Game One: Fresno St. @ Rutgers

Tyler
Scarlet Surge
Date Posted: 9/3/08

Game one of the 2008 campaign for the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers wasn’t exactly what they had hoped for. A bitter 24-7 loss left 42,500 stunned in Piscataway on Labor day. Although it sounds like a blow out, the game was actually very close for most of the contest. A 0-0 score at half time was a disappointment for the Knights. They dominated the first half in all facets of the game, but were unable to put points on the scoreboard. The common theme for the first half, and entire game for that matter: missed opportunities. RU had a 204-106 yardage edge after the first two quarters, but were unable to translate any of that offense into points.

The kicking game seems to be a real weak spot on the 2008 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. They attempted two field goals in the first half; both were unsuccessful. San San Te, replacing the always reliable Jeremy Ito looked a little rough in his Scarlet and white debut. He missed two field goals; one that was no more than an extra point. But to be fair, the snap was botched, throwing him off his rhythm, but he still had an opportunity to knock it thru and failed.

Lately, I have noticed many Rutgers fans calling out offensive coordinator John McNulty’s play calling. He is not the reason for our offensive struggles! You can chalk this game up because of player’s mistakes. McNulty did a fine job calling the game and put the players in a chance to succeed, and they did not come through. To blame McNulty for over-thrown passes by Teel, or dropped passes from Britt, and Underwood is ludicrous.

Mike Teel contributed to these mistakes and miss opportunities. The Knights tried a trick-play early on, the flea flicker, but turned the ball over when Teel decided to throw into triple coverage. He needs to realize when to just throw the ball away. In my opinion, Teel is a very good quarterback, and I think he’ll rebound just fine from this, but at times he makes you scratch your head in his decisions.

Overall, I think the team played OK. They clearly didn’t play well, but I don’t think they played as badly as a 24-7 game sounds. Some things need to be tightened up before the next game versus University of North Carolina on Thursday, September 11th. I’ll have more that game early next week. But look back sometime later this week, I should put something else up before the UNC preview. Thanks for reading.