Rutgers football is set to take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks in the second game of the season after defeating Ohio 34-31 in a week one thriller. Last season, the Redhawks and the Bobcats played in the MAC championship game, with Ohio winning 38-3. Last week, Miami (OH) fell to another Big Ten team, Wisconsin, 17-0 in the first game of the season.
During Rutgers’ game against Ohio, the Knights’ defense struggled to contain Ohio quarterback Parker Navarro, who threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns while adding another 93 yards and a score on the ground. His ability to create plays with his feet and throw on the run pushed the Knights’ defense to their limit. Redhawk quarterback Dequan Finn has a lot of similarities to Navarro, with a big arm and the ability to scramble in his skill set.
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Rutgers’ offense, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise in week one, moving the ball very well through the air and on the ground against the Bobcat defense. Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis tossed the ball for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while the running game totaled 147 yards and one touchdown.
They will be going up against a Miami (OH) defense that kept Wisconsin in check for most of the game. In their season opener, the Redhawks recorded 3 sacks, 4 tackles for loss, and one interception in their loss to the Badgers. Despite the inefficiencies of the Miami (OH) offense, the defense made it so that they only trailed by a field goal at halftime. They did let up two touchdowns after the break; however, one of those drives started at their own two yard line after Finn threw a pick deep in their own territory.
Miami (OH) linebacker Adam Trick was called out by Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano during his press conference as somebody they need to know where he is on the field at all times. He recorded 6 total tackles, 5 solo tackles, 2 sacks, and 1 pass defended last week.
The Hawk offense had a tough time getting anything positive going last week as they failed to score any points against the Badgers. The passing game only managed 83 yards with Finn throwing two interceptions. The running game only scraped together 34 yards. On the flip side, Rutgers’ defense had a very poor performance last week, surrendering 31 points and allowing 440 yards of total offense.
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In many ways, Miami (OH) can be a good benchmark for the Knights. If their offense can put up a good amount of points against the Hawks’ defense, that would inspire more confidence heading into Big Ten play. If the defense has another performance like it did last week and gives up multiple scores, it could be a sign of even more struggles to come, especially against mobile quarterbacks.
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