Rutgers Football: How Will Team Respond Amid Tragedy With Pittsburgh Looming?

With the constant coverage of the Eric LeGrand injury here, this writer does not feel there is anything else to add at the present time in regards to this tragic situation.

We certainly all wish LeGrand the best in our thoughts and prayers and hope that he gets to at least see Rutgers win again this week against Pittsburgh.

Needless to say, Rutgers will be playing with a chip on their shoulder in this one. 

UConn dealt with an even more tragic situation last season when cornerback Jasper Howard was killed in a fight following a school dance.

UConn ended up losing to West Virginia in a close one in their first game following this horrible news.

While Rutgers will have a ton of extra motivation in this one, that in no way ensures them victory.

Fans should not be surprised that Dodd will be starting again at Pitt, despite the fact that Tom Savage is back to full strength at this point.

Head coach Greg Schiano remained vague on the quarterback situation for the rest of the year, stating “whoever gives us the best chance to win” will start from week to week.

That being said, it is hard to imagine Savage back in the driver’s seat anytime soon.  Dodd was again electric against Army, leading Rutgers to their second consecutive come-from-behind victory.

Despite a 17-3 deficit at halftime, Dodd threw two touchdowns in the second half and led RU down the short field in overtime for the 20-17 win.

Dodd finished the day 18-of-30 for 255 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception.

On the other side of the coin, Pittsburgh QB Tino Sunseri was looking like Tom Savage lite this year, with fans practically begging for Pat Boswick to come in after a putrid effort against Miami.

In his next three outings, Sunseri has really turned it around; notching his best game of the season with four touchdowns and no interceptions against a Syracuse team that was looking strong heading into Week 6.

No. 1 wide receiver Jon Baldwin, of course, suffered along with his quarterback, but has bounced back with 10 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown the past two weeks.

This week will be big to see if Sunseri has truly found his stride, as Baldwin has not lived up to preseason expectations thus far due to Sunseri’s struggles.

Sophomore running back Dion Lewis was expected to have a monster second season, with some even penciling him in as a sleeper Heisman candidate.

He has fallen way short of those expectations, with just 286 yards and 3.8 yards per carry through six games.

However, Pitt fans have been pleasantly surprised to see Ray Graham pick up the slack.  Graham has 589 yards and a blistering 8.3 yards per carry, despite five less carries than Lewis on the season.

While the carries have been distributed just about evenly, Graham is the guy defenses need to key in on.

In a fun fact going into this one, Rutgers free safety Khaseem Greene is actually the brother of Ray Graham. 

Therefore, it will be interesting to see the plays that follow if Graham makes his way into the RU secondary.

While Rutgers gave up some big run plays to Army—two of their players rushed for over 100 yards—they stopped the run when they had to. Seeing something similar in this game is pretty likely. 

The biggest concern for Rutgers in this one has to be the offense line. Dodd has been sacked an unheard of 15 times the past two games, against two pretty average pass rushes.

Dodd is much smaller than Savage (6-foot, 197 pounds vs. 6-foot-5, 226 pounds), so the fact that he has not been hurt yet is nothing short of a small miracle.

Equally amazing is the fact that Dodd has yet to lose a fumble. Rutgers cannot allow their star QB to take this kind of punishment on a week-to-week basis, as he is bound to get hurt or make a critical mistake in the game at this pace.

Rutgers has tried to shift around their offensive linemen for the past few weeks, but the results have yet to come. Rutgers hopes to resolve this issue sooner than later.

Due to this recent inefficiency, do not expect Pitt to be shy about bringing the blitz in this one.

The focal points in this game will be if Dodd and Sunseri can continue their recent success, and if RU is able to again stop the big run plays.

Rutgers has only one blowout win this season, and their two losses came by a combined seven points. So expect this one to come down to the last couple plays once again.

A loss here for Pitt would all but eliminate them from Big East title contention, while a loss for Rutgers would put them in a situation where they would have to win out to have any shot at first place.

A win for either squad would make them easily a top-three team in the conference and a dark horse to take the Big East title once it is all said and done in Week 12.

This is a huge game for both teams, so expect both sides to leave it all on the field at Pitt Stadium at noon on Saturday, Oct. 23.