Rutger’s next game will perhaps be their most telling matchup of the season. The road game versus Virginia Tech will put on full display just how Rutgers stacks up against another Power 4 opponent in one of the most hostile environments in all of college football.
Rutgers and Virginia Tech played last year in Piscataway with the Knights winning the matchup 35-16. The Knights were led on offense by big ten leading rusher Kyle Monangai who had a dominant performance of 143 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 rushing attempts. His first carry of the day resulted in a 19-yard touchdown for Rutgers.
The Knights defense also had a strong performance in this game generating two turnovers and not letting up a touchdown until the third quarter.
Rutgers vs Virginia Tech 2024- Their Seasons So Far
Three weeks into the season including one bye week, Rutgers has started their season a perfect 2-0, though their competition hasn’t exactly been stiff. They beat the Howard University Bison 44-7 and they handled the Akron Zips by a score of 49-17. The running game so far has been dominant and the passing game, while still needing plenty of work, has shown significant improvement over last year.
Two areas of concern for the Knights have been early offensive production and defensive injuries. Over the last two games, Rutgers has only scored seven offensive points in the first quarter against two of the easiest opponents on their schedule. Rutgers will need their offense to play a full four quarters of football to maximize their success when their Power 4 schedule starts.
The second area of concern for the Knights is the injuries on defense. They lost the leader of their defense, Mohammed Toure, before the season started and since then a bunch of their defensive playmakers have either missed playing time or have been listed as questionable on the availability report. The progression of the depth players on defense will go a long way toward determining how the Knights will do this season.
On the flip side of things, we have the Virginia Tech Hokies who are 2-1 on the year. The Hokie started their Power 4 play on opening day, losing to the Vanderbilt Commodores 34-27. Since then, they have played Marshall and Old Dominion. Old Dominion they handled with ease but Marshall was able to amass some resistance until the Hokies pulled away at the end.
On offense, the Hokies are extremely intriguing. At quarterback, they have a dual-threat man named Kyron Drones. Drones is a streaky player but when he gets humming the whole team takes off with him. He is a definite threat that the battered knight’s defense will have to find a way to deal with.
There are two areas of weakness for the Hokies that have been on display this year and those are their offensive line issues and weak rush defense. So far this season, the Hokies offensive line has given up seven sacks in just three games. They gave up four sacks against Marshall alone. If the Hokies don’t find a scheme to fix these issues it could be a long day for Drones.
The second big weakness that Virginia Tech has is its rush defense. They have surrendered at least 140 rushing yards in each of their first three games. They will need to shore up these issues when they play the Knights or else Rutgers will wear down their defense quickly.
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