BY KEITH SARGEANT, Asbury Park PressPISCATAWAY — Bring on Appalachian State!
The reigning two-time Division I-AA champions certainly would be no match for this Rutgers University football team, not after the Scarlet Knights trounced fellow former I-AA member Norfolk State, 59-0, before 43,712 on Saturday at Rutgers Stadium.
Rutgers scored six touchdowns in a record-setting second quarter to make it a laugher, going into intermission with a 45-0 lead.
The 42 points were the most ever scored by a Big East team in a quarter, and the 45 points were the most Rutgers has scored in a half in its 138-year history.
"I've been on the other end of these (blowouts) and I know how it feels," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "I'm glad that they kept chopping away and that they got cooking in the second quarter."
In the NFL, they call games like these the preseason. In college football, it's called halfway to bowl eligibility.
The Scarlet Knights are 3-0 following their third straight convincing victory, but now the hard work begins. After a bye next weekend, ACC-foe Maryland will arrive at Rutgers Stadium on Sept. 29 to offer the Scarlet Knights their stiffest test to date.
And after Maryland leaves, the Big East sched-ule kicks in, with unbeaten Cincinnati the first on the conference slate.
"You're never where you want to be," quarterback Mike Teel said, when asked if he believes Rutgers is ready for the meat of its schedule. "There's always room to get better. One thing we can't do is we can't be sluggish like we were today. It's a matter of not executing and it's something I'm sure we're going to work on this week."
Rutgers started slow, punting on its first two possessions and only managing a Jeremy Ito 30-yard field goal in a opening quarter.
But it only took one play in the second quarter for the Scarlet Knights to finally get some separation. Teel's 43-yard touchdown strike to Kenny Britt put to rest any thoughts of an upset the likes of Appalachian State's shocker of Michigan three weeks ago.
The floodgates opened from there, with Teel drilling Tiquan Underwood for a 28-yard touchdown one minute later . . . Rice scampering in from 22 yards five minutes after that . . . Rice scoring two more runs three minutes apart . . . and Teel completing the scoring blur with a 34-yard strike to Britt.
"The plus 25-yard plays are great when you get them," Schiano said. "Mike was on the money, and they weren't just 10- or 12-yard passes. These were down the field passes."
Rutgers exploded for 277 yards of total offense in scoring its six second-quarter touchdowns. The scoring drives each spanned less than 30 seconds, with the Scarlet Knights needing only 11 plays and 91 seconds of elapsed time to erupt for a 45-0 lead with 2:17 left in the half.
But even with the 45-point lead, Schiano wanted more. Though less than two minutes remained on Norfolk State's final series of the half, Schiano called timeouts on three consecutive plays before sending a punt block after the Spartans' drive stalled.
While a roughing-the-punter penalty ended up giving Norfolk a first down, Spartans coach Pete Adrian was visably upset when his punter, Brian Jackson, came up lame.
"Forty-five zip and you're calling three timeouts at the end," Adrian said. "If that turns you on, that's fine. Everyone has a reason for what they are doing."
Schiano said he wanted to coach through the first half, and only regretted that Jackson got hurt.
"I asked Coach and he said he's going to be all right, so that's good," Schiano said. "You coach and teach your kids to play. First half of a football game you better play the game the way you preach to them. And you better coach that way, too."
Teel contributed to the onslaught, shaking off a 1-for-7 opening quarter by completing seven of his eight passes for 244 yards in the second stanza. The junior quarterback finished 8-for-15 for 269 yards and three touchdowns overall before sitting out the entire second half.
Britt and Underwood each went over the 100-yard receiving plateau, with Britt hauling in four passes for 121 yards and two scores.
Underwood, meanwhile, continued his torrid stretch with four receptions for 148 yards. The junior receiver now has 500 yards through three games, putting him on pace for a 2,000-yard regular season.
Rice's 72-yard tally snapped a string of five-straight 100-yard rushing performances, but the Heisman candidate still managed to score three touchdowns while averaging 6.0 yards on his 12 carries.
Rice said afterward the only numbers he cared about were 3-0.
"It's another stepping stone for us," he said. "We're exactly where we need to be."
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