Rutgers (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) at Minnesota (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten)
When: Saturday, October 22, 11:00 a.m. CT – Minneapolis, Minn.
Stadium: TCF Bank Stadium
Coach: Chris Ash (first season)
Spread: Minnesota (-21)
Inside the Game
Knights at a Glance
Rutgers is awful. Very little has gone right in their first season under Chris Ash. They’ve been outscored
174 – 14 in their four conference games to date (three of which were at home). Their lone Big Ten road
game to date? A 58-0 rout at the hands of Ohio State (where Ash was the DC last year).
The offense has been so bad of late that a QB switch is on tap for this week’s game. Junior Giovanni
Rescigno will take over for senior Chris Laviano. Rescigno could give the offense, which averages fewer
than 300 yards per game, a spark; he’s certainly more a threat with his fee than Laviano.
In early-season games against lesser foes, the Knights got big contributions from WR Janarion Grant; he
had three TDs in a 52-14 win over Howard, including a kick return; he also scored on a punt return and
threw for a major in a 37-28 win over New Mexico. But Grant is done for the year, and the offense looks
impotent without him.
The defense isn’t any better: 37.7 points against per game (119th in the country). They’re particularly
bad against the run (263.7 yards against per game and 5.9 yards per carry).
Coach Speak
“I still think we can improve on what we did but we did finish some blocks and it gave the backs a few more seams … but we still got to make improvements up there. It’s getting tougher with the injury part of it. … The guys who stepped in there played good enough for us to win.” – Tracy Claeys on the performance of his offensive line against Maryland. (The Gophers rushed for 229 yards in a dominant 31-10 road win over the Terps, despite losing pieces on the o-line. That bodes well with Rutgers awful front-seven coming to town.)
Storyline Central
Jesse Temple of ESPN notes that Rutgers is going to be hard-pressed to win a conference game this year. They’re 21-point underdogs this week and have a win-probability of less than 10-percent heading into the game.
Don’t expect much of an improvement for Rutgers with Rescigno under center. Keith Sargeant of NJ.com wrote that Rescigno wasn’t even the foregone choice to replace Laviano as the starter.
Who Wins?
The Gophers Win If …
The defense doesn’t completely implode. The lines from these online sportsbooks are definitely in their favor and just last week they held a much better Maryland team to just 291 total yards, including 130 on the ground at 3.6 yards per carry. Rutgers has basically no passing attack to speak of. As long as the defense plays like it did last week – or even half as well – Minnesota should pick up an easy Was Rutgers won’t be able to move the ball.
The Knights Win If …
Pigs soar across the sky in a blaze of glory? I suppose if Rescigno shows marked improvement and scrambles for multiple first-downs, while the Rutgers defense forces a few turnovers, they could stay in the game. And anything can happen late in games when the score is close. But realistically, the Knights can only win if the Gophers beat themselves.