chopping,"
Rutgers defensive end Jamaal Westerman said. "Of course, a bounce of the ball, a little bit of luck, never hurts."
There was no luck involved in the way Rutgers' front seven threw a wet blanket on Connecticut running back Donnie Brown. The Red Bank Catholic graduate, who came in leading the nation in rushing, finished with 122 yards and on 27 carries. But those numbers are deceiving — he spent the entire second half going backward, compiling just seven yards on 13 attempts after the break.
And he was tackled in the end zone for a safety by Rutgers junior Blair Bines late in the third quarter. Those two points came in handy.
"He's a tough guy, hard-nosed guy,"
Westerman said of Brown. "But we enjoyed the challenge that we had a big-time back coming in here and it was our job to try to stop him."
The safety gave Rutgers a 12-3 lead with 1:38 left in the third. Connecticut seemed dead in the water until quarterback Zach Frazer hit a wide-open Kashif Moore for a 47-yard touchdown with 8:33 left in the fourth.
Rutgers got one first down and punted, and the suddenly effective Frazer went back to work. Passes of 24 and 17 yards to tight end Martin Bedard advanced Connecticut to Rutgers' 20, but an offensive pass interference penalty stopped the Huskies in their tracks with a minute and change on the clock.
That left it up to the right foot of Ciaravino, who missed from 43 and 25 yards out in the first half. The 25-yarder collided with the left upright.
Now it was the other upright's turn.
"It had good flight on it, so for a second I thought he was going to make it,"
Rutgers punter Ted Dellaganna said. "We jumped up and tried to block it. He tried to kick around it a little bit, so I knew it was going to be close. When it hit the upright that spoke for itself."
It hit high on the right upright and bounced out with 1:14 left. Replays later showed that Rutgers senior Tiquan Underwood had gotten a fingertip on the ball, altering its flight ever so slightly.
"It definitely felt like something finally turned our way,"
Dellaganna said. "We had a lot of opportunities missed, but that really helped us out right there."
Dellaganna also helped Rutgers with his superb kicking. His second-half kickoff, which hit the ground at the Huskies' 10 and rolled to the 1 before Robbie Frey inexplicably picked it up and got swamped by tacklers, shifted the momentum of the game squarely into the Scarlet Knights' corner.
After a three-and-out, Rutgers took over at Connecticut's 37 and needed just five plays to find the end zone. A 16-yard pass from Mike Teel to Tim Brown on third-and-9 set up Kordell Young's six-yard scoring scamper that put Rutgers ahead 10-3 with 10:24 left in the third.
With the defense shackling Brown and Dellaganna placing his punts perfectly, the Huskies were spinning their wheels. They started five second-half drives inside their 15, including three inside the 5.
"It's tough when you beat yourselves, and that's exactly what we did today,"
Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said.
The Huskies tried to run their way out of the hole, but Rutgers stuffed Brown at the goal line three times in the second half. The officials gave him forward progress to the 1 twice. The third time was the charm as Bines got penetration on a first-and-10 from the 2 and dragged him down 1 yard behind the goal line.
"I was firing to go to the ball and the guard pulled and I saw the tackle coming, trying to cut me, and I was thinking, 'Just get over the tackle,' "
Bines said. "I got over the tackle and started chasing the guard, and he led me right to the running back."
The first half featured a series of long, fruitless drives. Rutgers passed the ball well, with Teel completing 11 of 15 attempts for 130 yards. Connecticut ran the ball well, with Brown compiling 100 yards on 14 carries. Yet the score at the break was tied at 3, with two shanked field goals by Ciaravino and one by Rutgers' San San Te.
There were few offensive highlights for Rutgers in either half. It fell to the defense, the special teams and goalposts to pick up the slack.
"The margin of victory was a bunch of little things, but it always is,"
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "I'm a big believer in you make your own luck. When you're prepared and you do things the right way, eventually you get the breaks."
