Rutgers Football: Darnell Stapleton Questions Wildcat's Effect on Future

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights currently stand at 4-5, which could have easily been 5-4 and one win away from being bowl eligible for the sixth straight year. Now the Knights have an uphill battle to try and win two of the next three games to become bowl eligible.

This is going to be tough because two of the remaining opponents are WVU and CINCY, the two teams Rutgers hasn’t been able beat in the last five years!

The Knights are going to have to tweak a few things if they except to come out of Cincinnati with the victory.

The defense needs to do a better job of stopping the run; I'm not saying teams gash them, it’s just in the last couple weeks, RB’s once in awhile have been able break off runs longer than 15 yards. Also, late in games, when you know the offense is running the ball to run the clock out, you have to be able to stop them. But they should be fine as long as they continue to get after the quarterback and get turnovers like they did against the Syracuse Orangemen.

Offensively, even though the wildcat produced an efficient run game, I still think we need to see less. I think it makes the offense one dimensional as 99% of the time in wildcat, they are running the ball. This takes a lot of the guess work out for the defensive play caller. It also doesn’t allow the QB to get into any rhythm.

This week, I hope we see a more conventional offense—not just for the sake of winning the game but for the sake of the future of the program. 

I can’t see a top quarterback or running back recruit signing with us due to the amount of wildcat they have been running.

This article is also featured on Double G Sports where Darnell is a contributing writer. Visit Double G Sports to read more of Darnell's thoughts on his former school.