Rutgers Football: Secondary Must Grow up Quickly

Mike Leach’s fast paced, pass-happy, offense made the Rutgers’ secondary look awful Saturday evening at Highpoint Solutions Stadium.

Getting a pass-rush was nearly impossible with the speed with which Luke Falk rid got rid of the ball, and receivers and backs were open all day en-route to 478 yards passing on 66 attempts – an average of just over 7 yards a play.

The relatively low average passing illustrated that it was mostly quick passes that Falk attempted, but the high number of yards indicates that the offense was very effective.

RU defensive coordinator Joe Rossi attempted to mask the deficiencies and youth in the secondary by playing a lot of zone coverage, but assignments were blown, and Falk carved Rutgers up en-route to the victory for Washington State.

The secondary was put in a bind with Nadir Barnwell’s dismissal from the team forcing into action players like freshman Bless Austin and true freshman Isaiah Wharton, both of whom looked confused much of the day.

Freshman CBs make coaches like Mike Leach, who makes his living with passing the ball, salivate and the Cougars were brilliant, particularly in the second half.

Next, RU travels to Penn State and the task doesn’t get easier as they face Christian Hackenberg who by all accounts, seems to be one of the most highly thought of quarterback prospects in 2015.

Hackenberg has put up pedestrian numbers since his arrival at Penn State.  This is mainly attributed to the fact that the offense he runs doesn’t throw the football nearly as much as the spread-type offense of coaches like Mike Leach.

However, you would have to imagine PSU’s head coach James Franklin watched the game-tape of what WSU did to Rutgers on Saturday, and to an extent, what Norfolk State did on a pair of impressive drives in the opening week’s first half against Rutgers.

So does PSU come out of character to showcase Hackenberg and take advantage of Rutgers where it is weakest, or is it a case of Franklin’s stubborn adherence to running the ball?

If it’s the latter, Rutgers has a chance Saturday night, the latter, and RU’s secondary must grow up overnight.