Rutgers Football: Takeaways from a 27-14 win over Kansas

The Good

• It was the second game of the season that Rutgers gained more than 500 yards of offense. The other was against Norfolk State.

• Rutgers rushed for 312 yards, the first time they accomplished that since last season's win over North Carolina in the Quick Lane Bowl.

• Rutgers had 31 first downs compared to 18 for Kansas.  They out gained Kansas on offense, with 513 total yards versus 342 total yards for the Jayhawks.
  

• Kansas had averaged over 80 player per game coming in, were limited to just 63 plays.  Rutgers ran 83 plays on offense.
  

• Rutgers dominated the time of possession, keeping the ball for 37:59 versus 22:01 for Kansas.

• The Rutgers defense had 3 sacks and 10 quarterback hurries.  Kemoko Turay had one sack with Anthony Cioffi, Sebastian Joseph, Kevin Wilkins, and Jimmy Hogan each registering a half a sack.
  

• Josh Hicks led the way with 112 yards rushing on 21 carries and 2 touchdowns, his second multi-score game of the season.  Robert Martin had 102 yards rushing on 17 carries.  Paul James also played well, rushing for 57 yards on 9 carries and he had one catch for 19 yards. Combined, the three backs averaged 6.0 yards per carry.
  

• Chris Laviano was 18-25 for 201 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions (see bad).  He also rushed for 44 yards on 8 carries.  He connected with nine different receivers. He has now completed 72 of 100 pass attempts and leads the Big Ten with a 72% completion mark.

• The tight end trio of Nick Arcidiacono, Charles Scarff and Matt Flanagan combined for 5 catches for 45 yards and 1 touchdown.  It was Flanagan's 3rd touchdown catch of the season.

• Steve Longa led the defense with eleven tackles, ten of which were solo.  He has now led the team in tackles in 21 of 30 career games played.  It was his 10th career game registering double digit tackles.

• Kiy Hester had a breakout game, registering nine tackles, one for a loss and two pass break-ups.

• Kaiwan Lewis had the only turnover for the defense in the game, his first interception of the season and third of his career. In addition, he had five tackles, one for a loss and two quarterback hurries.

The Bad

• Rutgers lost the turnover battle with a negative two turnover margin.  Laviano threw two interceptions and Hicks had one fumble, his second of the season.

• Laviano threw a terrible interception in the back of the end zone late in the 2nd quarter, throwing off his back foot yet again.  His second interception was on a hail mary to end the first half.  He has six turnovers in three starts, five of which are interceptions.
  

• The Rutgers offense gained 191 yards in 19:01 of possession in the second half but only scored 7 points.

• Kyle Federico missed a 39 yard field goal in the 4th quarter.  He is now 3-4 for the season.

• Long snapper Alan Lucy had a low snap in the 1st half that prevented an extra point try from being attempted.

• Senior captain Darius Hamilton was declared out for the season before the game.  According to BTN during the telecast, Hamilton does intend to apply for a medical redshirt and return next season.

The Ugly

• Rutgers had 10 penalties for 80 yards.  It was their third game of the season with double digit penalties and they now have 40 penalties in four games.

• Four of the penalties were on the defense for being offsides.  None were a matter of being drawn offsides, it was all because of how the defense lined up.  Terrible.

• The student section never reached capacity during the game. Official attendance for the game was 46,136, over 6,000 under full capacity.