We got to see both of these clubs under the lights last week as Navy took on Buffalo at home, and the Midshipmen traveled to “The Linc” to take on the Temple Owls. I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw from the Scarlet Knights last week. They kept a bulk of their starters in much longer than I expected them to, and that leads me to believe that HC Greg Schiano’s main mission this season is to go BCS Bowling. He wants to destroy the cream puffs on his schedule to make sure his squad is always within the pollster’s thoughts whenever they rank them on a weekly basis. Currently 16th, the Scarlet Knights will jump a few spots once this games in the books.

Ray Rice put forth a Heisman-like performance rushing 25 times for 184 yards and 3 TDs, and QB Mike Teel had himself a whale of an outing. He completed 16-of-23 passes for 328 yards and a pair of TDs to WR Tiquan Underwood. The defense didn’t allow Buffalo to do much of anything offensively as they gave up a measly 235 total yards.

Schiano’s defense pitched a shutout in Annapolis last season, and it was only the second time in HC Paul Johnson’s tenure at the Academy that the Middies were shut out and the first time in five years. Navy did lose its starting QB in that affair, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Navy did win by a 30-19 final margin against Temple last week, but the passing game struggled mightily, and that spells ultimate doom for them in this spot if Rutgers is able to buckle down knowing the option’s coming. Defensively, the Midshipmen only return three starters from last year’s solid squad that only surrendered 20 PPG. However, a Temple offense not known for having recent offensive success was able to pass for a hair under 200 yards and put 19-points on the board.

With Rutgers balanced offensive attack, I don’t foresee this year’s rematch being much different from ‘05’s clash. Save for the shutout, but Rutgers will indeed win this game, and they should do it by 20+ points or so. With a breeze next week at home in their Homecoming game, look for HC Schiano to continue to keep the pedal to the metal and blow the Middies right out of the water.

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