In the ultimate team game, sometimes it takes one player to win. Safety Joe Lefeged was that player for Rutgers on Saturday night.
It took a dominating performance by Lefeged—two blocked punts, two fumble recoveries, and one interception—for Rutgers to squeak out the victory 19–14 over FIU.
Early on, it looked like FIU wanted to gift-wrap a victory for Rutgers, but the Scarlet Knights wouldn’t oblige. Every time FIU would give Rutgers an opportunity, the Scarlet Knights couldn’t capitalize.
Despite five caused turnovers and two blocked punts, Rutgers was unable to generate much offense.
And the takeaways came early and often for the Scarlet Knights.
Senior cornerback Brandon Bing intercepted FIU quarterback Wesley Carroll on the first play from scrimmage. Four of the first five possessions for the Golden Panthers resulted into turnovers. But Rutgers was only able to muster three points.
Aside from turnovers and penalties—the Golden Panthers had 14 penalties for 126 yards—Rutgers was dominated by FIU in almost every other statistical category. The Scarlet Knights had 96 passing yards to the Golden Panthers 204 while rushing for just 76 yards to FIU’s 167.
But the decisive factor was Lefeged.
“A guy like Joe [Lefeged], who’s an experienced guy, coming out and doing what he did is exactly what we needed to be able to win on the road,” said head coach Greg Schiano in his postgame press conference.
Running back Jeremiah Harden led FIU with 88 yards on the ground. Explosive wide receiver T.Y. Hilton was contained by the Scarlet Knights secondary hauling in 6 passes for 49 yards.
Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage was unable to bounce back from his subpar performance in the season opener. The sophomore signal caller struggled completing 7 of 15 passes for 72 yards and an interception.
Savage was under duress most of the night, as the offensive line didn’t do their job blocking up front. The poor line play caused Savage to fumble twice. The wide receivers’ inability to get open down field didn’t help either.
Offensively, the Scarlet Knights were carried by sophomore wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Sanu caught four balls for 25 yards, but his impact was really felt in the wildcat formation.
Sanu was the team’s leading rusher with 9 runs for 44 yards and a touchdown. He also threw once connecting with tight end D.C. Jefferson for a 24 yard touchdown—set up by Lefeged’s second blocked punt—out of the wildcat.
“Two touchdowns in a 19-point effort,” Schiano said. “I don’t know if it gets bigger.”
The only thing bigger may have been one player's two blocked punts, two fumble recoveries, and an interception.
Note: Starting running back Joe Martinek left with an apparent left leg injury with just under five minutes left in the game. The redshirt junior had 14 carries for a meager 28 yards in the game.
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