PHOTO BY: ANDREW HOWARD / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ... DESIGN BY: JOVELLE ABBEY TAMAYO / PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP: DEFENSE

T H E D A I L Y T A R G U MG 2 N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 0 G A M E DAY

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP: OFFENSE

MOHAMEDSANUWide ReceiverSophomore6’-2”, 218 lbs.

DESMONDSTAPLETONTackleJunior6’-5”, 285 lbs.

DESMONDWYNNGuardJunior6’-6”, 290 lbs.

HOWARDBARBIERICenterSenior6’-5”, 304 lbs.

CALEBRUCHGuardJunior6’-4”, 290 lbs.

DEVONWATKISTackleSophomore6’-7”, 310 lbs.

D.C.JEFFERSONTight EndSophomore6’-6”, 258 lbs

MARK HARRISONWide ReceiverSophomore6’-3”, 230 lbs

CHASSDODDQuarterbackFreshman6’-0”, 197 lbs

COLINMCEVOYFullbackSenior6’-1”, 215 lbs

JOEMARTINEKRunning BackJunior6’-0”, 215 lbs

JONATHANFREENYRight endSenior6’-3”, 250 lbs

CHARLIENOONANTackleSenior6’-2”, 274 lbs

SCOTTVALLONETackleSophomore6’-3”, 270 lbs

ALEXSILVESTROLeft endSenior6’-4”, 260 lbs

MANNYABREULinebackerJunior6’-3”, 245 lbs

STEVEBEAUHARNAISLinebackerSophomore6’-2”, 230 lbs

ANTONIOLOWERYLinebackerSenior6’-2”, 225 lbs

DAVIDROWECornerbackJunior6’-0”, 196 lbs

JOELEFEGEDStrong SafetySenior6’-1”, 205 lbs

KHASEEMGREENEFree SafetySophomore6’-1”, 215 lbs

BRANDONBINGCornerbackSenior5’-11”, 180 lbs

RUTGERS VS SYRACUSEKnightsGameday

GAME 9: Rutgers Stadium, 3:30 p.m. TV: ESPNU RADIO: 1450 AM SPREAD: Syracuse by 3

SCARLET KNIGHTS (4-4)

PASSINGC. DoddT. Savage

RUSHINGM. SanuJ. Martinek

RECEIVINGM. SanuM. HarrisonJ. Deering

DEFENSEA. LoweryJ. LefegedS. Beauharnais

INJURIESQuestionable — M. AbreuDoubtful — M. Cooper

YDS956445

YDS285277

YDS389373249

AVG.136.6

89.0

AVG.5.33.3

AVG.9.7

17.820.8

INT010

INT.33

LNG9135

LNG295246

SCK0.5

11

AkronWashingtonMaineColgateSouth FloridaPittsburghWest VirginiaCincinnatiLouisvilleRutgersConnecticutBoston College

W, 29-3L, 41-20W, 38-14W, 42-7W, 13-9L, 45-14W, 19-14W, 31-7L, 28-203:30 p.m.7:00 p.m.TBA

TD52

TD44

TD241

TKL745853

CMP58.3%52.1%

NO.5483

NO.402112

SCHEDULESept. 4Sept. 11Sept. 18Sept. 25Oct. 9Oct. 16Oct. 23Oct. 30Nov. 6Nov. 13Nov. 20Nov. 27

Norfolk StateFIUN. CarolinaTulaneConnecticutArmyPittsburghSouth FloridaSyracuseCincinnatiLouisvilleWest Virginia

W, 31-0W, 19-14L, 17-13L, 17-14W, 27-24W, 23-20 OTL, 41-21L, 28-273:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.TBATBA

SCHEDULESept. 2Sept. 11Sept. 25Oct. 2Oct. 8Oct. 16Oct. 23Nov. 3Nov. 13Nov. 20Nov. 26Dec. 4

[ ]SYRACUSE (6-3)

PASSINGR. Nassib

RUSHINGD. CarterA. Bailey

RECEIVINGV. ChewA. LemonN. ProvoA. Bailey

DEFENSED. SmithD. HogueP. Thomas

INJURIESQuestionable — LB R. Gillum, OT M. Hay

YDS1,563

YDS853380

YDS519365262210

AVG.173.7

AVG.5.34.8

AVG.15.712.610.5

9.5

INT121

INT.5

LNG4631

LNG48513337

SCK0

2.50

TD15

TD71

TD5412

TKL756160

CMP56.1%

NO.161

79

NO.33292522

INSIDEthe

NUMBERS

Key MatchupRutgers offensive line vs. Syracuse blitz packages

The Scarlet Knights allowed nine sacks against Syracuse last season, and the Orangereturn linebacker Doug Hogue, who had 3.5 sacks against Rutgers last year

and has two more this year as part of Syracuse’s blitz-heavy defensive scheme.

BY SAM HELLMANCORRESPONDENT

Thirty-six days is the longest lagbetween games at Rutgers Stadiumfor the football team in four years andreturning to the friendly confines inPiscataway could not have come anysooner for the Scarlet Knights.

Since the Knights’ thrilling victo-ry over Connecticut on Oct. 16,Rutgers has two Big East road loss-es along with Eric LeGrand’s tragicinjury weighing itself down as theKnights return to Rutgers Stadiumtomorrow at 4-4 to take on Syracuse.

“I’m definitely looking forwardto coming back,” said senior defen-sive end Jonathan Freeny. “Thatcrowd is going to be electric. It’sgoing to be very exciting. We’regoing to have the fans’ support andwe’re just going to go out there anddo our jobs.”

For Freeny and 14 other sen-iors, tomorrow marks the penulti-mate home game in their careersand the final game while school isin session, with Louisville’s gamein two weeks coming over theThanksgiving holidays.

The Knights want to make thisone count with so much on the line.

“A lot is at stake,” said sopho-more wide receiver MarkHarrison, who has a touchdownreception in four straight games.“We just have to come out and exe-cute. It’s good to come back hometo Jersey and we’re just going to goout there and have fun.”

With just four games left,Rutgers needs two wins to becomebowl eligible and three to guaran-tee a postseason game for the sixthconsecutive season.

“We are all aware of what’s atstake,” said senior defensive endAlex Silvestro. “But before we canworry about any of that stuff,Syracuse is a really tough team thatwe can’t take our focus away fromfor one second.”

Defensively, Syracuse offersone of the toughest blitz schemesto defend against in the Big East.The Orange pass rush crushed theRutgers offensive line and quarter-back Tom Savage last season fornine sacks in a 31-13 upset.

And that was with two NFL tack-les on the Knights’ line.

“We talked about it [earlier inthe week] and [Savage] was justtelling me about what they did andthe results and what he had to do

ANDREW HOWARD / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophomore wideout Mark Harrison scored touchdowns in each of thepast four games, a streak which began Oct. 8 against Connecticut.

RU returns home to honor LeGrand

and what he had to look to,” saidtrue freshman quarterback ChasDodd, who is set to make his fifthconsecutive start and second atRutgers Stadium. “I think, as far aswhat I’ve seen, we have a prettygood gameplan. I feel confidentabout it.”

Offensively, Syracuse presentsquarterback Ryan Nassib and run-ning back Delone Carter. Schianodescribed Carter as an NFL-caliberback and is more than just a game-manager in his first year as a starter.

“I’m pretty impressed with theiroffense,” Silvestro said. “They don’tmake many mistakes. Their line isfive good players. It’s not like oneguy carries them. They’re reallyjust a solid core all-around and theyalways come up to play. Last year Iwould say they were nowhere nearas good as they are this year.They’re going to come at us and

come out to play gain. It’s just a BigEast dogfight.”

Between the struggles in thelast two Big East contests and theproblems Syracuse presents,returning home could not come at abetter time.

“I can’t wait [to come back],”Schiano said. “I love playing inRutgers Stadium. It is my favoriteplace. Our students are unbelievable.Our fans are great. I can’t wait to getback in there and play at home.”

The return home is also the firstgame at Rutgers Stadium sinceLeGrand’s tragic injury. Rutgerswill place a banner outside theScarlet Walk for students and fansto sign.

“We go out and we carry E onthe back of our helmets and in ourhearts, but on the field we’refocused,” said defensive end JustinFrancis. “That’s what he wants.”

T H E D A I L Y T A R G U M N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 0 G 3G AMEDAY

BY SAM HELLMANCORRESPONDENT

The last time the Rutgers andSyracuse football teams clashed,the Orange were double-digitunderdogs to the Scarlet Knights.

But with a combination of adominant pass rush and thehome field advantage of theCarrier Dome, Syracuse turnedthe tables on the favored Knightsand came away with DougMarrone’s signature win in hisinaugural season as head coach.

The tides change this seasonwith the Orange coming toRutgers Stadium as favoritesand the Knights hoping homefield advantage and an unex-pected pass rush can swing thependulum back the other way.

“We definitely can get atthem,” said junior defensiveend Justin Francis. “The coach-es give us a lot of insight onwhat their of fensive guys aredoing. We’re definitely going tomake something happen in thepass rushing game and try todominate the line of scrim-mage, hopefully like they didlast season.”

Greg Paulus manned thestarting quarterback duties forSyracuse last season, but RyanNassib came off the bench tocomplete four of six passes for69 yards.

Nassib, now ’Cuse’s full-timestarter, is one of the bigger sur-prises in the Big East this season,emerging as a more-than-reliablesignal caller for the Orange.

But like Tom Savage last sea-son, Nassib is a first-year starterand the Knights see an opportu-nity to get in his head with thepass rush.

“He’s a good, young quarter-back,” Francis said. “We definite-ly have to get after him and get inhis face a lot.”

Nassib has 15 touchdownpasses to just five interceptionsthis season to go along with a 56.1completion percentage and 1,563passing yards. But beforeRutgers worries about Nassib,the defensive line’s chief concernis containing the run.

“You have to stop the run firstand obviously that’s somethingthat they do a lot is run that ball,”said senior defensive end AlexSilvestro, who leads Rutgerswith seven tackles for a loss.“They have a really good run-ning back. Any quarterback,obviously, is going to be givenproblems regardless of howyoung or old he is when you getpressure on him. Every passrusher will tell you that you haveto stop that run before you canthink about a sack.”

Syracuse running backDelone Carter has 853 rushing

yards this season to go along withseven touchdowns. His 94.8 rush-ing yards per game are good forfourth-best in the Big East and27th overall in the NCAA.

“If they’re in a third-and-shortsituation, then your opportunitiesto rush the passer are not high,”said senior defensive endJonathan Freeny. “On first andsecond downs, we have to go outthere and get them just to getthem to the third-and-long situa-tions. That’s a really tough run-ning back we’re going against, sothat’s a big challenge in itself.”

Statistically, getting pres-sure on Nassib is a significant challenge.

Syracuse surrenders 2.2 sacksper game for sixth-worst in theBig East. On the other hand,Rutgers is dead last in sacks pergame with 0.88, which is also118th out of 120 FBS teams.

Rutgers, traditionally one ofthe top teams in the nation inTFLs, is 59th in the country thisseason with 5.9 per game, mak-ing defense against ’Cuse onfirst and second down evenmore important.

“It puts them in situations thatare defensively favorable andoffensively unfavorable,” saidhead coach Greg Schiano. “Youget third-and-behind-the-sticksand third-and-seven-plus, it opensup what you can do defensively.”

ANDREW HOWARD / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior defensive end Justin Francis intercepted a pass against South Florida when he dropped back into coverage, but he and the defensive line will look to get after first-year quarterback Ryan Nassib.

’Cuse starts stretchkey to bowl hopes

What time is it? Crunchtime. It is time for theRutgers football team to

tighten the jocks and pull thisone out against Syracuse to keeppostseason hopes alive.

And if history is any indica-tion, the Scarlet faithful has causefor concern.

The Scarlet Knights needtwo wins in their final fourgames to reach the muchsought after six-win bench-mark, ensuring bowl eligibility.

Let’s take a look at theseupcoming games to see just howprobable a sixth-straight bowl is.

Nov. 13 vs. Syracuse — TheKnights fell behind the Orangeby 14 points for two straightyears prior to last year. And in2009, it caught up to Rutgers asSyracuse dropped 31 points atthe Carrier Dome and theOrange defense dropped TomSavage nine times.

Things won’t get any easier thisyear. For the first time in recentmemory, the Orange are favoritesheading into Piscataway led byhead coach Doug Marrone, whowill be crowned Big East Coach ofthe Year come season’s end.

For the Knights to come out ontop, they will need to be ahead early,something that has not been thecase recently against the Orange.

Nov. 20 at Cincinnati — TheBearcats could be 0-9 with zerotouchdowns scored the entireseason and I’d still pick them tobeat Rutgers any day of the week.The Knights have not beaten theBearcats since 2005 and haven’twon in Cincy since 1987.

If there was ever a more likelytime to turn that tide, it is thisyear. Cincinnati is reeling at 1-2 in

A.J. JANKOWSKI

BuffaloSoldier

ANDREW HOWARD / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Head coach Greg Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to five straightbowl games and needs two more wins to qualify for No. 6.

Knights look to pressure Nassib

The return home was justwhat the doctor ordered for theRutgers football team, as the

S c a r l e tKnights

took down Syracuse, 20-7, in TheDaily Targum’s weekly “NCAAFootball 2011” simulation.

Quarterback Chas Dodd han-dled the Syracuse pressure nice-ly, completing 16 of 27 passes for

223 yards without throwing atouchdown or an interception.The Orange only got two sacksthis year, as opposed to the ninelast season against Tom Savage.

Joe Martinek ran for 81 yardson 24 attempts and scored bothtouchdowns for the ScarletKnights, with Mohamed Sanuleading receivers with sevencatches for 82 yards.

Defensively, Rutgers heldRyan Nassib to 11-of-29 passing.Defensive end Alex Silvestrosacked Nassib twice and hadnine total tackles, while defen-sive back Logan Ryan pickedoff Nassib.

The Daily Targum’s weeklysimulation is 6-2 this season.

— Sam Hellman

NCAA ‘11 SIM

KNIGHTS BOUNCE BACK BEHIND MARTINEK SCORES

the conference and hardly lookslike the team that almost upsetOklahoma early in the year. Theiroffense is anemic without ZachCollaros under center and he isnowhere near 100 percent.

Still, no matter who is Cincy’ssignal caller, I still like them overthe Knights.

Nov. 26 vs. Louisville — If oneof these four remaining games isa lock, it is this one. Don’t get mewrong, the Cardinals are muchmore of a formidable opponentthan in years’ past and headcoach Charlie Strong has startedto turn things around downsouth. But at home late in theseason, I like Rutgers here. AKnight should always get thebest of a bird.

Dec. 4 at West Virginia —Nothing could be worse thanpostseason aspirations on theline in the season finale on theroad in Morgantown, W. Va.Head coach Bill Stewart hasGreg Schiano’s number and dialsit up year after year after yearafter … you get the picture.

The last time Rutgers beatWVU? The Buffalo Bills were inthe Super Bowl. And we allknow they aren’t going backanytime soon.

So there you have it. Two winsin four games and it all startsSaturday night against theOrange. Following the paths thathistory has laid out for us,Rutgers will get one win at homeon Black Friday against Louisville.After that, it’s a crapshoot.

Here’s a fail-safe solution:Don’t leave it to chance on theroad. Take care of business atRutgers Stadium againstSyracuse and Louisville. Becausewhen you crunch the numbers,the Knights’ bowl streak is inserious jeopardy.

— A.J. Jankowski is an associate sports editor at The

Daily Targum and accepts com-ments,criticisms and witticisms

at jankowskialex@gmail.com.

GAMEDAY P A G E G 4N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 0

T H E D A I L Y T A R G U M

BY STEVEN MILLERSPORTS EDITOR

Film study was a little bittough this week for a few parties,in particular.

Rutgers head football coachGreg Schiano acknowledged it, andfilm sessions forced the offensiveline to relive its overwhelminglypoor performance last seasonagainst Syracuse.

Schiano watched the entiregame one last time late on Mondaynight and the result could only leadhim to sympathize with his unit ofpass protectors.

“I imagine pretty tough [forthem]. It was tough for me towatch the whole game,” Schianosaid. “At the conclusion of thegame, it was enough to get my rearend out the door because I didn’tfeel very well.”

Nine sacks on quarterback TomSavage highlighted the Orange’s31-13 win at the Carrier Dome,where the offensive line could notstop the Syracuse pass rush.

“It was like we couldn’t do any-thing right,” said senior centerHoward Barbieri, who star tedthat game at right guard. “It wasvery frustrating.”

Although only Barbieri and jun-ior Art Forst, who was pulled fromthe starting lineup last week butwill still play, remain from thatgame, the new unit will have to beready for more of the same becausethe Orange love to blitz.

Starting freshman signal callerChas Dodd estimated that Syracusebrings blitzes 50 percent of the time,but what makes defensive coordina-tor Scott Shafer’s scheme successfulis the players, according to Schiano.

Three of the Orange defenderswho combined for five of the ninesacks last season — Doug Hogue,Shamarko Thomas and AndrewLewis — return on an experiencedsquad that ranks second in the BigEast in scoring and total defense.

“It’s very hard to mimic theirblitzes because of the guys who aredoing the blitzing,” Schiano said.“Blitzes by themselves don’t make it— it’s the guy doing the blitzing whomakes the blitz. We tried to show[the offensive line] what it’s going tobe like, but the speed of it and thestrength of it is going to be different.”

But it is the unit that will be dif-ferent for Rutgers.

While Syracuse’s defense issenior-laden, the Knights’ offen-sive line consists of an eight-man

rotation. Two of the eight mem-bers converted from defense tooffense less than a year ago. Threecombined for four career startsbefore the 2010 season. And threehave experience, but bouncedfrom position to position beforefinding homes this year.

The result is a group that strug-gled through the first eight gamesto find any sort of consistency,allowing 35 sacks to rank lastamong 120 teams in the nation.

“That is college football. Thereis going to be turnover. Maybe it ismore than normal, but that is partof the life we live,” Schiano said.“We have to be able to get guysready and have them ready anddevelop them for when it is theirshot. We need to play better on theoffensive line — that is no secret.”

The turnover includes the loss oftwo starters, Anthony Davis andKevin Haslam, who are now in theNFL, and Ryan Blaszczyk, who hadtryouts with several teams.

“We don’t have any stars on ouroffensive line, that’s for sure,”Schiano said.

Instead, there is a group of play-ers trying to find their place.

The biggest shakeups came lastweek against South Florida, when

Forst did not start for the first timein 29 games, sophomore DevonWatkis made his first start and red-shirt freshman Andre Civil debuted.

There could be more changes tothe starting unit and the break-down of plays, but the same groupof eight will play this week,although the linemen insist the lackof consistency does not affect thegroup’s play.

“People have good days andwe’re going to keep getting better.We have to do it as a unit,” said jun-ior left tackle Desmond Stapleton,who started every game. “Somepeople are good at one thing andmaybe another week other peopleare good at something different, sowe just want to have the best fivepeople out there.

“I trust anybody that comes inand plays on the offensive line. Itdoesn’t matter who’s in, we justhave to be consistent with the fiveguys on the field.”

Through eight games, the offen-sive line was consistently bad:

— Three sacks against FootballChampionship Series opponentNorfolk State.

— One against Sun Belt foeFlorida International.

— Five against North Carolina,plus a hit that injured Savage’s ribs.

— Tulane sacked the quarterbackfour times and forced a Savagescramble that resulted in an injuredhand and forced him out of the start-ing lineup.

— When Chas Dodd took over,Connecticut sacked him five times.

— Then Army got to him foreight sacks.

— Pittsburgh’s pass rush createdseven sacks.

— South Florida got to the quar-terback twice.

Some of those numbers rival lastyear’s nine-sack game againstSyracuse — a game that bringsback memories even more vividlyon the film.

But the difference is last year’sline had NFL players and this onehas eight just trying to play better.

“We play as a unit. We meet as aunit, we eat as a unit, we do every-thing as a unit,” Stapleton said. “Ifone man goes down or one mancomes in, we can’t just stop. We doit as a unit.”

Unfortunately for the Knights,the entire eight-man unit cannot beon the field against Syracuse’sblitzes at the same time.

EIGHT OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

DESMONDSTAPLETONStarting left tackleJunior6’-5”, 285 lbs.

DESMONDWYNNStarting left guardJunior6’-6”, 290 lbs.

ARTFORSTBackup left guardJunior6’-8”, 311 lbs.

HOWARDBARBIERIStarting centerSenior6’-5”, 304 lbs.

CALEBRUCHStarting right guardJunior6’-4”, 290 lbs.

ENRICO CABREDO

The Scarlet Knights offensive line ranks last out of 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 35 sacks allowed this season, as the unit rotating eight linemen consistently struggles.

Struggling unit hopes to erase memories of nine-sack showing

ANTWANLOWERYBackup right guardR-Freshman6’-4”, 302 lbs.

DEVONWATKISStarting right tackleSophomore6’-7”, 310 lbs.

ANDRECIVILBackup right tackleR-Freshman6’-3”, 256 lbs.