Ray Rice, who is from New Rochelle, was back in the neighborhood Friday night (Miche Stadium at West Point) and he put on quite a show against Army:
The 25,000 fans who braved the first snow showers of the season witnessed one of the greatest running efforts in stadium history. Rice, a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, set a Rutgers record with 243 yards on 34 carries and he scored twice as the Scarlet Knights became bowl eligible and rolled to a 41-6 victory over an outmanned Army team.
Rutgers (6-4) ran nearly twice as many plays as Army (3-7), which saw its perfect record at home come to an end with its fourth consecutive setback.
Rice's best game? Tom Luicci points out other exemplary performances:
Ray Rice broke the single-game rushing record - but was this his best game?
Not even close. Let's be honest: Army came in ranked 109th nationally against the run. Rice became the third back in the past five games to top 200 yards against the Black Knights. Rice didn't even score until the game was in hand in the second half. He was just consistent all night. He made good cuts, ran hard and dragged tacklers with him. His best games were last year against Pittsburgh and South Florida. He was pretty good against North Carolina to open the 2006 season, too. And he wasn't bad against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. Yardage-wise, this was the school record. But Rice has had better games with big runs at clutch times while dominating play in a tight game.
Who else was running? Backup quarterback Jabu Lovelace:
the running man that prompted the eye-rubs, the one that kept a slew of red-clad, sopping wet Rutgers fans packed into the south end zone until game's end, that was backup quarterback Jabu Lovelace.
"He's a runner," Rice said of the Tenafly product. "Some things just come natural."
Sharing time from Rutgers' first drive, and then pressed into full-time action after 26-game starter Mike Teel's hurt hand gave out on him, Lovelace was cool, collected, and generally scintillating when he moved his feet. He carried the ball 23 times for 81 yards and two scores, and he completed a couple passes too.
Final score: RU 41, Army 6.
