Junior Teel injured the thumb on his throwing hand during Saturday's loss to Cincinnati.
The Syracuse University football team faced one banged up starting quarterback last week - West Virginia's Pat White - and promptly yielded the most points to a visiting team in school history. It will face another ailing quarterback this week.
Rutgers junior Mike Teel, who started in the Scarlet Knights' 31-9 victory over SU two years ago in the Carrier Dome and engineered a season-ending 38-7 victory over the Orange last season, injured the thumb on his right (throwing) hand during Saturday night's 28-23 loss to Cincinnati. RU coach Greg Schiano said he expects Teel to be ready when the Scarlet Knights (3-2, 0-1) visit Syracuse (1-5, 1-1) at noon Saturday in the Carrier Dome (Time Warner-26).
"I think Mike is going to be OK," Schiano said Monday during the weekly Big East coaches teleconference. "He's a little sore right now with the thumb, but I think as the week progresses he'll get better. He's already able to move it and stuff. I think it's going to be fine."
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Teel, ranked No. 5 in the nation in passing efficiency, was injured early in the game against the No. 15 Bearcats when he tried to throw a third-down pass into the flat and jammed his thumb into the helmet of one of his linemen.
He stayed in the game and finished 22-for-38 for 334 yards but threw three interceptions, including one at the end when he was driving the Knights close to a go-ahead touchdown. Teel threw four interceptions last season against the Bearcats in a 30-11 upset loss at Cincinnati.
"I didn't know he was hurt," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "He's such a competitive kid that he probably wouldn't let on that he was injured. I think he's a great, competitive kid, and unfortunately for him it ends with an interception, but I thought he played great all night."
Rutgers' second consecutive loss at home dropped it out of the weekly top-25 polls. It will now go on the road for the first time all season (it has eight homes games and four road games).
"A tough loss," Schiano said. "It was a very good college football game, and we came up on the short end of the stick. We've got to regroup and for the first time all year go on the road, which is a big challenge in a tough environment."
Cincinnati survived a tough environment - a sellout crowd at Rutgers - to win its ninth consecutive game.
"We had to overcome some adversity, down 17-7 (at the half)," Kelly said. "I thought our kids really showed some maturity and grew up a little bit, you know, having to come back from that deficit against a very good football team. We really had to summon some guts in the second half to come back, and I was proud of the way we did that."
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Rivalry game
Rutgers-Syracuse may be the official game of the week in the conference, but the real showdown will be Louisville at Cincinnati on Saturday night. The game will feature Cincinnati's defense, which leads the nation with 25 takeaways, against Heisman Trophy candidate Brian Brohm and Louisville's offense.
Brohm passed for 467 yards and four TDs in the Cardinals' 44-35 loss to Utah last week even without his favorite target, senior Harry Douglas, who was injured late in Louisville's 38-35 loss to Syracuse and has missed the last two games with an ankle sprain. Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said he is hopeful Douglas will be back this week.
"We're in for the ultimate challenge," Kelly said.
So is Kragthorpe's defense, which has been burned several times already and now faces a no-huddle spread offense that caught Rutgers unprepared several times.
"There were 10 or 12 times in that football game the other night where Rutgers was not even lined up," Kragthorpe said. "They hadn't even broken the huddle yet with their front seven defenders. It is certainly a challenge in terms of the tempo of game. You've got to be ready to play, and you've got to be ready to go right after the last play is concluded."
The Syracuse University football team faced one banged up starting quarterback last week - West Virginia's Pat White - and promptly yielded the most points to a visiting team in school history. It will face another ailing quarterback this week.
Rutgers junior Mike Teel, who started in the Scarlet Knights' 31-9 victory over SU two years ago in the Carrier Dome and engineered a season-ending 38-7 victory over the Orange last season, injured the thumb on his right (throwing) hand during Saturday night's 28-23 loss to Cincinnati. RU coach Greg Schiano said he expects Teel to be ready when the Scarlet Knights (3-2, 0-1) visit Syracuse (1-5, 1-1) at noon Saturday in the Carrier Dome (Time Warner-26).
"I think Mike is going to be OK," Schiano said Monday during the weekly Big East coaches teleconference. "He's a little sore right now with the thumb, but I think as the week progresses he'll get better. He's already able to move it and stuff. I think it's going to be fine."
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Teel, ranked No. 5 in the nation in passing efficiency, was injured early in the game against the No. 15 Bearcats when he tried to throw a third-down pass into the flat and jammed his thumb into the helmet of one of his linemen.
He stayed in the game and finished 22-for-38 for 334 yards but threw three interceptions, including one at the end when he was driving the Knights close to a go-ahead touchdown. Teel threw four interceptions last season against the Bearcats in a 30-11 upset loss at Cincinnati.
"I didn't know he was hurt," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "He's such a competitive kid that he probably wouldn't let on that he was injured. I think he's a great, competitive kid, and unfortunately for him it ends with an interception, but I thought he played great all night."
Rutgers' second consecutive loss at home dropped it out of the weekly top-25 polls. It will now go on the road for the first time all season (it has eight homes games and four road games).
"A tough loss," Schiano said. "It was a very good college football game, and we came up on the short end of the stick. We've got to regroup and for the first time all year go on the road, which is a big challenge in a tough environment."
Cincinnati survived a tough environment - a sellout crowd at Rutgers - to win its ninth consecutive game.
"We had to overcome some adversity, down 17-7 (at the half)," Kelly said. "I thought our kids really showed some maturity and grew up a little bit, you know, having to come back from that deficit against a very good football team. We really had to summon some guts in the second half to come back, and I was proud of the way we did that."
=============
Rivalry game
Rutgers-Syracuse may be the official game of the week in the conference, but the real showdown will be Louisville at Cincinnati on Saturday night. The game will feature Cincinnati's defense, which leads the nation with 25 takeaways, against Heisman Trophy candidate Brian Brohm and Louisville's offense.
Brohm passed for 467 yards and four TDs in the Cardinals' 44-35 loss to Utah last week even without his favorite target, senior Harry Douglas, who was injured late in Louisville's 38-35 loss to Syracuse and has missed the last two games with an ankle sprain. Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said he is hopeful Douglas will be back this week.
"We're in for the ultimate challenge," Kelly said.
So is Kragthorpe's defense, which has been burned several times already and now faces a no-huddle spread offense that caught Rutgers unprepared several times.
"There were 10 or 12 times in that football game the other night where Rutgers was not even lined up," Kragthorpe said. "They hadn't even broken the huddle yet with their front seven defenders. It is certainly a challenge in terms of the tempo of game. You've got to be ready to play, and you've got to be ready to go right after the last play is concluded."
