Rutgers Vs Navy --Friday

Rutgers Vs Navy

Rutgers easily toyed with Buffalo in home opener 38-3, gaining 563 total yards in the rout and will face a much tougher assignment in playing the Naval Academy.

It seems coach Greg Schiano stayed for a reason after many inviting job offers. One of the big pluses is the talent he has recruited returns a number of starters (13) and the replacements will not be a significant drop off. Running back Ray Rice keys the rushing game and looked in Heisman form in his opening effort. Rice rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. The extra year of experience worked wonders for quarterback Mike Teel, who also added a noteworthy effort as he completed 69.5 percent of his attempts for 328 yards and two scores. The junior signal is now 14-3 and 11-5 against the spread as a starter.

Head coach Paul Johnson has done an absolutely astonishing job at the Naval Academy in five plus years with 38-25 record (33-20-1 ATS) and taken the Midshipmen to four consecutive bowl games. More importantly at this institution, they have won four consecutive Commander-in-Chief Trophies after having not won one in 22 previous years. This year’s task will be a tougher job with just three starters back on defense.

Offensively, a case could be made this might be the most explosive Navy team ever with Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada at quarterback and a fleet of speedy backs to make running game potent. Against Temple in the opener, Kaheaku-Enhada ran the offense like a bon vivant, rushing for 102 yards himself and dishing out on the option for another 259 yards. The Hawaii native won’t dazzle anyone with his throwing, however his speed and decision making are exceptional in Johnson’s option, which might leave him among the greats at Navy.
The Rutgers defense is not big; nonetheless they are aggressive and quick trying to replace four starters from the front seven. The Scarlet Knights will be fed a steady diet of option football, which means they must have the discipline, ironically enough of a military man, to carry out assignment and stop Navy’s prodigious ground attack. Rutgers is 8-3 ATS taking on non-conference foes.

The early line of Rutgers favored by 12 was pounded by bettors and is now 17.5 at Sportsbook.com, despite the Midshipmen’s 35-12 ATS record as a road underdog the last 15 seasons. This will be Navy’s second straight road game and they are 2-6 SU and ATS against Rutgers.

This will be the second of five consecutive home games for Rutgers who can dish out a serious dose of (Ray) Rice to the Middies. If they become too focused on the run, Teel has shown he can wound teams with the passing game, leaving defensive coordinators transmogrified from genius status to jackals in the course of one football game.
No matter, Navy will gain plenty of yards, but it will be Rutgers piling up the points, as Coach Schiano will have his Scarlet Knights chopping wood again. With spread now at a much higher number, the potential for Navy to enter through the old backdoor to cover comes even more into play.

ESPN will cover this Eastern favored football contest starting at 7 Eastern.

Selection: Navy +16

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