Monday's game was as surprising to Rutgers fans as it was to football coach Greg Schiano.
Fans expected some early season jitters and some mistakes, but not the ones that happened in the 24-7 embarrassing loss to Fresno State.
The mistakes, especially by the secondary, overshadowed the highlights. One, which not many expected, was Kordell Young, a redshirt sophomore. The West Deptford High School graduate ran for 94 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
He came off season-ending knee surgery and wasn't sure if he could carry the bulk of the load.
He and Mason Robinson looked so good in preseason camp that Schiano had them both listed at tailback.
However, throughout Monday's game Young took hold of the tailback position. He bounced through holes, cut to the blockers and created extra yardage for himself.
"I thought he had good vision,"
Schiano said Tuesday. "I thought he ran very hard. He made some cuts that created his own runs."
On fourth-and-goal on the 5-yard-line, the Scarlet Knights opted to go for a touchdown. The play set up Robinson to go to the right. Instead he went up the middle and was stopped. On the replays, the blocks were there and Robinson had the opening.
"He saw something and thought he could cut it back,"
Schiano said. "It was a little bit frustrating on that. Personally, as coach I never question a running back's decision. I don't have the whole defense running after me. If you start to question a running back's eyes, he will lose confidence."
Robinson was the antithesis of Young.
He couldn't find the blocks and his longest run was 8 yards - he netted 12 on the day.
Twelve of the Scarlet Knights' 34 plays were for a yard or less.
It's clear change from the days of Ray Rice when he carried defenders on his back to gobble any bit of land he could.
However, Schiano isn't worried about those lost plays just yet. There were bigger problems for the offense.
"I thought we were very close,"
Schiano said. "As we watched the tape, we were one block here, maybe a poor choice there. We underthrew one (pass), dropped one. It's not very far off. I think they are all very correctable issues."
Rutgers will host North Carolina on Sept. 11, with more than a week to prepare for the second game of the season.And, so what if he isn't Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back. Young never professed to be and wants to make a name with Rutgers on his own.
"It felt great to go out there and produce for the team,"
Young said after the game on Monday night. "I am not living in the past."
The same couldn't be said for his counterpart. Robinson made a glaring mistake that had the Scarlet Nation kicking and screaming since the end of the opener.
