Rowan Hosts No. 23 Cortland
Last season, Cortland topped Rowan, 24-14. Quarterback Dan Pitcher threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns with 14 completions in 27 pass attempts, before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an injury.
SUNY Cortland blanked The College at Brockport, 35-0 on Saturday. Quarterback Dan Pitcher had nine completions in 17 pass attempts for 137 yards and one touchdown. Tailback Justin Autera rushed for 163 yards and three TDs on 23 carries. Wide receiver Anthony Giuliano made five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Fullback Bill Smith had a 16 yard TD run.
Rowan needs to win on Saturday to stay in the playoff and NJAC title hunt. The Red Dragons are the conference leaders in scoring offense (35.2), scoring defense (3.8), total offense (399.4), rushing offense (223.2), rushing defense (50.6), kickoff returns (31.7) and sacks (20). Its important for the Profs to move the ball and score earlier than last week. The Rowan offense needs to gel earlier in the game.
Both the Profs and the Red Dragons have beaten Buffalo State and Kean this year by similar scores. Rowan needs a complete A game on Saturday. Cortland has quite a few offensive weapons at wide receiver and running back Autera leads the team in rushing with 532 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Red Dragons rank second in total defense (194.6), punt returns (13.8), interceptions (9) and punting (33.3). Cortland is third in
pass defense (144.0), pass efficiency (139.4), and pass efficiency defense (96.7).
I think Rowan matches up talent-wise against Cortland. The key will be execution. The Profs must continue getting better on execution. The Kean and the Buffalo State wins were positive steps forward. If Rowan can take the next step forward in execution, the Profs can win.
See you on Saturday.
Rowanfootball.com was started in 2002 by Tom Wilson aka JT. JT is a Rowan alumnus who has followed the team since his time as an undergrad.
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