Rutgers Falls to Cincinnati in Season Opener
Sep 07 | Football
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers dropped a 47-15 decision to BIG EAST foe Cincinnati Monday afternoon at Rutgers Stadium before 53,737 fans, the largest crowd in school history. True freshman wide receiver Mohammed Sanu (South Brunswick, N.J.) had a strong debut, catching 10 passes for 101 yards while competing in a starting role.
| A record crowd of 53,737 filled Rutgers Stadium on Labor Day. |
The Bearcats posted the contest's first points on the game's initial drive. Tony Pike moved the visitors 81 yards on nine plays, completing all six of his passes. Isaiah Pead broke the plane from two yards out to provide UC a 7-0 advantage with 12:31 remaining in the opening stanza.
The Scarlet Knights answered the early deficit in methodical fashion. With both Natale and Jabu Lovelace (Tenafly, N.J.) taking snaps under center, RU moved 70 yards in 20 plays that consumed 10:40 off the clock. The home squad converted two, fourth-and-one attempts in Cincinnati territory to sustain the effort. Sophomore running back Joe Martinek (Hopatcong, N.J.) entered the end zone from four yards out on his tenth rush of the drive to produce a 7-7 tie with 1:47 showing on the first quarter clock.
Martinek was the Scarlet Knights' top ground gainer on the afternoon, generating 54 yards on 15 carries.
UC regained the lead on its ensuing possession, as the game assumed a back-and-forth tempo early. The Bearcats flirted with the red zone, but a first-and-10 from the 20-yard line was squelched by senior defensive end George Johnson (Glassboro, N.J.), who sacked Pike for a nine-yard loss. Three plays later, Jacob Rogers split the uprights from 30 yards to provide Cincinnati a 10-7 edge with 13:48 to go before the break.
After the teams traded interceptions, UC extended its lead to double figures, courtesy of a six play, 63-yard drive. Travis Kelce, a former signal-caller currently listed as a tight end, was inserted at quarterback for the final two plays of the series. He carried up the gut for 16 yards, including a four yard jaunt to pay dirt, to register a 17-7 score with 6:35 remaining in the half.
The Bearcats then added a pair of touchdowns before the midpoint. Pike connected with Mardy Gilyard on a five-yard toss to cap a seven play, 71-yard drive to generate a 24-7 advantage. The visitors then assumed possession via an interception off a deflection. Three plays after the aerial theft, Pead and Pike joined for a 41-yard passing score to send Rutgers into the locker room facing a 31-7 deficit.
Cincinnati scored twice in the third quarter to further extend its lead. Kelce carried-in from two yards out, before Pike connected with Jacob Ramsey on a one-yard aerial to send the Bearcats into the final quarter with a 45-7 advantage.
Savage spent the entire second half under center and ended the home squad's scoring drought early in the fourth stanza. The rookie led Rutgers on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a seven-yard scoring toss to junior tight end Shamar Graves (Woodbridge, N.J.). Savage completed nine passes for 84 yards on the series, before connecting with Sanu for the two-point conversion, to register a 45-15 score with 11:25 remaining.
Cincinnati tacked-on a safety, via an intentional grounding call in the home end zone, to produce the 47-15 final score.
Defensively, the Scarlet Knights were paced by junior strong safety Joe Lefeged (Germantown, Md.), who tied his career-best with nine total stops, including a tackle-for-loss.
POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
The attendance of 53,737 marked the largest crowd in Rutgers Stadium history. The previous record crowd was 44,267 set on Oct. 18, 2007, when Rutgers defeated No. 2 USF, 30-27. RU debuted its newly-expanded stadium today against Cincinnati.
Rutgers' season-opening, 20-play scoring drive consumed 10:40 off the clock and went 78 yards, culminating in a Joe Martinek (Hopatcong, N.J.) four-yard rush. The drive was the longest in terms of time since RU consumed 10:51 of the clock during a 16-play, 86-yard touchdown drive against Louisville on Dec. 4 of last season. The 20 plays was the longest touchdown drive in terms of plays in the Greg Schiano era.
Rutgers is now 95-36-10 in home openers. The Scarlet Knights are 5-4 in home openers in the Greg Schiano era.
The loss to Cincinnati snaps the Scarlet Knights' seven-game winning streak. RU entered the game tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Player Notes
True freshman WR Mohamed Sanu (South Brunswick, N.J.) became the first true freshman to start at wide receiver in a season opener in the Greg Schiano era. He finished the game with 101 yards on 10 receptions. He is the first true freshman wideout to record 100 receiving yards in his first career start since Tim Brown posted 101 yards on four receptions in the Texas Bowl against Kansas State on Dec. 28, 2006. His 10 receptions were the most by a true freshman in the Greg Schiano era and his 101 receiving yards tied Brown for most by a rookie wideout under Schiano. Sanu also tallied his first career points with a reception on a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.
True freshman QB Tom Savage (Springfield, Pa.) opened the second half under center for the Scarlet Knights. He completed his first three passes for 35 yards. Savage also tossed his first career touchdown pass, completing a seven-yard throw to junior TE Shamar Graves (Woodbridge, N.J.) in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 15 completions on 23 attempts for 135 yards. Savage is the third true freshman to play quarterback in the Greg Schiano era, joining Ryan Cubit (2001) and Ryan Hart (2002).
Junior DE Alex Silvestro (Gibbstown, N.J.) recorded his first career interception. He picked off a Tony Pike pass in the second quarter.
Sophomore RB Joe Martinek (Hopatcong, N.J.) scored Rutgers' first touchdown of the season on a four-yard run in the first quarter. It was Martinek's fifth career rushing touchdown.
Junior DB Joe Lefeged (Germantown, Md.) returned his first career kickoff. Lefeged returned a second-quarter kickoff 30 yards. Lefeged also tied his career-high with a team-best nine total tackles. He also had nine stops at Navy on Sept. 20, 2008 and at Louisville Nov. 29, 2007.
Senior DE George Johnson (Glassboro, N.J.) posted Rutgers' first sack of the season on the last play of the first quarter. He brought QB Tony Pike down for a nine-yard loss on first down.
Senior QB Domenic Natale (Sea Girt, N.J.) found senior WR Tim Brown (Miami, Fla.) for a career-long 20-yard pass in the second quarter. His previous career long was 19 yards, which occurred in his Scarlet Knight debut Oct. 18 of last season against Connecticut. Natale also finished with career-highs in completions (8), attempts (12) and passing yards (108).
Senior CB Devin McCourty (Nanuet, N.Y.) returned his first career kicks in the season opener. He returned two kicks for 37 yards with a long return of 20 yards.
Five Scarlet Knights recorded their first career starts in the season opener.
Offense
Senior QB Domenic Natale (Sea Girt, N.J.)
Freshman WR Mohamed Sanu (South Brunswick, N.J.)
Defense
Sophomore CB Brandon Bing (Wyncote, Pa.)
Junior LB Antonio Lowery (Miami, Fla.)
Freshman DT Scott Vallone (Central Islip, N.J.)
10 Scarlet Knights made their collegiate debut in the season opener.
Offense
True freshman QB Tom Savage (Springfield, Pa.)
True freshman WR Mohamed Sanu (South Brunswick, N.J.)
Redshirt freshman WR Keith Stroud (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Redshirt freshman WR Tim Wright (Wall, N.J.)
Defense
Redshirt freshman DB Khaseem Greene (Elizabeth, N.J.)
Redshirt freshman DB Wayne Warren (Salisbury, Md.)
Special Teams
True freshman LB Steve Beauharnais (Saddle Brook, N.J.)
Redshirt freshman DB Brandon Jones (Sicklerville, N.J.)
Sophomore TE Evan Lampert (Montvale, N.J.)
True freshman LB Steve Beauharnais (Saddle Brook, N.J.), redshirt freshman redshirt DB Brandon Jones (Sicklerville, N.J.) and sophomore TE Evan Lampert (Montvale, N.J.) made their collegiate debut on the game's opening kickoff.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano
Opening Statement
"Certainly not what my visions were of what today was going to be like; the beginning was. It was an incredible atmosphere in our stadium. Unfortunately, we didn't play up to our level and Cincinnati played very well. It was a bad combination for an opening game. You sit there as a coach, and after the game in my locker, and start saying to yourself 'OK, where did we not get it done?'There are certainly things that need to be examined, and examined rather quickly, as we play here in four days and 20 hours. We have to get our guys healthy for anybody who is bumped. We have to get our game plan installed and get ready for Howard on Saturday. Certainly a ton to learn. I have pages of notes from the game already. That is where we are. We are a work in progress. I guess, fortunately or unfortunately, we have been here before and we have to fight our way out. This is a great group of fighters, great group of kids and great group of coaches."
On what he said to QB Domenic Natale after the game
"I haven't said anything yet. I am going to find him after we are done here. It's tough. I know what kind of competitor he is so it's tough."
On how disappointed he was in the team's tackling tonight
"Very much so. I thought we were behind physically, mentally, coaching…the whole deal. I didn't think we did a great job. That's an understatement. I don't think they (Cincinnati) punted until the fourth quarter."
On if the pace of Cincinnati's offense threw them off
"We have been practicing against it, but maybe it was a little faster than our scout team can simulate. There were plays that we didn't perform or execute our tasks or job so maybe it was the speed of it that caused us to do that. It's very important that we look at this tape tomorrow and talk with the players and they can share with us what is happening. We try to get that during the game of course but when you look at the tape and see it yourself then you also get the guys to show you what happened. No excuses - we have to work."
On if it took any discussion at halftime to play QB Tom Savage
"No, Tom was going to play early tonight in some situational things. I look back on that and say 'should we have done it or should we not have done it' hindsight is 20/20. Tom was going to play today and he certainly did. He played a lot. We will have to work through this whole situation at quarterback and figure out what gives us the best chance to win."
Cincinnati Head Coach Brian Kelly
Opening Statement: "I think it's pretty obvious we got off to a great start, got into a great rhythm offensively. When you have a veteran quarterback in our system, again, two years is being veteran for Tony (Pike); it's his second year but he's got a better grasp of what we do offensively and essentially we had the pen last when you have a quarterback that understands our system. And I think we made it difficult for Rutgers to stop us today. We wanted to be aggressive offensively and I thought it was important early on to really do some things that a lot of college football teams aren't doing in the opener and that is being really aggressive. Our game plan had been such all throughout the off-season and it was really to push the tempo today. We got some scores, made some big plays which really took the pressure off our defense. We are a work in progress there, we did some good things but we have some work to do there. I thought our special teams were solid. Jake Rogers kicked the ball very well today, both punting and kicking. And really other than the one interception, we played clean. In an opener, you want to play clean. You don't want a lot of penalties, don't want a lot of miscues. And we got out of an opener what every coach wants is a very good road win."
Surprised on time Pike had in pocket: "It took a lot of planning on Tony's part, a lot of film study. We knew we were playing Rutgers last April so he really did his due diligence relative to the schemes. He made one read for the sack which was a mistake on his part which was good because it kind of woke him up a little bit because it got a little easy for him at times. They are a very difficult defense to prepare for if you only have three days. We had an advantage of having three or four months and that really helped us today. They are difficult to figure out sometimes.
Off-season, is this what you had in mind: "You do what you can do based on your personnel. We feel like we have great depth at the wide receiver position with a veteran quarterback. The concern is we needed to be more effective and efficient running the football and Travis Kelce brings that mix to the game where he is a big physical kid and he can also throw it, he was an ex-quarterback so we think we found a piece what will allow us to run the ball more efficiently and again without Isaiah Pead, Jake Ramsey and Darrin Williams, we can throw three or four running backs."
Are you surprised with team's efficiency: "I am very happy with how efficient we were in an opener. I have had 19 openers and I have experienced just want everybody in this room has experienced in opening football games, sloop, sloppy. Jumping off-side; lining up in neutral zone; not enough guys on line of scrimmage (and) all that stuff. We were clean today but I think that has a lot to do with veteran guys."
How does this set you up for BIG EAST and going forward: "The schedule in the BIG EAST obviously is geared towards the four and three break. What year do you get four at home. We can now count this as a great win because we had the four and three on the road. Now it's a 3-3 situation for us going into the BIG EAST and that really helps us a lot. That's how important this game was because now it puts that game back into play for us that if we can hold serve we put ourselves in a better situation."
On Tony Pike: "I don't think this defines who he is as a player and I don't think this game defines our football team either. I think we are a work in progress. We are happy with how we played today and how we executed, that's a sign of good things. Tony has to do it consistently. He has to be able to answer the bell, week after week. Talk to me in about six or seven weeks and if he is still doing this then he will be a guy you need to really pay attention to because I think he can do some very good things."
