BIG EAST FOOTBALL PREVIEW: RUTGERS GAME #2

September 10, 2008


The NBE Blogger probably did not put your sports book out of business with his 4-3 performance against the spread, but any weekend in the black is a good one!

On Thursday night, our college football weekend in the Big East kicks off early as Rutgers welcomes Butch Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels into New Jersey.

With Brett Favre under center for the Jets and Tom Brady going down for the Patriots, football fans in the NYC/NJ may be rushing to check the latest NFL Odds on their beloved J-E-T-S' chances at a Super Bowl run, but for one night, they can enjoy some college football.

After their season-opening 24-7 home loss at the hands of Fresno State, it looks like Rutgers has lost a lot of confidence from those setting the College Football Odds as they are just a 5-point home favorite for a nationally televised night game.

The Scarlet Knights have a very solid offensive core led by quarterback Mike Teel and wide receivers Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood. Running back Kordell Young scored the Scarlet Knights' lone touchdown in the opener and rushed for 94 yards as he looks to replace Ray Rice in the backfield.

The problem for RU in the opener was stopping the run as they yielded 206 rushing yards to Fresno State. North Carolina will look to take advantage of that this weekend, but their ability to do so is in question. The Tar Heels opened their season with a win over McNeese State, 35-27. However, UNC was trailing in the third quarter and was out-gained in the game 391-384.

Rutgers will have to stop Brandon Tate, who caught four passes for 93 yards (including a 57 yard TD), ran three times for 106 yards (rest of the team had 57 yards on 26 carries) and also scored on an 82-yard punt return.

The rebuilding job at UNC continues under Butch Davis and look for Greg Schiano, who served as Davis' defensive coordinator for two seasons at Miami, and his Scarlet Knights to earn a nice bounce back win in this game and start to build towards the Big East portion of their schedule.


Prediction:

Rutgers 41
North Carolina 28