PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The way Rutgers’ defense is playing, Kyle Flood doesn’t need much from his offense these days.
Gary Nova threw two touchdown passes to Brandon Coleman and the Scarlet Knights’ swarming defense limited Howard to 149 total yards yesterday, giving Flood a 26-0 victory in his first home game as the Scarlet Knights’ coach.
“Just being out there in general is fun, but when you are hitting on all cylinders and you are holding them to minus yards and minimum gains, it’s fun,” said Rutgers linebacker Khaseem Greene, the Big East defensive player of the year in 2011.
The defense is doing that. It has yielded 12 points and 411 yards in two games and scored a touchdown in helping the Scarlet Knights get off to their second 2-0 start in three years and post a shutout for the seventh straight season.
Nova and the offense have been stagnant and will need to improve heading into the conference opener on Thursday at South Florida.
“We have a great defense,” said Nova, who was 15 of 27 for 130 yards with TD passes of 32 and 16 yards. “But we want to be the offense that doesn’t have to depend on the defense. We want to give those guys good field position and stuff like that so they don’t have their backs against the wall all the time. It’s a great [security] blanket to have, a defense like that.”
Savon Huggins scored on a 1-yard run and cornerback Brandon Jones scored his second TD in as many games, jogging six yards with a blocked punt. It was one of two special teams blocks that led to touchdowns.
Rutgers linebacker Jamal Merrell had a team-high 14 tackles less than a week after his older brother, Benny, was shot and killed in Delaware.
“When you play with emotion you play with more than with what you already play,” said Merrell, whose other brother, Jamil, also is on the team. — AP