Bump N’ Run with KT, Rutgers Struggles, Giants Defense continues to be Bad

Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood / Rutgers at Wisconsin (Ben Solomon Photo) / Scarletknights.com

It was a tough New York weekend as the Mets went down in the World Series and the Giants continued their helter-skelter NFL season.

Bump N’ Run is here for your review of the weekend in football so let’s start with the major local football story from the weekend.

Great Day For Giants Offense…Historically Terrible Day For Giants Defense

So, did anybody watch the Giants/Saints Game? The 52-49 New Orleans win on Sunday was an offensive show for both teams.

Eli Manning threw for six touchdowns and Odell Beckham Jr. caught three of those six TD’s. But of course we cant celebrate those achievements. Instead, we must talk about the New York Giants and their awful defense, which never ceases to amaze on how majestically bad they can be on a week to week basis.

The talk in the media is about the punt that did not go out of bounds and Tom Coughlin is getting questioned about it, but we know that’s not why they lost. They lost because they have no legitimate talent on their defensive front seven, and their secondary is depleted and even just average at best when everyone is healthy. Jerry Reese miscalculated last off-season by not picking up any depth at the defensive positions that the Giants have had issues at for years at linebacker and the secondary. Add in a new defensive scheme and the Giant defense looks lost and completely confused. And it will get no better so get ready for some more shootouts Giant fans.

I thought that I would never want an eight fingered defensive end in the lineup so bad in my life.

Rutgers Continues To Look Outclassed In Big Ten

Going into this stretch of games that the Scarlet Knights began four weeks ago, I said that this would be the time where you would figure out whether Rutgers really belong in a conference like the Big Ten. In the Big East, they began gaining steam and being competitive and during their one season in The American Conference, they were a bowl team. If they made good showings against the better teams in the Big Ten, you would be able to say that Rutgers is beginning to build the program to a higher standard. After the close loss to Michigan State, and beating Indiana, many began to say that they may be progressing faster than many first though.  Then the last two games occurred.

Against Ohio State, Rutgers lost by 42 points which was not surprising because Ohio State is the number one team in the country. However on Saturday against a Wisconsin team that is not having a typical “Wisconsin” year, Rutgers put up just 165 yards of offense en route to a 48-10 loss in Madison. At 3-5, Rutgers’ bowl hopes are dicey at best as they meet Michigan this weekend and Nebraska next week. A five-win season may be the best they can do and after the numerous distractions they have faced this season, it wouldn’t be shocking. This season just shows that the recruiting for this team must turn a corner and they have to begin with getting more New Jersey born athletes from some of the powerhouse high school programs in the state. They also need to reopen the Florida pipeline that seemed to close when Greg Schiano left the program. It’s time for Rutgers to move and that means getting some horses for the program ASAP.

Around The Country

• Can we please stop the London games? I love waking up to football on Sunday mornings but when you are tossing out Jacksonville, Miami and Detroit out there, it’s time to pack it in. But, they re-upped with Wembley Stadium for another few years so more useless football overseas…YAY!

• Never did I ever think that I would write about Columbia University football in my life and I am writing about them twice within a month. On Saturday, the Lions snapped an 18-game Ivy League losing streak when they defeated Yale 17-7. Their last Ivy League win was Nov. 12, 2012 against Cornell. For this win Columbia broke out the trick playbook as kicker Cameron Nizialek kicked a career long 40-yard field goal and ran a fake FG in for a 13-yard touchdown. Congrats to Columbia on their second win of the year.

The University of Miami has fallen hard as seen by their celebrating a win over Duke as the equivalent of winning a National Championship. The 30-27 win on Saturday featured a game-winning kickoff return that featured eight laterals but where the officials missed a block in the back, a player coming off the bench onto the field before the play was over and a player completing a lateral when his knee was down. Even after a review the officials saw nothing and upheld the call, which cost those officials a two game suspension from the ACC. I wrote about them last week and I will say it again, the Miami head coach job is one that no one should want. The school is in a tailspin, talent is not going there and the stadium the Hurricanes play in is nowhere near the campus. I would go nowhere near that school if they called.