Five things to watch for: Rutgers

Coming off of a blowout loss at home to Penn State, Maryland hopes to rebound on the road this weekend against a Rutgers team that has already been beaten handily three times this season and just fired its head coach Chris Ash hours after its most recent defeat — 52-0 to Michigan.

The Scarlet Knights are a reeling group that will try to rally behind its misfortune and interim head coach Nunzio Campanile, who previously served as the team’s tight ends coach. Campanile announced Thursday that presumed starting quarterback Artur Sitkowski has asked to sit out to preserve his redshirt eligibility this season, leaving Boston College transfer Johnny Langan as Rutgers’ signal-caller against the Terps. Sitkowski had been platooning with McLane Carter, who is now out with an injury, while Langan completed his only pass attempt of the season for 8 yards in Rutgers’ lone win against UMass.

How Langan responds to his new role is one thing to keep an eye on Saturday. Here are five more things to watch when Maryland and Rutgers take the field at SHI Stadium.

1. O-line Issues

There are issues across the offensive line for both teams entering this game. Maryland has been without right guard Terrance Davis for the last two games after he sprained his MCL early against Temple. He will be out again. Terps’ right tackle Marcus Minor and center Johnny Jordan are also nicked up and have had limited practice this week. Head coach Mike Locksley referred to both of them as game-time decisions for Saturday. Look for Austin Fontaine and Ellis McKennie to be the next man up in the offensive front’s rotation if either Minor or Jordan can’t go. Even if Maryland’s starting offensive linemen are healthy enough to play, the Terps will need to get more than they’ve been getting out of their blockers. For Rutgers, starting left tackle Raiqwon O’Neal has missed practice all week and was seen sporting a walking boot. It is looking like he will not be able to go on Saturday.

2. Keeping the Turnover Streak Alive

After freshman safety Nick Cross’ second-quarter interception against Penn State, which happened to be the first of his career, Maryland saw its streak of consecutive games with at least one turnover climb to 16 — the third-longest streak in the FBS, trailing only Mississippi State (21) and Syracuse (19). Rutgers is no stranger to turnovers, so there’s a good chance the streak stays alive on Saturday. Maryland has forced seven turnovers and only given the ball away five times this season for a plus-two margin. The Terps have won the turnover battle in three of their four games this season, and they’ll look to do it again against the Scarlet Knights.

3. Running Back Receptions

Rutgers is a team that lacks the weapons to attack downfield. That is why junior running back Raheem Blackshear leads the team in receptions by a large margin. Thanks to an offensive scheme that has relied on check-downs, screens, and swing passes, Blackshear already has 29 receptions this season; wide receiver Bo Melton has the second-most on the team with 11. Things could change a bit with Campanile now at the helm, but watching for Blackshear’s pass-catching ability out of the backfield seems like the place to start when scouting the Scarlet Knights’ offense. Conversely, Maryland has perhaps tried to push the ball downfield too much. Despite having three running backs with good hands to possibly use, the Terps have seldom thrown to their tailbacks this season. McFarland has just six receptions through four games, while Leake and Fleet-Davis each have three. In order to get struggling Terps quarterback Josh Jackson in a rhythm a little sooner, Maryland could go with a shorter passing game against Rutgers on Saturday.

4. Let the Points Fly

After averaging 71 points per game through the first two games of the season, Maryland’s offense has really stalled out in its last two outings, combining for just 17 points between the two contests, including being shutout by Penn State last week. But playing Rutgers might just be the remedy the Terps need to get back on track. When it comes to playing the Scarlet Knights, points are not hard to come by for Maryland. In five meetings as Big Ten foes, the Terps are averaging 34.6 points per game against Rutgers. Their success has mostly been due to the run game, where Maryland has dominated the Scarlet Knights for an average of 291.4 yards on the ground over those five meetings.

5. Rutgers Running an Up-Tempo Spread

Earlier in the week, Locksley referred to this matchup with Rutgers as sort of feeling like a season-opener where you’re not exactly sure what you’re going to get from the opposing team. Although Rutgers is four games into its season, introducing an interim head coach into the mix changes the script a little bit. Locksley admitted that only so much of a team’s identity can be changed in one week of practice, but he is expecting the Scarlet Knights to come out with a little bit more of a spread attack because of Campanile’s track record. Having been responsible for helping to turn around the Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) offense and turning Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) into a powerhouse, Campanile is said to be already making changes to the offense, making it a little faster than what we saw from Rutgers in its first couple of games.