Offense Bounces Back, Led By A Monster Game From KJ Duff
After the offense was completely overwhelmed by Oregon’s swarming defense, they bounced back in a big way, although they took some time to do so. Kirk Ciarocca’s unit went three-and-out to start the game, but had an opportunity on its second drive with Kaliakmanis finding KJ Duff on a slant across the field that the receiver caught and ran for a 39-yard gain. He then found Ben Black over the middle for a 22-yard gain before the run game ran into a wall, setting up a decision with 4th-and-4 from the Purdue
6-yard line. Rutgers rolled the dice and came up empty.
After Purdue went the length of the field but were similarly stuffed deep inside Rutgers territory, they wisely kicked a field goal to extend the lead to 10-0. Ja’Shon Benjamin showcased his abilities on this drive, with gains of 19, 10, 6, and 11 yards for the Scarlet Knights. However, Purdue came up with consecutive sacks to push Rutgers back, and Jai Patel missed wide left from 45 yards out.
RU scored their first touchdown late in the first half, with Kaliakmanis finding Duff, Sheffield, and Black, in addition to Raymond getting to work on the ground. Raymond capped off the drive with an excellent 12-yard rush up the middle on a pivotal third down before punching in the score from a yard out to cut into their deficit.
But the star of the show was KJ Duff. After Kaliakmanis took another sack to stall a drive early in the third quarter, Kaliakmanis stepped up and launched a beautiful deep ball to KJ Duff for a 72-yard touchdown to cut the Purdue lead to 17-14. On the next scoring drive for Rutgers, Kaliakmanis launched another deep ball towards the left numbers, where Duff hauled in the contested catch in tight coverage.
Athan then launched a rocket down the right sideline, where Duff caught the ball with his outstretched hands. Benjamin nearly barrelled his way into the end zone, but was ruled just short, where Kaliakmanis and the offensive line did the rest of the work for the go-ahead touchdown.
When it was all said and done, Kaliakmanis finished the afternoon 19-27 with 359 passing yards and a touchdown. Raymond led the efforts on the ground with 29 carries for 116 yards and a rushing touchdown, although he lost a fumble. Benjamin had an impressive day as the number-two back, with 78 yards on eight carries for an average of 9.8 yards per carry. Kaliakmanis also had a 15-yard rush but finished with -10 rushing yards after taking five sacks from a physical Purdue defense that jumped all over him when they had the chance.
KJ Duff had six catches for a mind-boggling 241 yards, averaging 40.2 yards per reception with his long of 72. Every play was a big play for the receiver, who operated without his sidekick, as Ian Strong did not see the field after being questionable on the injury report pregame. Ben Black did a nice job filling in for Strong with four catches for 56 yards, while Sheffield had three catches for 24 yards.
Raymond had a couple of catches for 18 yards, while tight end Colin Weber had two catches for 13 yards, and Kenny Fletcher Jr. had two catches for seven yards. Rutgers is continuing to involve the running backs and tight ends just enough that defenses have to watch out for those types of rollout passes in the flat.
Duff nearly set a program record for receiving yards in a game, finishing seven yards shy of the 248 yards that Tiquan Underwood had against Buffalo in 2007. Finishing with over 240 yards on just six catches only makes the career performance that much more impressive for the sophomore from St. Anthony’s High School in New York.
Defense Continues To Struggle But Comes Up Huge In The End
For all the talk about the defense making changes, they picked up right where they left off against Oregon, with Malachi Thomas running 57 yards up the left sideline with no Scarlet Knights anywhere in the vicinity. The Boilermakers would capitalize with a rollout pass to the right side from Malachi Singleton to Malachi Thomas in the flat for an eight-yard touchdown. Once again, no Scarlet Knights were on that side of the field in the play.
With Rutgers turning the ball over on downs deep inside Purdue territory, the defense continued to get gashed, with a 17-yard run by Devin Mockobee preceding a 44-yard deep shot from Ryan Browne to Thomas. The Scarlet Knights were able to hold the Boilers out of the end zone, but Purdue kicker Sam Porath hit the chip-shot from 20 yards out to increase their lead to 10-0 as the first quarter came to an end.
However, in the second quarter, the Rutgers defense stood tall, forcing three straight three-and-outs and allowing a total of five yards gained. The Scarlet Knights cut the Boilers’ lead to 10-7 with an Antwan Raymond rushing touchdown, with Purdue kneeling out the half with seven seconds left on their final drive.
In the third quarter, the defense continued to show its season-long flaws, with Devin Mockobee and Antonio Harris making Rutgers defenders miss while bouncing to the outside for big gains on the ground before Singleton lofted a pass to a wide-open Mockobee for a Boilers’ touchdown. The Scarlet Knights then forced three straight punts, which stretched into the fourth quarter.
After Rutgers scored a Tush Push touchdown to take a 21-17 lead in the fourth quarter, Michael Jackson III returned the ensuing kickoff 56 yards into RU territory. The Scarlet Knights looked like they had a stop on 3rd-and-8 from their own 29-yard line, but Bo Mascoe was called for pass interference, which gave Purdue a first down and fifteen yards. Ryan Browne then had a clean pocket and calmly lofted what I remarked as “the easiest pass in the world” to a wide-open Nitro Tuggle for the go-ahead touchdown to put the Boilermakers up 24-21.
Although this defense has shown improvement in getting stops, the big plays have continued to be the issue. The run defense often only has one defender assigned to tackle the running back in open space, and if he can make him miss, he is off to the races. The pass defense is even worse at times, with the defensive line hardly getting pressure, while the secondary lines up in what does not look like good man or zone coverage.
In man coverage, a defender will cover every receiver (and pass-catcher), while in zone coverage, a defender is supposed to take a portion of the field (basic football 101). But in multiple instances, there was no defender on a receiver or guarding an entire chunk of the field. On the touchdown to Mockobee, for one obvious example, there is no defender in the area, and instead of adjusting, Jacobie Henderson gets caught in the middle, not being sure what to do, while Mockobee scores the touchdown unguarded.
For all the flaws with the defense, they did come up with a huge sequence in the fourth quarter, which ended up giving them the victory. After Jai Patel tied the game at 24, the Purdue offense came on the field with 1:05 to work with and an attempt to end the game with a game-winning field goal or touchdown. But Jordan Walker batted Browne’s pass at the line of scrimmage, causing Browne to catch the ball but lose his tight grip, when Farrell Gnago, a rotational defensive lineman, jarred it loose before it was recovered by safety Jett Elad.
The sequence was highly improbable and required the efforts of all three defensive players, but the pass deflection and punchout deserve the most credit. Elad was in the right place at the right time and pounced on the football, allowing the offense to take all the time off the clock and set up Jai Patel for the game-winning field goal.
Jai Patel Hits Two Big FGs To Give Rutgers The Win
Special teams had an up-and-down performance, with Patel missing from 45 yards wide to the left from the left hash. Rutgers also allowed a 56-yard kickoff return after those woes had seemed to disappear after a couple of weeks. However, in the biggest moments of the game, Patel, just like the defense, came through, being lifted off the field by his teammates as the team celebrated the euphoric victory.
Jai Patel battled through adversity this season and has bounced back stronger, as he made sure to get enough lift on his kicks for the 20-yard attempt to tie the game with just over a minute in the fourth quarter. With the defense coming up with the heroic turnover, Patel drilled the 30-yarder right down the middle for the walk-off game-winner, the first of his career (although he also had the field goal that gave Rutgers an insurmountable 26-23 lead in Blacksburg last season).
Although those should have been routine kicks, Patel could have had them blocked or missed them entirely. Therefore, credit is due for coming through in the biggest of moments. The same can be said about Jett Elad, who may have had the easiest part of the defensive sequence but still came up huge with the fumble recovery, which again was no guarantee. For two players who have had rough seasons, moments like that can be confidence-boosting and can spark their entire units.
Rutgers Keeps Their Narrow Path To Bowl Eligibility Alive
With Rutgers evening their overall record at 4-4, the schedule only gets tougher in the final month. Next Saturday, the Scarlet Knights will kick off November at #23 Illinois (which fell to Washington 42-25), and the team also faces #1 Ohio State in Columbus after their second bye.
However, the two home games present interesting opportunities for Rutgers to clinch a bowl game, as improbable as that may still look after the Knights barely escaped now 2-6 Purdue. Maryland will be coming to SHI Stadium almost definitely on a four-game losing streak, as red-hot Indiana rolls into College Park next Saturday. The Terrapins have looked like their usual October selves, having lost three straight conference games, albeit by three or four points against respectable competition.
Meanwhile, Penn State has fallen from grace after losing 26-23 to Oregon in double overtime, with the team firing James Franklin, losing Drew Allar for the season, and being forced to turn to Ethan Grunkemeyer after two shocking losses against UCLA and Northwestern. Although the team showed life, they dropped another close game at Iowa, 25-24, and will see the top two teams in the nation, Ohio State and Indiana, in back-to-back weeks.
We will see whether the Nittany Lions have any fight left against Michigan State and Nebraska, who clinched bowl eligibility with a close win over the Wildcats earlier today. If their loss to Iowa was any indication, it certainly looks like they will, as they scratch and claw for bowl eligibility themselves.
However, Greg Schiano’s team is still full of heart and fight as well, which was demonstrated by the outpouring of emotions from Schiano after the team finally won its first Big Ten game of the season. The Scarlet Knights will have something to play for in November, and the way the season has fallen off the rails this past month, that is all anyone can reasonably ask for.
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