Fri 19 Oct 2007
Warning - UPSET Alert: UPSET City continued its trend this season as it was front and center once again in Piscataway, New Jersey, with Rutgers outlasting South Florida 30-27 in a tight battle. WR Tiquan Underwood (5 catches, 114 yards, for 2 TD’s) showed why he may be the Rutgers’ MVP this season and their most overlooked star, as he made big plays when it counted and when the Scarlet Knights needed it the most, coming through in the clutch when the game was on the line in critical situations.
The surprisingly 2nd ranked South Florida team, a squad who came out of nowhere, making it to the top of the football world when nobody thought they could reach a high pinnacle, were beaten by a team that’s getting good at taking out national title contenders (#3 Louisville - 2006).
Third-string quarterback Andrew DePaola threw a 15-yard touchdown pass off a fake field goal to give the Scarlet Knights the lead in the third quarter and Rutgers also used a fake punt to set up an early field goal in its 30-27 victory Thursday night.
The undersized, yet durable Ray Rice provided a more expected and usual good game, as he went for 181 yards rushing on 39 carries for Rutgers (5-2, 2-1 Big East) and Mike Teel threw two touchdown passes to the explosive Tiquan Underwood. “We just went out there and played our best football,” Rice said.
South Florida became the third No. 2 team to lose in the last three weeks. “I thought we had a chip on our shoulders tonight,” Bulls cornerback Trae Williams said. “That we would prove something to the nation. That we are deserving of the ranking. Obviously, we didn’t get it done tonight.”
The Bulls (6-1, 1-1) had their eight-game winning streak come to an end, leaving the door of opportunity wide open Boston College, LSU, Oklahoma and the rest of the teams hoping to grab the second spot in the BCS standings USF occupied this week. Matt Grothe threw for 247 yards and a touchdown and ran for 58 yards, but Rutgers’ defense swarmed South Florida’s versatile quarterback in the second half and sacked him seven times in the game!
A week after No. 2 California lost to Oregon State and two weeks after then-No. 2 Southern California was upset by Stanford, the Bulls became the 11th Top 10 team to fall to an unranked opponent this season. There are five undefeated teams left in major college football.
“Personally, rankings don’t mean that much when you’re on the field,” Bulls receiver Marcus Edwards said. “All that stuff goes out the window. It comes down to who scores the most points and they scored more than we did tonight.” Rutgers, which started the season ranked 16th but fell out after two straight losses last month, might not be unranked much longer.
Kicker Jeremy Ito drilled a career-long 51 yard field with 11:59 left in the fourth quarter to give Rutgers a 30-20 lead.
Grothe’s speed-filled crew wasn’t finished, as he led the Bulls on a 70-yard touchdown drive that Mike Ford capped with a 1-yard run with 9:16 left to make it 30-27. When USF linebacker Ben Moffitt recovered Rice’s fumble near midfield with 4:11 left, the Bulls were in good position at the Rutgers 40. But Brandon Renkart sacked Grothe on the first play, and the Bulls were forced to punt.
“We had the ball at the 50, down by three and their defense came up to play,” USF coach Jim Leavitt said. “Give them credit. Give them a lot of credit. They did it twice.” Rutgers was unable to kill the clock and the Bulls got one more shot to keep their perfect season alive, starting at the Rutgers 49.
On the first play, freshman Joe Lefeged came on a safety blitz and sacked Grothe from the blind side. I viewed an aggressive Rutgers defense as the main difference in a game that saw Rutgers bring blitzes early and often in the 2nd half during key moments, bringing the heat successfully to pressure and force Grothe into tough choices. On fourth-and-22, Amarri Jackson caught a pass down the sideline beyond the first down marker, but the play was wiped out by a questionable offensive pass interference call because the receiver pushed off.
The last try came on a fourth-and-37 from the Rutgers 24. Grothe heaved a throw-up toss into heavy coverage and Rutgers defensive back Zaire Kitchen intercepted.
For the second straight season Rutgers came up with a huge victory on a Thursday night at home. Last year it was then-No. 3 Louisville, at the time the highest ranked opponent Rutgers had ever beaten. Not anymore, as this win set off another party on the field, though not quite as wild as last year’s after beating Louisville.
The Scarlet Knights, last season’s surprise team from the Big East, gave their season a boost and turn into the right direction, making a huge step towards making a comeback, climbing up the ladder of the Top 25 and the Big East.
With Rutgers up 20-17 midway through the third quarter, Rutgers defensive back Devin McCourty blocked a game-changing field goal to keep the lead.
Rice and Teel responded with a drive that stalled at the USF 15. Ito came out to attempt a 32-yard field goal, but Rutgers coach Greg Schiano had something else in mind.
“We haven’t done a lot of that around here,” Schiano said. “Thank God it worked.”
DePaola, the holder, took the snap and rolled right, barely eludinga sack, and zipped a bullet for his first career pass into the hands of Kevin Brock, a catch that was made with his fingertips so closely, one that was quite impressive to be nominated a Pontiac Game Changing Performance. The tight end strolled to paydirt with 4:09 left in the third to give Rutgers a 27-17 lead.
“We run it in practice a lot,” DePaola said. “When they called it I just said, `All right let’s go execute it like in practice. It’s no different.”‘ Rutgers used a trick play on its first drive, too.
Ito lined up to punt but instead lofted a perfect pass over a USF defender to James Townsend for a 36-yard gain to the Bulls 13. That set up Ito’s 26-yard field goal. Rutgers scored more points than any team had against USF this season and kept defensive end George Selvie, the nation’s leader with 11.5 sacks, in check and out of harm’s way for Teel.
USF hadn’t allowed a runner to reach 100 yards in the 14 games since Rice went for 202 in the Scarlet Knights’ 22-20 win last year. Rice had 94 at halftime Thursday night.
“When my number’s called,” Rice said, “I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
