Rutgers Running Game Stalls Against No. 238 North Carolina Central

Forget the score (48-0) in Rutgers' opening game win over lowly North Carolina Central, the oddsmakers have.  They've installed Rutgers as a 10-point underdog for their game with North Carolina this Saturday.

Whether it was last year's opener against Norfolk State, or this year's against North Carolina Central, both games were played against cupcakes with a capital "C."

The big difference in the the Norfolk State game was that Rutgers averaged 5.4 ypc while piling up 268 rushing yards.  Against North Carolina Central they only averaged 3.3 ypc on 41 rushing attempts for 137 total rushing yards.

Even with the highly touted passing attack to open things up, the Scarlet Knights couldn't run the ball against the No. 238-ranked team in this week's Sagarin Ratings of all 247 FBS and FCS teams.

This year North Carolina Central moved up to the FCS level.  Last year they only won three games.

This is not the way it was supposed to go for Rutgers, a team coming off one of their worst offensive years ever.  In 2010 Rutgers rushing game was ranked 110th nationally (2.7 ypc).

If Rutgers can't find a running game before Saturday it's going to be a long afternoon in Chapel Hill.

With the addition of freshman Savon Huggins, a five-star running back from St. Peters of Jersey City, Rutgers was hoping to see big improvement in 2011. 

But without the offensive line doing their job, it's not going to happen.

What about the passing game?  This unit is expected to be one of the best in the Big East this year, maybe the best.

Against North Carolina Central quarterbacks Chas Dodd and Gary Nova went a combined 15-for-34, not exactly the performance Rutgers was hoping to see.

Hopefully things will get better.  Hopefully, if the offense doesn't improve the defense can carry them through.

In the North Carolina Central game the defense was solid.  DT Scott Valone fell on a ball in the end zone for a touchdown and DB Duron Harmon ran an interception back for touchdown.