Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsFreshman running back torches Scarlet Knights for 180 yards, 2 TDs
BY MIKE VORKUNOV
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Pittsburgh cornerback Jovani Chappel walked off the field, still incredulous.
"That ball hit me dead in the stomach," Chappel said to a teammate.
On the second play of Rutgers' final drive Chappel jumped a pass from Tom Savage but dropped what looked to be an easy interception and touchdown.
It was the last of many gifts the visitors gave to Rutgers. But on the deciding play, it was the Scarlet Knights who gave one right back.
Barely inches after converting a fourth and six on the potential game-tying drive, with just over a minute remaining, Chappel stripped Mohamed Sanu, causing a fumble.
"I caught the ball and I was bringing it, and as I was bringing it in and tucking it, he put his hand in there and punched it out," Sanu said of the play.
Pittsburgh recovered. Cue the victory formation for the Panthers and a 24-17 loss for Rutgers.What had been over a month in the making for the Knights, looking for redemption after a season opening beat down at the hands of Cincinnati, was in their hands with minutes to play before it was fumbled away.
Not that they did not have their chances. Pittsburgh gave them plenty. A fluke fumble by Dom DeCicco that bounced off of his heel as he was running away from a live punt. A missed field-goal with 2:31 to play that could have put the game out of reach.
But in the end, it was their own mistakes that became too much to overcome.
"It was a tough game, we made some mistakes and it backfired on us," said Tom Savage. "Now we just have to get ready and move forward. I made a lot of mistakes and against good teams like that, it comes back to bite you."
Savage put the game on his shoulders, taking blame for the errors after the game, but he was not the only one who had to shoulder the blame.
The Scarlet Knights' defense, which had come in sixth in the country, was left gashed after Dion Lewis dashed through it. The freshman from Blair Academy ran for 180 yards on 31 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown run that looked like an insurance score in the third quarter but turned out to be the final margin.
Coming into the game Rutgers had allowed just 158 yards in their last four games. So when Scott Vallone heard Lewis' finals numbers, he was taken aback, only giving out a long sigh.
George Johnson had a little more to say.
"Every time we had him in the backfield we felt like he was going down, but he made one guy miss and got two or three more yards," Johnson said of Lewis. "It was surprising because we felt like we had him contained every time but he's elusive and got two or three yards."
Despite Lewis' prolific effort, and its own follies, Rutgers was left with an opportunity to pull out its first Big East win of the year.
After Pittsburgh missed a 30-yard field goal, the Knights started with the ball at their own 20 and 2:31 left to play with. Savage's first collegiate game under the lights looked like it might not get a happy ending after he drove them down the field, leaving them with a fourth and six at his 42 and 1:11 to go. But it looked like the drive would continue after Sanu's catch, the last of eight on the day for 63 yards. Until the ball landed on the ground and the Panthers recovered.
""I think we played hard today, but a few mistakes killed us," said McCourty. "We're two pretty even teams and they made a few more plays than us and we made a few more mistakes than they made and that's why the game ended like that. I think it was a group of plays that if done differently the outcome may be different but we can't change that now."
Related:
Rutgers defense caught thinking too much about the big play on third downs