NCAA GridIron Gab

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.”

The LSU Tigers (6-1), (3-1) had two double digit leads of 17-7 and 27-14 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but could not hold on for a victory at Lexington against a rallying Andre’ Woodson-led squad, that came off a tough loss (38-23) at the hands of Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks (21-15 win at North Carolina). Kentucky (6-1), (2-1), a team known for pulling out impressive comebacks (Louisville, Arkansas), scored the final 13 points in regulation to force an overtime, after Kicker Colt David was wide left on a potential 57-yard game-winning FG.

In the first overtime, UK benefited from a roughing of the passer call en route to a 1-yard TD run from Freshman RB Derrick Locke, a replacement for their injured starting RB Rafael Little. LSU quickly answered back, with a fake FB, Halfback toss to back-up RB Richard Murphy, one of many talented backs that the Bayou Bengals have stacked in their program at the arsenal of Head Coach Les Miles, who has trouble choosing from the five, when looking at his options to plug in to game situations, searching his depth chart. After the first overtime, LSU took over and settled for a FG, striking with a 38-yarder from the left hashmark. When the Tigers took the lead, Rich Brooks’ Wildcats went three ‘n out, and then cane in Lones Seiber, who booted in a 43-yarder for the tie, a kick that would’ve been good from 50 yards out. In the third overtime, Kentucky had possession of the ball first and they capitalized off of a questionable defensive holding call, as Heisman candidate and Senior standout QB Andre’ Woodson cashed in with the advantage in his favor, when on 3rd down he stood tall in the pocket, taking a hit from a blitzing LSU LB, throwing a perfect spiral with touch (7 yards) to Steve Johnson in the end zone for the eventual GW TD reception. On the play, Johnson made the corner look bad, making him slip, on a precise slant and go route, a gutsy move when an all-out blitz was called, with his QB hung out to dry.

With the score 43-37 after UK missed the 2pt conversion, LSU took over the football and ran four plays for 8 yards to end the game, with only 2 yards coming in the final three plays, as Coach Miles forgot to bring OC Gary Crowton, his aggressive play-calling, gadgets, and trick plays, along with his successful playbook in Baton Rouge last weekend, foregoing the opportunity to spread the ball out and go to the aerial attack for a game-tying TD that would’ve extended the game and kept LSU’s chances of an undefeated season alive. Miles also did not do a good job of inserting Perrilloux to utilize his ability under center, for Flynn was off target all day long, and when it seemed like every play Miles had to call worked last week, it was almost the exact opposite, as his decisions towards the end of the game were very unsuccessful, especially in the 3rd overtime when his team needed it the most, a place, and a crucial time in the game where he excelled last week at the same juncture and spot, when the stakes could not have been any higher - on this occassion, he came up — Empty.

While #17th ranked Kentucky had its fans storm the field, getting their moment in the spotlight so to say, they upseted the #1 ranked team in the nation and beat them at their game, outplaying the previous unbeaten and unshakable LSU when the game was on the line. Now, we can only ponder and wonder why the play-calling of LSU was so bland, obvious, predictable and vanilla, so conservative, that it made many forget that genius who called all those brilliant 4th down conversions (5-for-5), that last week were unheard of, aggressive, attacking, original, and so unpredictable, with that being said, LSU lost the game this week because of the same reason they won it last week - their Playcalling.

Coach Miles got outsmarted (thought putting injured Star WR Early Doucet out there for his first play would draw attention?) and outcoached by Rick Brooks, and for whatever reason, he discontinued what was working in the Florida game last Saturday, and took a different approach/route in “crunchtime”, going up the gut with a player that had not seen the ball or any action since his 2nd quarter, 13-yard TD run with 5:25 to go, putting ‘em up and ahead 17-7 at the time. Now after the game, we can say, Why does LSU go away from what is working? Why is Matt Flynn still the QB, and not the speedy, playmaking signal caller on the sidelines, while the most talented player (Perrilloux) on the offensive side of the ball for the Tigers still sits, watching a shaky and inaccurate QB steal his snaps? Why does LSU keep rotating all these RB’s in and out, taking out their most productive back, keeping him out until the final play when it is too late? Why doesn’t LSU keep a set on offense that gives them some rhthym, so they can become used to playing with each other when called upon in close games? All these questions need to be answered soon and will be echoed throughout the media all this week, as LSU’s season is on the line when they go back home to Death Valley to face off against the red-hot Auburn Tigers (5-2) in a Saturday Nite Showdown to see who will be the best of a match-up between some skillful Tigers.

For Kentucky, they prepare for another gigantic SEC battle at home against the former champs (chomps) Florida, you have to give all the credit in the world to Coach Brooks, Woodson, pass catchers Steve Johnson and Jacob Tamme, and a defense that withstood a tall test, coming through in the clutch, under pressure, when the team needed ‘em the most, something it did not do all of last week or last year, as they improved and played its best performance, shutting down LSU’s run game in the final moments, stopping ‘em on the final three plays, stuffing their attempts, and sending their chances out the window, slamming the door shut on a possible National Championship Title and an undefeated season, for a formerly formidable, LSU world-beating team.

Now if Kentucky can win next week at home versus the Gators, you strongly have to consider them as the one the best teams in all the land, as they may be already one right now, on the verge of moving up the Top 5, as they sure are one of the Top teams in the SEC, if not the “top” team, after beating the #1 Top team in the Nation and the SEC. You have the National Title calls and hopes now shift over from LSU to Kentucky, from the Big Easy to the Bluegrass State, from the Gold and Purple to White and Blue, from highly scrutinized to highly overachieving as the team with the better coaching, QB, and playcalling prevailed to win the game in a place where you would find more people at a basketball practice then at an SEC game, just a couple years ago. So in essence, we can start riding Kentucky’s bandwagon once again and jump right back on it, until again, they lose, going from hot to cold, and best-liked to most-hated, WOW, now what an unbelieveable, Upset-Filled College Football Season this has been - It’s one for the Ages!