Rowan v. TCNJ Football Game Preview

 

By Jay Palitto

 

The Profs of Rowan University (2-2) are set to take on the visiting Lions of The College of New Jersey (3-1) this Saturday at Coach Richard Wackar Stadium in Glassboro, NJ.

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The Profs are coming off of two straight losses following a 2-0 start to the season. The most recent of these was a 20-13 loss last Friday in Baltimore, MD against Johns Hopkins University in which offensive miscues caused them to outgain their opponent in the game yet still come up short.

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Conversely, the Lions were on the winning side of a 20-13 contest last week when they took down Montclair State at home in Ewing, NJ. In similar fashion to Rowan's game, the TCNJ was outgained by a significant margin by their opponents but were still able to do just enough to pull out a win.

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Rowan quarterback, Nate Maiers, had a career-high 242 yards passing last week but the offense was unable to capitalize on this outing. This was despite the defense, for the most part, doing their job collecting two blocked field goals thanks to Ahmad Gantt as well as a stop on a late two-point conversion by Jason Blanks. The Profs offense is going to need to capitalize on these efforts if they want to walk away with a win this Saturday.

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The Rowan defense will have their work cut out for them this week, however, as they will be taking on the Lions' fifth year tight end, Thomas Burke. Burke collected his 100th career catch last week in a five-catch-125-yard performance, one of which went for a 65 yard touchdown to put his team up 17-3 late in the third quarter. Rowan's offense will have much more pressure to perform this week as their defense will almost certainly be getting consistent pressure from Burke and the rest of the Lions' potent offense.