Rutgers' 42-point second quarter buries Spartans

By VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, The Virginian-Pilot

PISCATAWAY, N.J.

Rutgers promotes Heisman Trophy candidate Ray Rice on a Web site called SeeRayRun.com.

Saturday's game with Norfolk State was all about SeeRutgersScoreQuickly.

The 13th-ranked Scarlet Knights mauled the Spartans 59-0 before a homecoming crowd of 43,712, the third-largest to watch a game in Rutgers Stadium.

That the Spartans received a drubbing at the hands of a nationally ranked foe - the first Division I-A team NSU has faced in its history - was hardly surprising. The speed, efficiency and at times outright ruthlessness with which the Scarlet Knights operated was a bit startling.

Calling it a two-minute offense would be selling Rutgers short. The Scarlet Knights accomplished their 42 second-quarter points - a Big East record - in 11 plays and 91

seconds. Five of the six Scarlet Knights "drives" were two plays or fewer; the other took three.

"That second quarter was probably the longest one of my 39-year coaching career," NSU's Pete Adrian said.

"One long commercial," Spartans linebacker Maguell Davis added.

Ahead 45-0 with 2:12 left in the half, Rutgers used all of its timeouts, looking to strike again, anticipating that the NSU offense would be unable to come up with a first down.

The plan backfired when Ron Girault roughed up NSU punter Brian Jackson. But the play also cost the Spartans, as Jackson's kicking leg got caught in Girault's helmet, sending the freshman from Tallwood High School limping off the field. On crutches the remainder of the game due to a strained right Achilles, Jackson was replaced by kicker Justin Castellat.

Jackson excused Girault's hit as unintentional.

As for the timeouts, he wasn't as forgiving.

"They did have a good enough lead already," he said. "I believe it was unnecessary. What did they have to prove?"

Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano explained his philosophy this way: "It was the first half of the game. You coach and teach your kids to play. If your starters are in there, you play the game the way you coach it."

After a competitive first quarter in which the Spartans held Rutgers to three points, things unraveled quickly with NSU's second mistake of the game. The first - an errant toss by NSU long snapper Stephen Coffin - led to Jeremy Ito's 30-yard field goal. Then, Casey Hansen, hurried by an oversized Rutgers defe nsive line all afternoon, floated one over the middle that turned into Eric Foster's first career interception.

Two plays and 16 seconds later, Kenny Britt caught Mike Teel's pretty pass and the 43-yard score made it 10-0.

NSU then went four plays and out. Rutgers? One play and a score. Teel to Tiquan Underwood for 28 yards.

"They were fast, big, had good hands, ran good routes," cornerback Don Carey said. "They were extremely tough. I can't take anything from them."

And so it went. Rutgers finished with 537 offensive yards to NSU's 122, outgaining the Spartans on the ground 240-10. It could have been worse; Teel was replaced with backup Jabu Lovelace to start the second half. Rice also had a short afternoon, sitting out the second half after carrying 12 times for 72 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite the lopsided outcome, the NSU players refused to be discouraged, many stopping afterward to salute the school's band, which was a bigger hit than Rutgers' with the home crowd during halftime.

"It's just a privilege getting to play against them and seeing how we match up," Davis said. "We had fun out there. We're not worried about the score."