Memories of Eastern Michigan flashed back into the minds of Rutgers fans and players on Saturday, as the Scarlet Knights looked like a Division III football program taking on a ranked football powerhouse. Problem is, that “powerhouse” was the Kansas University Jayhawks.
Let’s not take anything away from the Jayhawks, they are a program on the rise in the Big 12 conference, losing their first game of the season by three points in a 26-23 overtime thriller against Nicholls State, only to then dominate Central Michigan 31-7 on the road, breaking one of the longest FBS road losing streaks in the NCAA (49 games)., On offense, the Jayhawks feature one of the top offensive players in their conference with running back Pooka Williams, who rushed for 158 yards and scored two touchdowns against the Chippewas, while Kansas’ defense forced four interceptions and recovered two fumbles against Central Michigan.
Against Rutgers, it was relatively the same story, but with a much larger margin, as the Jayhawks absolutely spanked the Scarlet Knights, winning 55-14.
Rutgers was awful in just about every facet of the game, save for special teams. The front seven was being dominated at the line of scrimmage ever time, the secondary was so lost they couldn’t find the ball if they had a GPS and a map, not to mention how absolutely horrid the offense looked. All that and more, as we break down Rutgers’ performance on Saturday’s 55-14 routing of the Scarlet Knights by Kansas City Jayhawks.
Bad offense and no excuses for Sitkowski
It is extremely rare for true freshman quarterbacks to come out the gate running during their first year in college football. Guys like Terrelle Pryor, Peyton Manning, and Jamelle Holieway are a rarity to find in a fresh recruiting class, and Ohio State, Tennessee and Oklahoma, respectively, should count themselves lucky for having found these guys.
Rutgers was hoping that true freshman quarterback Artur Sitkowski could have been one of those guys. Three games into the 2018 season, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Sitkowski has thrown seven interceptions in just three games for the Scarlet Knights, with three of them being returned for a touchdown (one with Texas State, two with Kansas). Sitkowski’s issues with staring down his receivers, holding onto the ball too long, and not making good pre-snap reads are costing Rutgers more and more of their chances for a bowl game this year.
The rest of the offense wasn’t any better, as the thunder-and-lightning combination of Johnathan Hilliman and Raheem Blackshear fumbled and the ball twice. The only bright spot in the game was that Blackshear eclipsed the century mark in rushing yards against the Jayhawks. Woohoo.
Defense adds no pressure, passing lanes wide open
Let’s put into perspective just how bad Rutgers’ defense was; the front seven allowed exactly 400 total rushing yards (averaging 8.3 yards per carry for the whole team) and four rushing touchdowns, with 39 percent of that mileage coming from Kansas’ own true freshman, running back Pooka Williams.
The defense as a whole gave up 544 yards of total offense, but the ground game is what defined the course of this game. There was no pressure from Rutgers’ defensive line, bad tackling from everyone involved, and a lot of defensive miscommunications that led to big plays for the Jayhawks.
I’ll let this tweet (and attached article) from the Star-Ledger’s sports columnist Steve Politi take it from here.
Special Teams the only bright spot
Since 2009, Rutgers has had at least one game with a blocked field goal/punt. Not many other teams can say that, considering how incredibly hard that is to do. In this game, the Scarlet Knights not only continued that streak, they blocked two field goal attempts, with one of them being taken back for Rutgers’ first of only two touchdowns on the day;
If football was played solely on special teams, Rutgers would be a national champion by now.
The Diverse Review 