On some plays, the ball-carrier -- whether it be Mason Robinson, Kordell Young, Jourdan Brooks or Joe Martinek -- would hit a hole only to be flattened immediately by a linebacker. On many others, the back would take a pitch or a handoff in the backfield and be flattened before even moving toward the line of scrimmage. 

It was that kind of day for the running game during the Knights' second intrasquad scrimmage, and the Knights have a lot of work to do in that area before Fresno State comes to town on Labor Day. 

But since there's plenty on the running game in the paper but not much, because of the lack of space we had, on a few other things I wanted to get to, here's some stuff I couldn't fit in the paper: 

1. It got overlooked because of the focus on the running backs' struggles, but Mike Teel, per usual, looked really, really sharp, completing 11 of 16 passes for 194 yards  (excluding the two-minute drill sessions the Knights ran at the end of the scrimmage.) Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's working with the best 1-2 receiving punch in the Big East in Kenny Britt and Notre Dame High School's Tiquan Underwood. Britt, by the way, did most of the work on a 70-yard touchdown reception early in the scrimmage, but headed for the locker room early with what Greg  Schiano said might have been a stomach ache. 

2. It looks like this Joe Lefeged/Zaire Kitchen competition for the starting strong safety spot is going to go down to the wire. Both played extensively yesterday with the first-team defense (though Lefeged started) and both played well. Schiano said Kitchen made some plays that stood out, and, perhaps in an understatement, said "he can thump you." Schiano is under no obligation to announce any of his probable starters  (in theory, he could list whoever he wanted to, then make 22 last-second changes) until the week before the Fresno State game, and I wouldn't be surprised if strong safety is the last unknown on the depth chart. 

3. I caught up with Dennis Campbell, who's trying to hold off a resurgent Tim Brown for the No. 3 wideout job. I asked Campbell if he had fully moved out of Schiano's dog house, and he said "I'm trying to get out of it. Hopefully I am." Judging by Schiano's comments, though, he's out of it, having won the team's most improved offensive player award during spring practice and followed that up with a solid camp so far. 

Campbell said he's a lot more confident and focused than he was last summer, when he had what he called an "up and down" camp. He said the spring practice award was a confidence boost, but that he couldn't let the confidence turn into arrogance. "I can’t let that get to my head, because it’s not what you did yesterday, it’s what you did today," he said. " So I still have to come out and perform every day." 

4. I'm not saying it's a better connection than Teel to Britt, but Chris Paul-Etienne and Lawrenceville's Craig McGovern abused the second-team defense on a couple of occasions. Paul-Etienne, who probably has the strongest arm of any QB in camp not named DC Jefferson, completed 4 of 8 passes for 71 yards, and two of the passes were to McGovern, a Michigan State transfer (and former Hun School star) who's making a strong push to be play along with starter Kevin Brock when the Knights are in two-tight-end sets. "He’s throwing it my way so I’m catching it," McGovern said. " I guess he can always count on me. It’s been  clicking. Last scrimmage we had a couple too." 

5. I'll end on this note: Unlike in real games, when official stats are kept, tallied, printed out and handed to members of the media, scrimmages require reporters, if they so chose, to keep their own stats. For the most part, we all check with each other to make sure we're on the same page when it comes to rushing yards, passing yards, et all. But here is one stat, that I just came up with at 4:11 a.m., that I guarantee will not appear on anyone else's blog: 

Rutgers has four players with surnames of former American presidents. If in 1972, they had put in a law saying that your vote only counted if you lived in Massachusetts, the Knights would have five, but George McGovern (Craig's namesake, which is what got me thinking on the subject) lost 49 states to Richard Nixon, leaving the total at four. 

So what, you say, there are 105 guys on the roster, so some of them are bound to share names with former presidents. Fair enough, but get this: The jersey numbers of the presidentially named players go in the same order that their respective presidents served: Jefferson (president No. 3, jersey No. 10), Hayes (president No. 19, jersey No. 18), Johnson (president No. 36, jersey No. 31), and Carter (president No. 39, jersey No. 54). 

Good thing McGovern lost, or else he would have messed up the order. 

With that, I'm out.