3^rd quarter

14:16: Sanu targeted deep against a safety on a cornerback blitz. He runs a poor route here. Had he just keep going straight, he would have been wide open, but he tried a double move with the safety far off of him, allowing him to catch up and cover him well for an incomplete, though there could have been PI on this one.

6:34: Sanu is covered well short, but it doesn’t matter. Nice hands to catch it with a guy blanketed on him and then he shows nice, physical moves to take it for 16 with a lot of yards after catch.

5:22: Sanu targeted on the sideline against tight double coverage deep. Picked. Sanu could have done more to break up the interception, but he was tight coverage and it wasn’t the best throw.

1:10: Sanu tries to make a tough catch, but can’t. Off his hands. This is one a player of his caliber should have made.

0:20: Abreu run at, nothing happening, one of his best plays of the night.

4^th quarter

11:08: Tandy with a pass deflection and almost a pick.

5:43: Abreu pancaked on outside containment, allows a big run.

4:14: Sanu with a short catch.

3:59: Tandy with his 3^rd deflection/near pick of the night.

3:53: With Rutgers trailing by multiple scores for the first time tonight, we finally get to see what this West Virginia pass rush can do. Bruce Irvin getting consistent pressure, as is sophomore defensive end Will Clarke. Julian Miller is on the bench.

3:32: Irvin got pressure on almost every pass play on that drive.

1:51: Sanu with his 4^th catch of the game, first down, gets out of bounds as Rutgers is trailing.

1:36: Sanu with his 2^nd catch for a first down on the drive, tackled well by Tandy.

1:01: Will Clarke with a sack for West Virginia. Irvin got pressure as well.

0:00: Keith Tandy looked like a mid round prospect coming into this game and I was looking forward to the matchup between him and Mohamed Sanu, a rising prospect who is having an awesome year and a potential late first round pick. The 6-3 220 Sanu has 65 catches for 683 yards and 6 touchdowns in 7 games coming in. Unfortunately, the two didn’t match up very often.

One play where they did, Sanu caught the ball short over the middle and Tandy whiffed on a tackle, allowing a touchdown. Tandy was involved on two other touchdowns allowed. He surrendered a 47 yarder through the air and failed as the last man to beat on a long touchdown run.

On the flip side, Tandy also had 3 pass break ups and could have had several picks. After that first touchdown allowed, he did tackle better for the rest of the night, even though he couldn’t get off a block on that long touchdown run. Aside from the two touchdowns allowed, he didn’t only allowed one more catch and that was a catch that he kept in front of him late with a lead. Tandy looks like a mid rounder. On the season, he has 45 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 picks, and 9 pass breakups.

Sanu didn’t have his most dominant game, but he did lead Rutgers receivers with 5 catches for 48 yards and a score even though his quarterback was inconsistent at best going 18 of 46 for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He also flashed a lot of physicality. He is 6-3 220 and plays bigger than that. He is very tough to bring down in the open field and a good run blocker with a feisty motor. He also has big, strong hands and is a natural pass catcher.

However, he did have a few mental lapses. He dropped a pass, blew a chance at a long reception with a poor route run. He also failed to come back for a very underthrown ball deep and didn’t do enough to break up an interception thrown at him. I’ll need to see more of him, but even with all of his physical gifts, he looks like an early 2^nd rounder rather than a late 1^st rounder to me.

Another guy matchup I was intrigued to watch was Rutgers’ Manny Abreu against West Virginia’s Don Barclay. Barclay dominated that one, but it’s hard to give him a stock up for it. Abreu struggled matched up with either tackle, the left tackle Barclay or the right tackle. Abreu doesn’t look draftable at this point. He had a few nice plays, but really struggled to get consistent pressure and looked very bad against the run. Meanwhile, Don Barclay looks like a late rounder. I don’t know if he has the athleticism to be anything other than a right tackle at the next level.

Another Rutgers defensive lineman did stand out and that was 6-2 275 pound Justin Francis, a defensive tackle. He had 2 tackles for loss to give him 9 tackles for loss and 4 sacks on the year. He’ll have to move to left end or possible 3-4 defensive end at the next level, but he has some promise and looks like someone who is deserving of a late round flier. He’ll be spotlighted at a later date.

West Virginia is known for its pass rush and it really flashed late when Rutgers was trailing by multiple scores for the first time all game. Bruce Irvin is the leader. At 6-3 245 pound defensive end is very undersized, but he also is a very good pass rusher. He had 14 sacks last season. He is disappointing this season with just 2.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss, but he looked very good late in this game, getting pressure on almost every play. However, it wasn’t the toughest matchup and he’s really disappointed this season as a pass rusher, while remaining weak against the run. Unless he gets things together, he might fall out of day 2 entirely.

Another defensive end for West Virginia with slipping stock is Julian Miller. Miller came into the season as a potential day 2 pick, but he is losing a lot of playing time to sophomore defensive end Will Clarke. Clarke had a sack today and was in exclusively on those last 2 drives with West Virginia winning. Miller didn’t see the field. He did have a fumble recovery, but he’s having a bad year. He had 9 sacks and 14 tackles for loss last season, but this year the 6-4 260 pound end has just 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. Someone might still draft him late.