Maryland football takes on Rutgers this week, and although the Terps have dominated the Scarlet Knights in most sports, they are only 2-2 against Rutgers in football since joining the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights did beat the Terps 31-24 in Piscataway last season, but this year Maryland has healthy quarterbacks, and Rutgers has even more issues than usual.
We talked to Coby Green, sports editor at Rutgers’ student newspaper The Targum, and asked what to expect from this 1-5 Rutgers team at Maryland Stadium on Saturday. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
We know Rutgers has struggled in the past few years, but this season seems to be even worse. What has really gone wrong for the Scarlet Knights this season?
The quarterback situation for Rutgers continues to be a problem. The team hasn’t had a good answer for the position since Gary Nova left the program. Although Artur Sitkowski has had a serious turnover problem, he still beat out fifth-year senior Giovanni Rescigno in training camp. The receiving group has also continued to be a problem for the Knights In the last few seasons, while the team also tends to lose battles at the line of scrimmage. Having many scholarship players out due to injury or suspension also severely hurts an already struggling team. A lot of work is needed to be done to get this program back into shape.
Even if this season may be one to forget, is there still a positive direction that this Rutgers program is headed in?
Rutgers did a good job in bringing in some veteran guys to its coaching staff. This is OC John McNulty’s first season back with the team, so his pro style offense will take some time for the offense to learn. Bringing in Nunzio Campanile from Bergen Catholic will do wonders in the next few years, recruitment wise, considering New Jersey produces many of the top prospects every year. This is still just head coach Chris Ash’s third year with the program, so give him a little more time.
We know Rutgers’ QB situation has been interesting so far this year. But even with the 11 interceptions, is this firmly Artur Sitkowski’s job?
As I mentioned before, Sitkowski beat out everyone in training camp for the starting job. With Rescigno in the backup spot, it doesn’t do the program any justice to put a graduating player in games when it is trying to grow. It is better to let Sitkowski go through the growing pains of being a D-I athlete and figure things out. Aside from the interceptions, Sitkowski has his best game of the season last week, and will only continue to move up as he gets more experienced.
Who are three Rutgers players to watch in this game?
Sitkowski, sophomore running back Raheem Blackshear and junior safety Damon Hayes are three key players this weekend.
Finish the sentence: Rutgers wins this game if…
Rutgers wins this game if it can keep the turnovers down, advance in the passing game, win the battle at the king of scrimmage and get to the quarterback.
