RU Ready

Ray Rice gets 2,012 yards

Ray Rice has until Jan. 15 to decide if he will skip his senior year and enter the NFL draft. If he leaves college football, he will be leaving on a very high note -- with a 2,000-yard-plus season and the best game of his life at the international Bowl, where RU beat Ball State 52-30:

Rutgers running back Ray Rice eclipsed his own career-high in rushing yards with 280 adding four touchdowns in the process as the Scarlet Knights easily defeated the Ball State Cardinals 52-30 to win Toronto's International Bowl.

 

Rice had 1,732 rushing yards this season entering the second annual bowl needing just 62 to also pass his career-high he set last year. He nearly broke the mark on the first down of the game when he powered through the middle for a 21 yard run.

 

The record was then broken on a one-yard run touchdown early in the first. He went on to break the 2,000 yard mark, the thirteen man in league history to do so.

 

"I've been around some great, great running backs, both in college football and the National Football League and this guy today, what he did, is second to nothing I've seen," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "This guy does it game in and game out because he is tremendous."

A few more details in this Bloomberg report:

Kenny Britt had six receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown for Rutgers, while Tiquan Underwood and Tim Brown also caught scoring passes from Teel, who was 16-of-25 passing with an interception.          

The Scarlet Knights, who played Princeton in the first college game in 1869, beat Kansas State 37-10 in last season's Texas Bowl for their first bowl victory. Rutgers has gone to bowl games in three straight years after making its only previous appearance in 1978.

  And from RU:

Rice entered the game with 1,732 yards on the season and with 280 for the game, he amassed a total of 2,012 yards, becoming the 13th player in NCAA history to go over the 2,000 yard mark in a single campaign. He also became the first BIG EAST player to rush for more than 2,000 yards and set both a conference and school record in single-season rushing (2,012). It was also Rice's first four-touchdown game of his career. He has scored multiple touchdowns in 13 games.

A night of Ray Rice and Jabu Lovelace

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.

A record for Rice: 3,273

And Rutgers beats Navy, 41-24.

From the Inquirer report on RU:

And with Rice and the offensive line pounding away for the first three quarters, Rutgers went up top for the game-sealing touchdown when Mike Teel hit Kenny Britt for a 53-yard touchdown pass to make it 34-17 with 9 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.

Teel was 14 for 19 for 266 yards and three touchdowns, and Tiquan Underwood had six catches for 104 yards. Rutgers had 476 total yards.

Rice, held to 93 yards by Navy last year, set the record on a 19-yard run on his second carry and received a standing ovation from the 43,514 fans. He now has 3,273 yards and surpassed Terrell Willis, who compiled 3,114 yards from 1993 to '95.

"It was coming sooner or later," Teel said. "He deserves everything he's got, including the record. He's a tremendous football player, the heart and soul of the offense, and when we needed a play, he was there to make a play. He trains for games like this."

The Star-Ledger writers had a roundtable discussion about the game:

Ray Rice became RU's all-time leading scorer. But how did he do nationally? After all, Friday nights are good time to get a lot of views from Heisman voters who are otherwise busy on Saturday. How impressive do you think his 175-yard, 3-TD performance will be in the eyes of voter viewers?

TL: Here's the thing Rice has done that has to impress voters: he is showing them he is not a one-dimensional back. He recorded his first career touchdown reception on a nifty screen play and now has five catches for 61 yards in two games -- after having four for 30 yards in 13 games last season. So he is becoming a complete back. Because of the receiving, he has topped 200 yards of total offense in both games this year. That stuff gets noticed. So does averaging 179.5 rushing yards and three touchdowns a game -- which Rice is doing. And did you see his block on a blitz pickup with Rutgers in the red zone on one play?

SP: The performance was big for Rice for one reason: Rutgers won. The only way he gets the Heisman Trophy is if the Scarlet Knights go 12-0 or 11-1 and play in a major bowl. The numbers will always be there for Rice, and so far statistically, he's done just fine. But so have a lot of players. Rice needs wins.

AD: I think Rice will be truly appreciated by Heisman voters at the end of the season. Colt Brennan and Brian Brohm put up monster stats and Darren McFadden has the star power. At the end of the year, though, when you look at Rice's game log, it's going to cause a double take. Pretty much every game is going to be 150+ on the ground, two or three scores, and then a couple catches. Consistency counts for something, doesn't it?

BP: Very impressive, but he's still got to get some help to get into dead-serious consideration. Arkansas' Darren McFadden has tons of hype and momentum, as does Louisville's Brian Brohm. If Rice is to be a serious contender, those two guys have to do some slipping up.

Pressure from the defense -- particularly Courtney Greene -- kept Navy off guard. Turn to The Washington Post for details on the third interception thrown by the Navy quarterback:

In the huddle on the sideline, the Navy coach told Kaheaku-Enhada not to throw the ball into coverage.

As Kaheaku-Enhada dropped back to pass, the wide receiver on the far sideline was double-covered. However, senior slotback Reggie Campbell was running stride for stride toward the end zone with Rutgers safety Courtney Greene, and it appeared for an instant he had a step on Greene.

By the time the ball was thrown, however, Greene had caught up, and he made a leaping interception, then landed in the end zone for a touchback.

Teel on Rice: 'hardest I've ever seen him work'

Mike Teel has high praise for Ray Rice, in this Inquirer profile:

"He realizes without those guys, he's not running for all those yards and touchdowns. He's just a great guy with a great head on his shoulders.

"And the way he worked this off-season, the hardest I've ever seen him work, harder than anyone else on the team, well, you know what, he deserves all the attention he's getting."

Tom's takes

Tom Luicci is impressed with Ray Rice:

**Ray Rice is huge. There is no question that Rice, in terms of his upper body, is much bigger and stronger than he was last year. Maybe 2,000 yards isn't so crazy.

Click to read the rest of Luicci's latest.

Ray Rice

RU's new promo site for Ray Rice, so awesome. Run Ray Run!

Ray Rice has plans

Ray Rice answers some questions from Gannett:

GNJ: No one expected you to be an overnight Heisman candidate last year, yet you figure to go into this season with a lot more hype. Have you thought about what kind of pressure that added attention can bring?

Rice: You just have to take everything in stride, take whatever comes to you. I mean, it's hard not to think about those things, but you can't go out there thinking, "Oh, I'm a Heisman candidate. I can do this, that and the other." You gotta go out and play the game of football and do it as a team. I think that's what's driving me, and driving this offense, too, because we have goals as a team and it's not just individual goals.

GNJ: What part of your game did you go into the spring wanting to improve the most?

Rice: Catching the ball out of the backfield -- that's what I've been working on. After Brian left, we're a big screen offense, so catching the ball out of the backfield is definitely one of the things that I can do and I've been working on.

Ray Rice chasing a Heisman

Ray Rice picked for a all-access ESPN segment. The Star-Ledger reports:

"The 5-9, 200-pounder said ESPN's request to mike him for a routine spring practice is good preparation for some of the media onslaught he can expect this fall. Rice will enter the year as a bona fide Heisman candidate, complete with a Rutgers-sponsored campaign.

"I just take it in stride and keep working," he said, "Coach (Greg Schiano) is always talking to me, making sure I'm working hard. So that's where my focus is. I'm working hard, trying to be the best I can be." "

Ray Rice looks ahead

Can Ray Rice get better? (His girlfriend, Matee Ajavon had a pretty good year, and so did he.)  Here's some thoughts from Rice and from Coach Schiano on what Ray needs to do, courtesy of The Trentonian:

"Schiano said he tries to be a little careful with Rice to keep him healthy, but that he gets no special treatment.

"There’s things he needs to improve on," the coach said. "The only way you’re going to improve on them is by doing them. He’s still only two years out of high school.

"He’s got to be more decisive on his cuts, and work on finishing every single run. Work on making people miss and finishing in the end zone. You can’t get tackled on the 20."

Rice has his own ideas of what he also needs to concentrate on.

"Pass protection, just getting my reads, and just playing football again," he said. "I don’t think there’s ever a time where you can’t just not play football.

"I’m trying just to get better at the little things. Obviously, what I do out here, reflects on the team, on my leadership ability. Those are things I think I need to just work on. Just come out every day, ready to practice." "

Oh, and here's a bit more on the Rice-Ajavon connection, from The Star-Ledger:
"Rutgers still might be relatively new to Final Fours and bowl games. But come on: We challenge any university in the country to come up with a couple who can top that.

"It's kind of cool," said Ajavon, who is never shy on the court but still bashful when it comes to talking about her boyfriend. "He always says he's more popular than me. I tell him he's more popular than me when it's football season. But right now? It's my time." "

Rice, Leonard

Ray Rice is the MVP, Brian Leonard the MVP-offense. Leonard also wins the Paul Robeson Award,  presented annually to the "individual whose performance, leadership and dedication on and off the field during his career has had the greatest impact on Rutgers football." RU has full details.