Big East Thermometer: Rutgers

The Big East Thermometer is a weekly postgame feature that attempts to analyze the "hotness" or "notness" of a team's performance. It is based on a points system that contains no substantive guidance and is sure to be rife with errors, omissions, and inconsistencies.

Tiquan Underwood: +5
Underwood's final statistic line is impressive -- 10 receptions for 248 yards and two touchdowns -- but it is his first half performance that really generated the point pump -- nine receptions for 228 yards and two touchdowns. To put that in context, Buffalo managed to put together only 74 total yards in the game's first stanza. That's just not an Arena Football-style performance; it's Playstation-esque.

The only thing holding back Underwood from a double-digit point pump is that his efforts came against arguably the worst back seven in college football. Buffalo's secondary is an absolute mess and simply does not maintain the kind of athletes necessary to contain a receiver of Underwood's talents. Once it became apparent that Rutgers was going to press the pass throughout the first half, the Bulls quickly retreated into a soft zone that merely attempted to contain the middle post. As a result, Underwood was able to abuse sideline, exploit the short corner, and sprint freely underneath the Buffalo umbrella on crossing patterns and hook routes. Had Underwood not turned in the performance he had, one would have seriously questioned his route choice and coverage identification.

Pedro Sosa and Mike Fladell: +3
Ray Rice scampered for 184 yards and three touchdowns, but the real heroes of the rushing game were Sosa and Fladell. Anchoring the left side of the Rutgers offensive line, the two seniors absolutely demolished their competition. On Rice's two touchdowns in the first half, the Heisman hopeful ran untouched for paydirt not because of his escapability and fluidity, but rather because Sosa did such a terrific job closing the defensive end and Fladell moved forward to isolate the outside linebacker. Their play will not show up in the statistics log, but their performance were necessary cogs to Rice's success.

Mike Teel: -3
Mike Teel is going to be the death of the Scarlet Knights. His lack of completeness was noted in the preseason and he managed to hammer home his deficiencies Thursday night.

Statistics are inherently strong indications of competency and such value-oriented data should not always be ignored. However, Teel's performance cannot be viewed in such a vacuum. In his three quarters of play, Teel went 16 for 23 with 328 yards passing and two touchdowns. That performance is good for a 218.05 passer rating.

What the above line fails to show, though, is that Teel looked more like Eli Manning than Peyton Manning. Despite eons to deliver the football (he did not take a hard lick via the sack all evening), Teel still managed to scatter the pigskin like buckshot. Balls were consistently delivered over and behind wide open receivers, forcing targets such as Tiquan Underwood to make terrific efforts on the ball to mask Teel's errant deliveries. Moreover, while Teel managed to end the game interception free, there were, at minimum, three overt instances where Buffalo had a more direct opportunity for a pick than Rutgers had at a reception.

Such play may carry the day against the MAC's second-worst squad, but it is a recipe for disaster against the Big East's middle and upper echelon teams.

Greg Schiano: -4
Despite Schiano's reputation, little can be questioned of his in-game coaching. Throughout his seven-year tenure, Schiano has put together a program that emphasizes a punishing, multifaceted defense and an offensive philosophy that plays to the team's conservative, yet effective grinding pace.

Against Buffalo, however, Schiano seemed to have a brain fart that lasted almost 30 solid minutes. With Buffalo out of the game the moment the Bulls walked off of the bus, Schiano held fast to playing the majority of his starting units strongly through the fourth quarter. This would not have been an issue had Buffalo shown any signs of playing a consistent style of competitiveness, but with a halftime lead of 28-0 that eventually swelled to 35-3 at the close of the third quarter, Rutgers was tempting fate with such an aggressive mentality.

It is understandable that Schiano may have wanted to get his guys into prolonged game action. With a summer spent in shells and modified contact, it is undoubtedly helpful to get in as much live hitting and scenario scheming as possible. However, there is little to no need to see Teel, Underwood, and a host of others running from potential injury in the fourth quarter of a game that was decided more than 20 minutes prior. Schiano's saving grace, however, was his decision to prohibit Rice from playing in the fourth quarter. Had Rice broken the Rutgers all-time rushing mark last night and suffered a serious injury, the Scarlet Knight's opportunities for success would have infinitely diminished.

Outside of Schiano's personnel decisions, it should also be noted that the reigning National Coach of the Year may have tipped his hand too much against the Bulls. Featuring an offense that showed more than a dozen different offensive formations and motion packages, a first quarter flea flicker, and a 56-yard field goal attempt, Schiano forced future opponents to scheme around such efforts, but also provided such teams with ample opportunity to distinguish tendencies and preferable offensive philosophy in many different formations and scenarios. Schiano played with a double-edged sword and may have cut himself more than he originally intended.

The Rutgers Faithful: +1
Buffalo is far from a sexy home opponent, but those dressed in scarlet turned out in nice numbers Thursday evening. Better yet, however, much of the crowd stayed well into the fourth quarter for a game that turned many diehard college football fanatics away from the television at halftime.

TOTAL POINTS: +2
SEASON TOTAL: +2