Army @ Rutgers preview
MetLife Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 23, 2009 ) Rutgers 27, Army 10
In its final non-conference game of the season, Rutgers will look to continue its recent success over Army.
The two schools, separated by just 76 miles, meet Saturday at the New Meadowlands Stadium with the Scarlet Knights (3-2) going for their seventh straight win over the Black Knights (4-2).
The series is tied 18-18 but Rutgers has dominated the series of late, winning nine of the last 11 meetings. During the Scarlet Knights’ recent win streak in the series, they have outscored the Black Knights 185-55, including a 27-10 victory at West Point last season.
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is 5-0 all-time against Army.
Rutgers won its Big East Conference opener over Connecticut 27-24 on Friday. The win not only got the Scarlet Knights off to a positive start in conference play, but also helped ignite a possible quarterback controversy and gave Schiano some extra time to prepare for Army’s triple-option offense.
“We had two practices so far with the extra day playing on Friday,” said Schiano. “The guys are working extremely hard. This is a tough, tough team to prepare for. Offensively, they run the triple option. They’ve added a few things formationally as well as plays that make it much more difficult to prepare for.”
As for the quarterback controversy, Schiano did his best to extinguish it this week, saying that the job is a week-to-week competition and that true freshman Chas Dodd will start this week against Army.
Dodd threw for 322 yards and a pair of touchdowns against UConn in place of sophomore Tom Savage, who was out with a hand injury.
Savage has been limited in practice this week, making the decision to go with a healthy Dodd an easy one for Schiano.
Army is 3-0 on the road and is coming off a 41-23 victory at Tulane. In comparison, Rutgers lost to the Green Wave 17-14 on Oct. 2, a game in which Savage injured his throwing hand.
The name of the game for the Black Knights is running the football, and despite being ground-based, the Army option has become explosive as well.
Army ranks ninth in the nation in rushing offense, averaging 274.3 yards per game, and the Black Knights rolled up a season-high 312 yards and four touchdowns on the ground against Tulane. Army has also scored 30 or more points in each of its last three games and in four of six overall this season.
That will pose a challenge to Rutgers’ defense, which ranks ninth in the country at 14.4 points per game. The Black Knights are averaging 32.3 points per game and have not averaged 30 points for an entire season since 1985.
The Black Knights are on pace to be the school’s highest-scoring team since the 1954 squad racked up 36.1 points per game.