Rutgers back in form, pounds Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just a stone’s throw away from the home of the Kentucky Derby, true freshman Mohamed Sanu entered Friday’s game against Louisville with the football triple crown — a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown on the season.
But he left the game as nothing short of the Rutgers football team’s offensive work horse.
The Scarlet Knights utilized more of the Wild Knight than in any other game in a 34-14 drubbing of the Cardinals on their senior day and the package had its greatest success of the season. On 18 rushing attempts, Sanu compiled a career-high 148 rushing yards and two touchdowns and propelled the Scarlet Knights to four straight touchdowns to start the game off.
“Mohamed is a really special talent,” said head coach Greg Schiano. “We keep expanding that little by little. You earn your touches around here, so we feel like Mohamed needs to keep getting the ball in his hands.
“We have to find different ways to do that. The Wildcat is one that we know will be in his hands. We need to keep building around him as long as he keeps producing.”
Sanu’s four-yard push with 3:13 left in the second quarter put the Scarlet Knights ahead 21-7 after a pair of early scores on the ground and the team never looked back from there with 239 net rushing yards.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Schiano said. “They really responded the way I thought they would, but you never know until you go out there and do it. I thought they played hard. And they played with class.”
True freshman quarterback Tom Savage responded powerfully to what was most likely the toughest week of his young career, opening strong and only getting stronger as the Scarlet Knights pulled away. He finished the game with 163 yards and a touchdown after completing his first eight passes of the game.
“I felt like I was getting in a groove in the beginning and I was doing it,” Savage said. “Our offensive line was blocking awesome like they always do so it was easy out there.”
Savage and senior receiver Tim Brown beat up UofL through the air in the first half. Savage hit Brown for a 32-yard touchdown at the end of the half and a 28-7 lead and five other times in the half, setting up a trio of touchdown runs.
“We’re becoming a great offense,” said Brown, who cracked 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. We just need to keep working to get better and better every day.”
Sophomore tailback Joe Martinek provided the first of the three rushing touchdowns to open the scoring, followed by a three-yard run by Savage and Sanu’s Wild Knight touchdown.
Savage’s touchdown came on an option play to the right — a trick Rutgers may have picked up at the Carrier Dome.
“I think we just got it going,” said Savage who was 9-for-10 for 151 yards in the first half. “In the first half we were on fire. The offense was going awesome and the defense was getting the ball back so we can’t get ask for any more than that.”
After entering the half scorching hot, the Knights cooled off coming out of the gate. They punted twice on offense to open up the half and gave up a 66-yard pass from quarterback Adam ‘sausage king of Chicago’ Froman to receiver Trent Guy that set up a quick score and cut the lead to two touchdowns.
On UofL’s second drive, however, senior safety Zaire Kitchen delivered a wrecking-ball hit to receiver Doug Beaumont that knocked him out of the game and called for a stretcher.
“I don’t go out there to hurt anybody,” Kitchen said. “I hoped that he was OK because we all got called to the sideline and we said a prayer and he was still down and I saw the cart coming out and I knew it was something serious.”
Neither team played with much enthusiasm after the injury. Louisville continually gave the ball back to Rutgers on punts and a fumble recovery by redshirt freshman safety Khaseem Greene and the Scarlet Knights punted on every drive until Sanu closed all of the pizza at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium with a 29-yard touchdown run.
The win all but eliminates Rutgers (9-3, 3-3) from the International Bowl, making Saturday’s matchup with West Virginia likely the difference between the Meineke Car Care Bowl (if RU wins) and the St. Petersburg Bowl (if RU loses).
Louisville (4-8, 1-6) ended its season with the loss.
“I’m sorry for the seniors because we wanted to win this game for them,” said UofL head coach Steve Kragthorpe. “That’s a great group of guys.”
 

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