How can RU keep it up close vs. Penn State? Well, it can’t — but here are the key matchups anyway
Every week, we usually look at two key matchups that will determine the likely winner Saturday. But let’s be honest here: Unless we end up witnessing one of college football’s greatest-ever upsets, there’s no way one or two matchups will flip this game on its head.
No. 10 Penn State is a 40.5-point favorite against Rutgers on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights are outmatched. Outgunned. Outshined. Out-everything’d.
So at least one of our writers tried to take a different tack this time around. Here’s what we came up with this week, in regards to the two key matchups Saturday (3:30 p.m., BTN) and the two biggest battles Penn State and Rutgers will face:
Josh Moyer: Rutgers vs. Rutger
Boosters are finished donating. Attendance has cratered. Players are entering the transfer portal. And the program is on the brink of collap-- well, further collapse.
Forget the key matchup on the field Saturday. There isn’t one. Rutgers is either ranked at the bottom, or near the bottom, of virtually every national stat category outside of punting. It’s lost 20 straight Big Ten games. It’s been shut out a nation-worst 10 times since 2016. It’s one of the worst college football teams in the country.
And the worst yet could still be ahead.
Most Rutgers fans have already resigned themselves to a lopsided defeat Saturday. After all, that’s been most Saturdays since joining the Big Ten in 2014. And there’s a reason this is the cheapest Beaver Stadium ticket of the year — $10 on the secondary market. So the key matchup here is “Rutgers vs. Rutgers” because it’s about the Scarlet Knights’ battle for their own future at this point. Not what happens Saturday.
Rutgers vs. Rutgers — and, right now, it’s still losing.
Despite first halves that have been void of first downs, and countless columns such as The Star Tribune’s “Jim Delany’s Rutgers/Big Ten idea was bad then and is worse now,” fans of the scarlet and gray still had hope one week ago. Had.
You see, former beloved head coach Greg Schiano was willing to return to the school where he oversaw its Golden Age. Before Schiano, The Birthplace of College Football had a single bowl appearance and zero bowl wins; Schiano led it to a 5-1 bowl record. But, apparently, the price for not being the nation’s laughingstock was too high.
Schiano wanted to be the Big Ten’s 10th-highest paid coach. But, more importantly, he wanted a commitment to the program. He wanted higher-paid assistants, improved facilities and the use of a jet. But Athletic Director Pat Hobbs still thinks it’s 1992 in the Big East, so he felt those requests were too much.
So, now, Rutgers is battling Rutgers. One fan told NJ.com that he was taking the Scarlet Knights out of his will. Several former players released a statement to “express our profound disappointment and frustration.” Some fans have had enough. One wrote to NJ.com’s Steve Politi, “Goodbye, Rutgers football. I have given up.”
So forget about the “battle” on the field Saturday. Odds are you won’t be watching past halftime anyway, unless you bet on the spread or a distant relative is playing on Penn State’s third-team. Rutgers is facing a turning point in program history and, despite being faced with the most obvious solution in school history, it remains in limbo.
Rutgers gonna Rutgers.
Jon Sauber: Johnny Langan vs. Penn State’s defense
Let’s get this out of the way now. Rutgers isn’t going to win Saturday in Happy Valley. It doesn’t matter if Will Levis starts or if Sean Clifford starts. It doesn’t matter. Penn State is going to beat Rutgers. The only question is by how much.
For the Scarlet Knights to have any chance of keeping this game within three possessions, their starting quarterback is going to have to play lights-out football. Redshirt freshman Johnny Langan will start at the position Saturday afternoon, just as he has the team’s last seven games.
Langan is a bad passer and mediocre rusher who has played well in one game this season, a 44-34 win over Liberty. He hasn’t thrown for 200 yards in any game this season and has thrown for fewer than 100 yards on four separate occasions. That includes one of the worst quarterback performances you’ll ever see, when Rutgers took on Indiana. Langan completed 5-of-13 passes in that game for a yard. That’s not a typo. He had one passing yard on five completions.
Langan isn’t entirely to blame for the team’s inept offense. The Scarlet Knights don’t really do anything well on that side of the ball. Wide receivers don’t get separation. Offensive linemen don’t block all that well. You get the picture. With that being said, Langan certainly isn’t helping the team either. He’s completed 68 passes on 135 attempts this season for only 676 yards and four touchdowns while also throwing nine interceptions. It’s safe to say he’s part of the problem on offense in Piscataway.
The redshirt freshman’s best chance of helping Rutgers keep this game close-ish is to control the ball and control the clock. He and the Scarlet Knights will need to avoid giving the ball to Penn State and try to bring the game to a close as quickly as possible.
A game plan that features a heavy dose of runs and possession-heavy football should be in the cards for Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. If the Scarlet Knights can’t hang onto the ball and keep the Penn State offense off the field, a long day is going to turn into a much longer one. That’s the most likely outcome of this game and one of the many reasons why Penn State is going to blow out Rutgers in Beaver Stadium this weekend.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 10:41 AM.
