Week two of the Monmouth/Rutgers football seasons saw Monmouth's dream advance. Rutgers, on the other hand, saw its dream take a nightmarish turn. The respective dreams: for Monmouth, another Northeast Conference championship; for Rutgers, further gains in its program's respectability.
This week's outcomes: At Kessler Field, West Long Branch, NJ: Monmouth 34, La Salle 15. And at Rutgers Stadium, Piscataway, NJ: New Hampshire 35, Rutgers 24.
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Monmouth
The Hawks entered Saturday's contest ranked number three in the nation in The Sports Network's 1-AA Mid-Major Top-10 Poll, the position it maintain's in this week's rankings.
Last week's number one team, Duquesne University, was a 34-14 loser to Northeast Conference member Robert Morris. This sets up a great early season NEC showdown next Saturday, when Monmouth travels to Pittsburgh for a 1:00 PM (ET) kickoff against the Robert Morris Colonials. This will mark the first league game for both teams.
Meanwhile, the University of Dayton, the number two team in last week's poll moved up to first place this week, after routing Moorehead State Saturday night by a score of 38-0.
Monmouth's win Saturday over La Salle was a high output affair, with the Hawks amassing 501 total yards. Monmouth wide receiver, Miles Austin, a preseason All-Northeast Conference selection and 1-AA All-America candidate, had another solid outing, racking up seven receptions for 125 yards and one touchdown.
Prev.
Rank School Points Rank
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1 Dayton (OH) 237 2
2 Robt. Morris (PA) 210 4
3 Monmouth (NJ) 192 3
4 Duquesne (PA) 146 1
5 San Diego (CA) 142 6
6 Valparaiso (IN) 131 5
7 Drake (IA) 90 8
8 Wagner (NY) 76 9
9 Stony Brook (NY) 42 10
10 Morehead St. (KY) 28 7
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Rutgers
The great fear among Rutgers fans this week was that with the Scarlet Knights coming off a nationally televised upset victory over Michigan State last week, there would a letdown against 1-AA opponent New Hampshire. Meanwhile, a highly talented NH team pulled off a stunning 24-21 upset of the University of Delaware last week. Delaware was the defending 1-AA national champion, and was ranked number one in the country this year going into its game with NH.
And a letdown there was, with the New Hampshire Wildcats outplaying Rutgers on both sides of the ball. In addition, the NH coaching staff came away with a victory of its own. It came to New Brunswick with an excellent game plan in hand, requiring adjustments from the Rutgers staff that simply were not forthcoming.
New Hampshire quarterback, Ricky Santos, a red-shirt freshman, had another exceptional game. Last week against Delaware, he came off the bench to replace injured starter, Mike Granieri. Santos went 10 for 11 for 146 yards, including the touchdown that secured the New Hampshire victory. Against Rutgers on Saturday night, Santos completed 30 of 40 passes, for 385 yards and five touchdowns. The five TDs set a NH record.
Weather was no factor in Saturday's contest. Conditions were perfect for the 7:00 PM kickoff, with 31,615 fans on hand to see the game. Last week against Michigan State, Rutgers drew a record home crowd of 42,612.
The Scarlet Knights return to action next Saturday, with a 7:00 PM (ET) kickoff at home against Kent State University of the Mid-American Conference. A victory over Kent State will be critical -- to indicate that the New Hampshire loss did not hurt the Rutgers program a lot more than the Michigan State win helped it.
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