Blue White Illustrated

>> MOST RECENT MEETING Hard to be- lieve, but these border rivals haven't met since the Nittany Lions romped to a 59- 34 victory at Giants Stadium on Sept. 23, 1995. OFFENSE The Scarlet Knights need to improve a ground game that pro- duced only 129.5 yards per game last season, so the return of their top four rushers and all five starting linemen is welcome news indeed. Running back Paul James leads the way after rushing for 881 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore. Rutgers also returns its top receiver in tight end Tyler Kroft, who won first-team All-AAC honors after finishing his sophomore year with a team-high 43 catches. But for the Knights to be competitive in the Big Ten, they'll need more consistency from senior quarterback Gary Nova. A year ago, Nova threw nearly as many interceptions (14) as touchdown passes (18). DEFENSE Rutgers needs to toughen up its pass defense after allowing oppo- nents to compete 31 touchdown throws last year while totaling only eight inter- ceptions. The Knights are looking for big seasons from strong safety Lorenzo Wa- ters and cornerback Gareef Glashen. Both are seniors. The front seven looks solid, with starting linebackers Quentin Gause, Kevin Snyder and Steve Longa all returning. OUTLOOK The Scarlet Knights have gone bowling six of the past seven years, but their road to the postseason is about to get a lot harder. They won only three conference games last season and now are exchanging the likes of SMU, Tem- ple and Connecticut for Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Plus, they've already suffered a costly recruiting loss to James Franklin in the form of four- star wideout Saaed Blacknall, who flipped from the Knights to the Nittany Lions shortly after Franklin's arrival. With his deep recruiting connections in the Northeast, Franklin could be a thorn in Rutgers' side for many years to come. If Rutgers can't protect the Garden State's borders, it's going to have prob- lems in the Big Ten's brutal East Divi- sion. And those problems could begin with its very first game as a conference member. 2013 RECORD 1-11 (1-7 Mid-American Conference) SERIES RECORD First meeting OFFENSE The Minutemen have a re- turning starter at quarterback in junior A.J. Doyle, but Marshall transfer Blake Frohnapfel will get a long look in August. Frohnapfel is a graduate student who is eligible to play without sitting out a year. So Massachusetts will have a veteran at quarterback no matter who wins the starting spot. But it will be awfully young elsewhere. Of the 11 projected starters on offense, six have either freshman or sophomore eligibility. Al- though they've never faced Penn State, the Minutemen do have a couple of Penn State connections. Former Nittany Lion wideout Alex Kenney has transferred to the school and is eligible to play this fall. And redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Whipple recently joined Kenney in Amherst, where he will play for his fa- ther, first-year head coach Mark Whip- ple, after sitting out the coming season. DEFENSE The Minutemen are more experienced on this side of the ball than on offense. They run a 3-4 scheme that's set up to allow junior linebackers Trey Seals and Kassan Messiah to make plays from sideline to sideline. The secondary is also stocked with veterans, notably junior cornerbacks Randall Jette and Trey Dudley-Giles. After giving up 433.3 yards a game last year (98th-best in the nation), the Minutemen need to make progress, and they need to make it quickly. OUTLOOK You like to think of one- win seasons as aberrations, but Massa- chusetts has posted two in a row since moving to the Football Bowl Subdivi- sion, and it's tough to see where the wins are going to come from this year. One place they're probably not coming from is the nonconference schedule, which features Boston College, Colorado, Van- derbilt and Penn State. It's a more ambi- tious slate than that of most FBS schools. Of course, this is a program with a 17,000-seat stadium, a small fan following and a need to keep the revenue flowing. The result is likely to be a string of mismatches that could well continue into the conference season, with Massa- chusetts set to open MAC play against East Division favorite Bowling Green. 2013 RECORD 5-7 (1-7 Big Ten) SERIES RECORD Penn State leads, 13-3 MOST RECENT MEETING Penn State scored 22 points in the fourth quarter and sent the Homecoming crowd home happy with a come-from-behind 39-28 victory on Oct. 6, 2012. OFFENSE Senior Trevor Siemian is the full-time starter at quarterback now that Kain Colter has graduated. If Siemi- an's performance in last year's season fi- nale against Illinois is any indication – 414 passing yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions – he's ready to step into a more prominent role. He's not as mobile as Colter, but the 6-foot-3, 210- pounder is coming off a season in which he completed just under 60 percent of his throws. With all five starters return- ing up front, and plenty of experience at wide receiver and tailback, Northwest- ern has the makings of a very strong of- fense. DEFENSE The Wildcats surrendered more than 250 passing yards a game last season to rank 99th in the country. Those numbers have to improve, and with nine starters back, including hon- W E E K 4 UMASS T I M E T BA , S E P T. 2 0 B E AV E R STA D I U M W E E K 5 NORTHWESTERN N O O N , S E P T. 2 7 B E AV E R STA D I U M

• Cover