PISCATAWAY, N.J. ' Despite a 109-yard receiving performance from junior wideout Kenny Britt (Bayonne, N.J.), the Scarlet Knights (0-2) dropped a 44-12 decision to North Carolina (2-0) Thursday evening before a sellout crowd of 42,502 at Rutgers Stadium. Junior linebacker Ryan D'Imperio (Sewell, N.J.) posted a career-high 13 tackles and senior Kevin Malast (Manchester, N.J.) added 11 stops, but it was not enough to stop an opportune Tar Heel offense.
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Kenny Britt tied the school record for 100-yard games with his seventh career 100-yard receiving contest. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto)
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"We gave up big plays again on defense," said Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano. "I felt like we were a yard short a bunch of times, which certainly is frustrating. Every game takes on a life of its own. We just don't understand how to seize the moment right now."
The Scarlet Knights generated more total yards than their visitors, but were tormented by turnovers. Rutgers committed four turnovers, while the Tar Heels had none. The turnovers led to 13 points for the visitors. UNC also converted eight-of-16 third down attempts, while the home squad was unable to convert on third down.
Things looked good early for the Scarlet faithful. RU won the opening coin toss and deferred. An energized defense took the field and made an immediate statement. Rutgers loaded up the box and throttled the Tar Heels, forcing a three-and-out and setting the table for the home squad's opening possession. On that drive, Rutgers travelled 56 yards on eight plays before North Carolina native San San Te (Conover, N.C.) split the uprights from 34 yards to provide a 3-0 advantage with 13:55 remaining in the opening stanza.
North Carolina first got on the scoreboard courtesy of good field position. After an interception, the visitors owned a first down at the home 32-yard line. UNC would travel just six yards on the next three plays, before Jay Wooten kicked a 43-yard field goal to knot the score 3-3. The tie would be broken on the Tar Heels next possession, however. A nine-yard scoring toss from Yates to Hakeem Nicks with 9:28 remaining before the midpoint resulted in a 10-3 deficit for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers answered with a score of its own on its next drive. Senior signal-caller Mike Teel (Oakland, N.J.) led the team 67 yards on 12 plays. Te capped the effort with a 32-yard field goal with 5:10 to go in the second quarter. RU was well within striking distance, trailing 10-6.
The distance quickly lengthened. A play action pass proved successful for UNC, with Yates finding Brandon Tate racing down the right side for a 69-yard touchdown connection. After the conversion, the Tar Heels led 17-6 and had scored on three consecutive possessions.
Rutgers generated 206 total yards in the opening half, while UNC totaled 179. The Tar Heels, however, were on the positive side of two turnovers and were four-of-nine on third downs.
North Carolina scored three times in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. A 12-yard Tate touchdown run enabled a 24-6 score before a 66-yard interception return into the end zone by Bruce Carter led to a 31-6 shortfall. The deficit grew to 38-6 after an 11-yard scoring aerial from Yates to Nicks produced a 38-6 score with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter.
The Scarlet Knights scored their only touchdown in the early stages of the fourth quarter. Teel engineered the 10-play, 80-yard drive to pay dirt by completing eight passes, including a 10-yard touchdown strike to Kevin Brock (Hackensack, N.J.). The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and RU trailed 38-12.
UNC added two field goals to close out the scoring at 44-12.
The Scarlet Knights return to the gridiron next Saturday at Navy in a 3:30 p.m. contest. The game will be televised live on CBS College Sports. The Midshipmen are 1-1 after defeating Towson 41-13 in their season opener, before dropping a 35-23 decision at Ball State this past Friday. Navy plays at Duke this Saturday (9/13) at 12 noon in a game to be televised on ESPNU.
POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
Rutgers is now 3-1 all-time against North Carolina.
The attendance of 42,502 marked the 12th straight sellout at Rutgers Stadium.
Rutgers held North Carolina to 28 rushing yards on 16 carries (1.8 avg.) in the first half.'
Player Notes
With his third reception of the first half, junior WR Kenny Britt went over the century mark in career receptions. He had eight receptions to give him 105 career grabs. Britt tied the school record for 100-yard games with his seventh career 100-yard receiving contest. He finished the game with eight catches for 109 yards. Britt is now tied with Tres Moses (2001-05) and Marco Battaglia (1992-95) with the most 100-yard receiving games in Rutgers history. Britt also passed Brian Leonard (2003-06) for seventh place on the Rutgers all-time receiving yards list. His 109-yard total in the game brought his career total to 1,870 yards.
Senior DE Jamaal Westerman posted his 21st career sack in the first quarter of tonight's game. He passed Shawn Williams (1989-92) and moved into fourth place on the Rutgers all-time sacks list.'
Senior FS Courtney Greene finished with seven tackles, moving him past Tim Blanchard (1975-78) and into seventh place on the Rutgers all-time tackles list with 314 stops. Greene also moved past Blanchard and into sole possession of seventh place on the school's career assisted tackles chart with 138 for his career.
Three Scarlet Knights recorded career firsts on Rutgers' opening drive. Second-year sophomore RB Mason Robinson made his first career reception (eight yards). Redshirt freshman RB Jourdan Brooks had his first career carry (nine yards). Redshirt freshman PK San San Te made his first career field goal (34-yard field goal).
Junior WR Tim Brown started at wide receiver. It is his first start since Nov. 9 of last season at Army. Brown now has seven career starts.
Tonight's game marked the first collegiate appearance for true freshman Marvin Booker. The Piscataway native entered the game in the second quarter on kickoff coverage. True freshman DT Eric LeGrand and true freshman WR Marcus Cooper both saw their first career action in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt junior QB Jabu Lovelace made his first appearance of the season. He played in the second quarter and the fourth quarter. He carried the ball for 12 yards out of the shotgun on his first play.'
Junior LB Ryan D'Imperio posted a career-best 13 tackles. It marks the second-straight game D'Imperio has established a new career-high tackle total.
Senior TE Kevin Brock hauled in a 10-yard touchdown catch from Mike Teel in the fourth quarter marking his third career touchdown.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH GREG SCHIANO
Thoughts on the game:
'Tough night for us, but we will be back. I felt like we were a yard short a bunch of times which certainly is frustrating. Every game takes on a life of its own. We just don't understand how to seize the moment right now, so we need to get better at that. '
On defense giving up the big play
'We gave up big plays again on defense, so that certainly is a repeated error. The fact that they got the big plays, I thought we would remedy that. But what do you do when you need something changed, you make a change. So we have to look at what we're doing and change something. Just because it worked in the past doesn't mean it will work now.'
On Rutgers' three running backs:
'Kordell hurt his knee, not the surgically repaired knee, but he thought he was going to be ok. Early in the week he worked out a little bit but not too much, so we thought it was going to get better. Instead it turned the other direction. Because of that he did not get much practice at all. It started feeling better a little bit yesterday and better again today, still not to where he's ready to go. So we kept thinking he was going to get better and he was going to be able to practice, but that didn't happen, so we have to keep our eye on that. Now Mason and Jourdan both got a chance to carry the ball, and I thought at times they did good things, but I felt that can be a little bit misleading, when some of those runs happened. We really have to look at everything.'
On UNC wide receiver Brandon Tate (four receptions, 138 yards, one touchdown):
'He did the same stuff he did on tape. Double moves, two double moves, he ran double moves all last year. It was all stuff that they had done.'
On the team's morale:
'I'm sure it's not very high after the last couple games. This is certainly unchartered waters for most of the guys in the locker room. Not for me, and for some of my staff, but it is for a lot of those players in that locker room. Because all they've known here is success, and winning more than losing. Now I would caution to wait and see how this year turns out before you think this team is a flop, because I don't think it will be. I really believe that this team has some good stuff about it, we just need to grow and we need to grow quickly because the games are coming. Right now everyone's mental state is something that I need to be concerned with. This is our team and we haven't played very well.'
On Rutgers' turnovers:
'I think any time you drop back to pass is crucial, because there are people in coverage. Two of [Teel's] interceptions tonight were off check downs, and we just got sloppy and weren't accurate with the check downs, and that's not normally where we throw interceptions. But the turnover margin period, we're 0-6 right now. You're not going to win many games, especially back-to-back games, if you are 0-6. We haven't gotten any and we've given it up six times.'
On if changes need to be made:
'I think everything has to be assessed. You go out one game, you call it a fluke or missed opportunities or whatever you want. You go out two games, and it's two games in a row, you've created a pattern of behavior. So we need to evaluate that and see.'
On what he needs to do to boost team's morale:
'Certainly that's going to be my main focus from here until we play again at Navy. Right now we have to make sure we're getting better. It's a little different because now we're going to play a team that is not similar to anyone we've faced on defense. Maybe that will shake us up.'
Believes in his team:
'You don't want to be na've in any way, but I do believe that you can't count this team out. I do believe that this group will turn this around. But I can't be quite as certain after it happened two times in a row. There are things that I need to figure out as a head coach, and things we need to figure out as a staff, and we need to impart that onto the players. Maybe there are different people that need to be doing some things.'
On Rutgers' secondary:
'I thought that they needed to play well because they have experience and they've played well in the past. At certain times they have played well in the first two games, really well. As a secondary player, and I coached that position for 15 years, you get judged on your opportunities. You do everything right 60 plays a game, but then there are those three plays that decide the outcome.'
What he sees in his team:
'It feels like we're just a little bit off. Now why we're a little bit off, that's what we need to figure out. So we're a little off, we need to make this block, we need to make this throw, we need to make this catch, but I think after week one I thought we would just go and do it after we worked on it, but now I need to look at it to see if it's more than that.'
On kicker San San Te making two field goals (34 yards, 32 yards):
'I would say that was one of the few highlights of the day that he went out there and kicked well. I have confidence in San San as a kicker and he went out a did a great job.'
What surprises him about this season:
'It surprises me that we're 0-2. Every bit of my being thought we'd be 2-0. But they all count the same. We have a lot of season ahead of us, and we need to go one day at a time. That's what we need to do. Not one week at a time, one day at a time. We need to get in some good practices, play a good game, and then build on that.'
On playing a Thursday game after a Monday game:
'You can't use that as an excuse. Everyone in the country as certain scheduling things. You get ready to play, it's not that difficult. You just count back. It's not an excuse.'
On senior defensive end Gary Watts status:
'It doesn't look good for Gary. We got the results at the end of the week and it looks like Gary is going to need surgery, so he will be done for the year.'
On the response from the fans:
'It was a night game, and if you fall behind like we did, fans want to get home and get to bed. We didn't play very well. We didn't give our loyal fans something to stick around for, and I think I speak for all our team when I say that we apologize for that. We have great fans that support us and we need to do our part. We will go back to work. Don't count us out, is all I can say.'
RUTGERS STUDENT-ATHLETES
TIQUAN UNDERWOOD, Sr., WR #7
'On offense, we just need to finish our drives.' We can start out good, but then we don't execute at times and we get frustrated. We've been practicing very hard and working on improving, but we know there's more work to do. This team will move on. Coach Schiano always tells us that no matter if it's good or bad, you have to continue to push forward.'
'We just need to get physically and mentally ready for our next game. We have faith in each other and feel we can get through this.'
KENNY BRITT, Jr., WR #88
'It's hard to pinpoint one particular thing we're not doing right, but we'll look at the tapes this week and get to the bottom of it. I do know we need to be more effective in the red zone. It's frustrating when our offense can't execute, because we know we can get the job done.'
'Our situation can turn around, but it's all about how we handle things. And I believe we can rely on each other to make it through this.'
MIKE TEEL, 5th Sr., QB #14
'Tonight was extremely tough for us, since we had good practices this week. It's uncharacteristic of us to play like this. We have no excuses. Everyone on this team knows we are better than our record. We will get through this, but there's work to do, and it's time for us to take the steps to improve on our mistakes.'
JASON McCOURTY, Sr., CB, #25
'This is all very frustrating to us. But we need to continue to practice, and work on making plays and getting turnovers.'
'It's up to us to work this out, and we will work together as a family to move on and play better.'
'Bring 0-2 does hurt, but we will have a fresh mind this week so we can start new for our next game. The Navy game gives us another opportunity to make amends and get stronger. We are what we are at 0-2, but we believe we are a much better team.'
