Week 11 Review
#4 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-0) at #13 Virginia Tech Hokies (6-2)
last meeting: last year we triumphed 27-24 at home
series: 2-8 in Virginia Tech's favor
coaches poll: Rutgers #4, Va Tech #13
the betting man says: Rutgers by 2
attendance: 55,800 (of 55,800)
weather: 71 degrees, fair
TV coverage: TV3
We kicked off for a change, and Va Tech took the touchback. Right away Virginia Tech asserted their offense, and converted 3 3rd-and-long situations to keep drives going. We would eventually hold and force them into kicking a field goal. They took an early 3-0 lead.
The entire half was one of offense futility for us. Our passes kept getting batted away, our runs stuffed, and we racked up the penalties. Our only solace was our excellent run defence, and occasionaly ability to come up big in passing downs. Still, Virginia tech would slowly grind out a victory in the field posession battle, and scored one touchdown. the game went to the half at 10-0. We were certainly still in the game, but the offense showed almost no signs of life. We'd need to do
something in the second half if we planned on winning the game.
We went a miserable 3 and out on our first posession of the half, courtesy of a holding call on the kick return and a false start penalty during the drive itself.
Virginia Tech immediately began sailing downfield again. Everytime we had them in a desperate situation, they'd get out of it. 3rd and 12? No problem, they'd complete a pass for 13. After converting a ridiculous 4th and 20 from our 39, I was getting ready to load the revolver and end my misery...but as Virginia Tech was plowing towards the endzone, something magical happened. DT Oscar Padilla (hurt shoulder and all), burst into the backfied, ripped the ball out of the hands of Virginia Tech's running back, and lumbered 89 yards for a touchdown! He broke 3 tackles along the way, and dragged a wide receiver for the final 20. At 10-7 we were definitely back in the game!
As if laughing at our attempt to get back into the game, Virginia Tech's offense turned on the turbo boosters. Consecutive passes of 22, 10, 23, and 22 yards put them at our 10 yardline before I could blink my eyes. 3 runs later and it was again a 2 score game, 17-7.
On our next posession, I was getting pretty down about our chances, but QB Seth Duffy converted a miracle 3rd and 19 to keep the drive alive, finding WR Kirk Cassidy for a 38 yard gain. Another big 3rd down conversion kept the chains moving, and a huge 26 yard touchdown pass to WR B.J. Durham pulled us to within 3. There was 14:55 left in the game, and we trailed just 17-14. We have to keep the national title dream alive!
We kicked off to the Virginia Tech 25 yardline, and our defense dug in. we allowed one first down before pushing Va Tech back 2 yards on the next series. They punted back to us, and we took over pinned back at our 13 yard line.
We started the drive with 10:50 remaining. I realized that we probably needed to at least pull even on this drive to really think about winning the game, pretty soon time would be a bigger opponent.
QB Seth Duffy started things off brilliantly, hitting WR Wesley Kay for a 15 yard gain, moving us into a more comfortable part of the field. He went right back to Kay 2 more times, for gains of 3 and 14 yards. A few plays later he converted a 3rd and 5 with a 13 yard pass to TE Eddie Buckner. He converted our next 3rd-and-9 with a 21 yard pass to WR B.J. Durham. Suddenly it was like our passing game could do no wrong. We were hit for a 3 yard loss on the next run, but on 3rd down Claude Altenburger came up with exactly the 6 yards we needed. On the next play QB Seth Duffy bolted up the middle on a QB draw, dove for the endzone and.... touchdown!!
Holy Shit! We were up 21-17 with 4 minutes remaining!
Kicker Vinny Ballard knocked the kickoff out of the back of the endzone, and our defense could just feel that the game was theirs for the taking. We pushed the Hokies back 1 yard on first down. We pushed the Hokies back
four yards on second down. We held them to a 7 yard pass on 3rd down and forced a punt!
We took over at our own 33 with just over 2 minutes remaining, and worked on running down the clock. We ground out exactly 10 yards on 3 runs, and more importantly forced Va Tech to use all 3 timeouts. The game was in our pocket until back-to-back penalties, holding and unnecssary roughness. We tried our best to run down the clock, but managed just 8 yards and had to punt back to Virginia Tech.
The Hokies took over at their 31 with just 41 seconds remaining. I was still sweating, I knew their passing offense could potentially come up big. We covered well on first down, forced their QB to scramble, and contained him to a 5 yard gain. The clock was down to 18 seconds.. On the next play, we rushed the passer hard, forcing an incomplete pass. There were just 12 seconds remaining. On the next play, Tech's QB found a streaking WR over the middle, he caught it, spun out of a tackle and was heading for the endzone.....
I begin having a heart-attack... but wait! He's tripped up from behind, well short of the endzone. GAME OVER!
The Bells must ring!
Final Score: Rutgers 21, Virginia Tech 17
Player of the Week nominees:
QB Seth Duffy - 14 of 24, 238 yards, 1 TD 0 INT. 1 huge rushing touchdown!
Injury Report
S ben Davidson - repetitive concussion syndrome - OUT - 59 weeks
OLB Shane Carney - high ankle sprain - out - 29 weeks
WR Kelvin Arnold - torn tricepts mucle - OUT - 24 weeks
DT Vinny Hoover - torn knee ligament - OUT - 13 weeks
CB Terry Clay - pulled quad muscle - questionable - 2 weeks
Recruiting
It's just a waiting game now. We've talked to a billion potential walk-ons, but really can't do much of anything until those who still have scholarship offers out there make up their minds.
Local Obligation Scholarships
none this season.
Blue-Chip Recruits
Pending
2. DE Winfred Bernard - #8 DE, #27 player nationally. scouted 92-
6'5" 253 lbs from Medford Lakes, NJ. Winfred appears to be a much better run stopper than pass-rusher, despite his somewhat light frame for the position. An excellent student, Winfred is most interested in Academics (Random Number Theory) and distance. Only Princeton is closer to him, so we should be able to lock up his services.
high school stats (after 9 games): 97 tackles, 16.5 sacks, 1 INT
offer status:has accepted our offer!
Committed to Rutgers
1. QB T.J. Houshmandzadeh - #4 QB, #18 player nationally. scouted 75-
6'3" 202 lbs from Philadelphia, PA. Ricky is a big-time passer from an extremely solid program. His proximity to us is amazing (just 49 miles), meaning only the horrible Princeton Tigers are closer. With his focus on distance and academics, this could be a slam-dunk acquistion of our next great QB.
high school stats (after 9 games): 60% completion, 2,155 yards (9.45 avg) 12 TD 4 INT. 168 rushes, 944 yards, 10 TD.
offer status: committed to Rutgers in week 7
3. RB Juan Weydahl - #11 RB, #112 player nationally. scouted 75+
5'9" 184 lbs from Souderton, PA. A deceptively tough runner for his size, Juan appears to be a guy who can carry the load. Coming from a very good school, I'm confident he could become our starter by his 3rd year. His distance and academic preferences put us at the top of his list.
high school stats (through 9 games): 266 carries for 1,932 yards and 13 TD's. 48 catches for 660 yards and 4 TD's.
offer status: committed to Rutgers in week 5!
G Chris Owens - #2 guard, #34 player nationally. scouted 92+
T Ralph Stoughton - #9 tackle, #92 player nationally. scouted 78+
ILB Cornell Lyncy - #36 ILB, #582 player nationally. scouted 52+
OLB Doug Cerda - # 3 OLB, #46 player nationally. scouted 78+
CB Todd Nykolaisyn - #3 CB, #29 player nationally. scouted 83+
---other scholarship offers---
DT Lee Barnes - #4 DT, #39 player nationally. scouted 94+
Safety D.J. Cushenbery - #12 safety, #273 player nationally. scouted 65+
WR Jimmie Hatcher - #43 WR, #564 player nationally. scouted 58++
OLB Karl Bronson - #82 OLB, unranked nationally. scouted 61+
new offers:
Code:
committments new committments in blue
S D.J. Cushenbery Glen Ridge, NJ
DE Winfred Bernard Medford Lakes, NJ
CB Todd Nykolaiszyn Washington, PA
OLB Doug Cerda Guys Mills, PA
G Cris Owens Retsof, NY
QB Ricky Houshmandzadeh Philadelphia, PA
OT Ralph Stoughton Johnstown, PA
RB Juan Weydahl Souderton, PA
ILB Cornell Lynch Hopkinton, MA
rejections new rejections in red
C Fred Bader Northern Illinois
DE Donnie Carlisle Texas-El Paso
G Bernard Manning Connecticut
ILB Brady Donovan Georgia
K Marc Langford Army
WR Jason Reilly Cincinnati
S Tom Bush Navy
ILB Matthew Mayes Pittsburgh
DE Kurt Shepard Pittsburgh
OT Bobby Porcaro Clemson
WR Daniel Burke Arizona State
OT Dana Gaines Ohio State
DT Kirk Joyner Syracuse
DT Harvey Cathey Penn State
Conference Snapshot
Week 11 Results
---------------
#4 RUTGERS 21 at #13 Virginia Tech 17 [TV3]
#3 SYRACUSE 34 at Miami 23 [TV5]
Boston College 0 at WEST VIRGINIA 17
Code:
Big East Standings
Overall Conference
School W L PF PA W L PF PA Streak
Syracuse 9 0 381 76 5 0 181 50 Won 10
Rutgers 9 0 332 147 5 0 186 94 Won 13
West Virginia 5 3 203 163 3 2 89 96 Won 2
Virginia Tech 6 3 243 131 3 3 137 104 Lost 2
Pittsburgh 4 5 225 197 2 3 110 136 Lost 2
Boston College 5 4 244 204 2 4 140 173 Lost 1
Miami Florida 4 5 260 259 1 4 112 131 Lost 2
Princeton 1 8 100 341 0 5 34 205 Lost 5