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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

Behind Enemy Lines: Ryan Dunleavy

The Michigan football team 

(2-2 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) once had 
its eyes on the College Football 
Playoff.

Then it played Penn State.
Now, with their goals realigned 

and their focus on what’s ahead, 
the Wolverines meet the polar 
opposite of the Nittany Lions. 
Rutgers (2-2, 3-4) comes to Ann 
Arbor for the fourth ever meeting 
between the two programs, in a 
meeting of two wailing offenses.

Thursday, the Michigan Daily 

spoke with Ryan Dunleavy, a 
Rutgers beat reporter for NJ.com, 
to talk about the Scarlet Knights’ 
season and what Michigan fans 
can expect to see this weekend.

The Michigan Daily: Now 

that Rutgers has back-to-back 
wins, what are your thoughts on 
the team, and what are you going 
to be watching for from Rutgers 
this weekend?

Ryan 
Dunleavy: 
I 
think 

they’re getting much better. They 
were a team last year that so much 

of what they had to do was clean 
up off-field messes, and get the 
program image back in the right 
direction, get the recruiting back 
in the right direction. It was such 
a long-term rebuild that I think 
the onfield product almost had to 
take a back seat during year one 
(under coach Chris Ash).

In the last two weeks, you’re 

finally starting to see a little bit 
of progress on the field from the 
team getting some wins. It also 
shows you how bad the West 
division of the Big Ten is. It’s 
Wisconsin and a bunch of below 
average teams, which I’ve said 
all along. Rutgers, Maryland, 
Indiana all those teams would 
probably be bowl-teams in the 
West 
division, 
and 
Rutgers 

beating Purdue and Illinois only 
strengthens my case.

TMD: 
Rutgers 
switched 

quarterbacks two weeks ago and 
now plays Giovanni Rescigno. 
How has he played?

RD: The best way to describe 

how he’s played is ‘tough’ and 
‘smart.’ If you look at the stats, 
he’s certainly not going to win 

you over. He’s completed 50 
percent of his passes for about 
170 yards and one touchdown 
but no interceptions. That’s in 
two games. He’s certainly not the 
reason they’re winning games, 
but he isn’t the reason they’re 
losing games, which might be the 
reason they’re winning games.

He’s 
played 
smart. 
His 

teammates rally behind him. He’s 
a ‘gamer.’ He raises his game in 
practice, he improvises plays 
on the run. He bounces back up 
from tackles. He’ll take a big hit. 
He’s one of those guys teammates 
love to get behind. He’s got those 
intangibles that can really lift a 
team’s spirit. He’s helped Rutgers 
in that way.

He’s helped Rutgers not so 

much as a passer, not so much as 
a runner, but just as a good leader.

TMD: Rutgers runs the ball 

on almost two-thirds of its plays. 
If Michigan lines up with six or 
seven guys crashing the line, will 
that change Rutgers’ game plan 
at all?

RD: (Rutgers) will try to 

run it. It will change if they’re 

not having success, but their 
preference would be to find a way 
to have success even if Michigan 
is crashing the box. Rutgers is 
going to want to run the ball. 
They’re going to want to shorten 
the game. They’re going to want 
to have time of possession. That’s 
what they want to do.

They have no interest in getting 

into a high-scoring battle with a 
team that has superior talent.

TMD: Has there been any talk 

of revenge at Rutgers in regards 
to last year’s game?

RD: They’ve done a pretty good 

job of putting that out of their 
heads publicly. I think it’s on the 
back of everybody’s mind. That 
game was impossible to forget. 
Rutgers-Michigan is interesting 
because they’ve played three 
times and two of them are very 
memorable. One, Rutgers beat 
Michigan, and it was like, ‘Oh my 
god, how did that happen?’ It was 
Rutgers’ first Big Ten win in 2014. 
Last year, 78-nothing. You just 
don’t see that. You see 56-nothing 
all the time, but you don’t see 78 
nothing. I think for Rutgers it’s in 

the back of their mind, but no one 
has admitted that it’s an extra 
motivator.

TMD: 
Hypothetically, 
if 

Rutgers pulled off an upset, who 
would be the X-factor for the 
Scarlet Knights?

RD: It’d take more than one 

X-factor for Rutgers to beat 
Michigan. I know the teams 
have the same conference record 
but there is still a pretty big 
gap. I would start with Raheem 
Blackshear. He’s a true freshman 
running back who has scored 
touchdowns in each of the last 
two games. He’s just lightning-in-
a-bottle quick. He decommitted 
from Michigan State and ended 
up at Rutgers. A real difference 
maker, gets eight or 10 touches 
a game and makes the most of 
them.

Janarion Grant is a guy who 

had a big game on special teams 
the last time Rutgers was at the 
Big House. He was supposed to 
be their best receiver this season, 
but with his inconsistency he 
hasn’t really been much of a factor 
at all. If you told me Rutgers was 
going to win back-to-back games 
without Janarion Grant having 
much of an impact, I would not 
have believed that. He’s either 
due for a big game or destined for 
a bad year.

On defense, if Michigan is 

going to run the ball as much as I 
expect, Trevor Morris is Rutgers’ 
leading tackler — a linebacker 
who is just always around the 
ball. It seems like he has 10 
tackles every Saturday. What he 
doesn’t have is forced fumbles 
and interceptions. If he can turn 
all those tackles into tackles for 
loss or turnovers, that would be 
something that could swing the 
game.

TMD: Finally, your prediction?
RD: I pick Michigan, 42-7. I 

think both teams are going to 
run the ball, run the ball and 
run the ball all day long. I expect 
Michigan’s offensive line will 
be able to do a little bit better 
job than Rutgers’. Michigan’s 
defense will be able to do a better 
job stopping Rutgers. Michigan 
has too much depth.

I know Michigan is off to what 

they would consider a tough 
start, but bottom line is they just 
have too much talent right now.

TED JANES

Daily Sports Writer

The Daily spoke with a Rutgers beat writer for NJ.com ahead of Saturday’s matchup

FILE PHOTO/Daily

The Rutgers football team is coming off consecutive conference wins against Purdue and Illinois, and running back Raheem Blackshear is a big reason why.

