Rutgers vs. South Florida Football
Big East Showdown: Rutgers Beats 2nd-Ranked Team in Country
Ray Rice and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeat South Florida Bulls in conference rivalry game. Bulls dream season turns to nightmare.
Apparently, Rutgers isn’t quite ready to relinquish its Cinderella crown just yet. Trailing 30-27, Matt Grothe and South Florida couldn’t take advantage of two possessions starting inside Rutgers territory in the final 4:09 of the game and the Scarlet Knights walked away with a huge measure of respect and an even bigger win over the 2nd-ranked team in the country.
Trailing 17-13 at the half, Rutgers pulled ahead by 10 with just over 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Andrew DePaola tossed a 15-yard touchdown to tight end Kevin Brock off a perfectly executed fake field goal, making the score 27-17.
The score was setup by a 55-yard drive, following a blocked South Florida field goal that would have tied the score at 20.
Rutgers had taken a 20-17 lead earlier in the 3rd on a 69 yard scoring strike from Mike Teel to Tiquan Underwood on their first possession of the second half. Teel finished the game 11 of 29 for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns.
In the first half the Big East showdown looked as if things might go South Florida’s way. The teams traded field goals in the first quarter before the Bulls drove 57 yards in under a minute, culminating with Grothe’s 18 yard scamper to take a 10-3 lead. After Rutgers tied it early in the 2nd on a 3-yard toss from Teel to Underwood, things started to unravel for the Knights.
Tim Brown fumbled a punt return midway through the 2nd quarter, leading to Grothe’s 28-yard strike to Jessie Hester to give the Bulls a 17-10 lead. South Florida’s special teams then stepped up to block a 48-yard field goal attempt by Jeremy Ito with 4:21 to play in the half, preserving the seven point lead.
But when Delbert Alvarado missed a 45-yard field goal of his own, which could have provided a two- score cushion going into the half, Teel was able to march his team 50 yards in 46 seconds, setting up an Ito 40-yarder to close the gap to 4.
Matt Grothe played well for the Bulls, completing 50% of his passes for 247 yards and one touchdown. He also ran the ball for 58 yards on 18 attempts and a score.
The loss by the second ranked team in the nation will surely shake up the national polls for yet another week in what has been a topsy-turvy season thus far. For the Bulls, the nightmare loss ends what had been a metioric rise in the polls.
Heisman Talk for Rice
Ray Rice was, well, Ray Rice. The junior tailback put in another workman-like performance, carrying 39 times for 181 yards. Rice came into the season as a Heisman hopeful but was quite for a three week stretch before breaking out again last week against Syracuse. With Thursday’s performance he’s sure to remain in the top five in the league in rushing yards per game and is tied for the lead in TDs with 13. He also showed why he’s one of the best players in the country with his ability to put his team on his back at times and take control of the game. It will be interesting to see now if his Heisman stock rises again.
Big East Title Hopes
The 2006-07 season was about as good a season as anyone could have possibly expected out of a Rutgers football team that had languished for years in the cellar of the Big East Conference. But with success comes expectations, and with a 4-2 record coming into Thursday night’s contest Rutgers wasn’t living up those many people had entering this season. This win, no doubt, will provide the Scarlet Knights with a huge confidence boost and some momentum heading into their showdown next week at home with West Virginia. They may not challenge for a national title but the Big East title is still within reach.
