IT WAS A DONE DEAL WHEN
Backup QB Tony Williams proved he was up to the task. Tied 35-35 on the final drive, we received a scare when QB D.J. McPhearson suffered an injury. Williams came in on 3rd and 1 at our own 34 yard line. Failing to convert for a 1st down right there probably would've lost us the game. On his first play, he calmly hit Chris Jenkins for a 6 yard pass to move the chains. On the drive, Williams went 3/4 for 34 yards, and his only incompletion was a dropped ball that should've been caught. He also scrambled once for nine yards. When McPhearson was ready to come back into the game, Tony Williams turned it over to him after driving us down to the 23 yard line. McPhearson threw an 18 yard dart to TE Curtis Stanley to make it an easier field goal, but we were in position to win thanks to Tony Williams.

GAME BALLS
FS Kevin Coleman gets a game ball for the TD he scored for us. After Rutgers picked off McPhearson and ran it back for a score, it seemed like deja vu all over again -- the wind being taken out of our sails thanks to a bad break and a poorly-timed turnover. But Coleman came right back and picked off a pass for us, and even ran it in for six. That was crucial. ... QB D.J. McPhearson was on fire all day long. He was 17/20 for 309 yards, 3 TDs, and only 1 INT. He also ran for 69 yards and a score. ... OLB Greg Walker had a breakout performance. I've been praising him for his continued development as a LB (as he came in as a DE, originally, when I recruited him) this year, as he's made more tackles and been a better player when he's doing things other than crashing into the backfield. But his sack numbers weren't on par with what he showed last year. So it was great to see him bust out with a 2-sack game.

KEY STATISTICS
Rutgers converted 8 of 11 3rd downs on us. And aside from McPhearson's 51 yard scramble, they also completely stifled our ground game. So the fact that we completed 20 of our 24 passes to keep the clock moving and keep Rutgers' offense off the field, that was huge. I get the feeling Rutgers could've scored double the points if we didn't play such a precise offensive game.

NOTES
Rutgers RB Antwan Jones, who scored a TD against us, was one of our in-season recruiting target in 2008. ... Sophomore OLB Greg Walker picked up his team-leading 21st tackle of the season, already eclipsing the 20-tackle campaign he had as a freshman last year. ... Our first game and our first win against a ranked opponent, home or away. ... Chris Jenkins' 117 receiving yards rank 5th in our team's single-game performances. ... Casey Gipson is already one FG away from tying our record for most FGs in a single season (7, done by Patrick Long in 2008 and again in 2009).