Rutgers Football: 8 Players the Scarlet Knights Must Shut Down in 2012

A new era is beginning in Rutgers football.  Gone to the NFL is head coach Greg Schiano, as his former assistant Kyle Flood is now the head man in Piscataway. 

As with any new head coach, Flood is looking to achieve success in his inaugural season in charge at the birthplace of college football.

The Big East Conference has traditionally been one of the most even-matched in all of college football and will be even more up for grabs with the departure of West Virginia. 

Flood is hoping his Scarlet Knights can take home the Big East title in his first season, but it won't be a cakewalk considering nearly every team in the conference has a legitimate chance to be crowned champions.

Here are the players Rutgers will have to shut down to have success in 2012.

The conference slate will start early for Rutgers this season.

On Sept. 13, the Scarlet Knights will travel down to Tampa for a Thursday night matchup with South Florida—and there's no secret as to who the Knights will need to slow down to prevail in their first conference game.

For the most part, as quarterback B.J. Daniels goes, South Florida goes.  

The fifth-year senior has nearly 8,000 yards of total offense to go with 58 total touchdowns—38 through the air and 20 on the ground.

He has improved statistically every year and if that trend continues, he could be nightmare for the Rutgers defense. 

If the Knights can slow down the Bulls' dual-threat star, they will stand an excellent chance to pick up win No. 1 in Big East play.

If not, the Flood era could be off to a rocky start.

Obviously, Rutgers' non-conference matchup with SEC foe Arkansas won't have any direct effect on its season in regards to the Big East crown.

But, the Razorbacks will almost certainly be the Knights' toughest opponent of the year.

As a result, a win in Fayetteville could propel Rutgers to an extremely successful season.

Arkansas has had its share of offseason issues, but this will still be a very difficult game for Rutgers.

Step one to topping the Hogs: slowing down quarterback Tyler Wilson—a 3,500 yard passer last year.  If the Knights manage to stop Wilson, they'll still have 6'0", 226-pound running back Knile Davis to deal with. Note: This used to say RB Ronnie Wingo Jr., thanks to Daniel Black for pointing out my mistake!

The last team outside of the SEC to beat Arkansas during the regular season: No. 7 Texas in 2008.

In 2011, UConn defensive end Tevardo Williams and the Husky defensive front made a laughing stock of the Rutgers offensive line, totaling six sacks for a loss of 41 crippling yards.

Williams reached and tore down quarterbacks Chas Dodd and Gary Nova four times on his own, costing the Knights 30 yards.

It was truly a treacherous day for the Rutgers line as the ground game complied just 68 total yards. 

On the day, the Knights netted minus-9 yards on the ground, completely eradicating Dodd and Nova’s combined 439 yards through the air.

If Williams and the UConn defensive line can control the game again this year, it will be another ugly game for Rutgers.

Last season, the Rutgers secondary harassed Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib, intercepting him three times while holding the Orange to just 169 yards through the air. 

The three picks plus two forced fumbles kept the Knights close throughout the game as their offense faltered.

In the end, Rutgers triumphed thanks to two overtime field goals from San San Te followed by a game-ending fumble.

However, none of that would have been possible if the Rutgers secondary hadn’t silenced Nassib, which is something they will have to do again to get by the Cuse this season.

Syracuse will lose the services of 1,000-yard rusher Antwon Bailey, so there will be even more pressure and responsibility laid on the shoulders of its redshirt-senior quarterback—and thus, even more pressure on the Rutgers defense to stop him.

Last season, Temple had the No. 7 rushing offense in the nation.

The Owls compiled 3,335 yards at an average of 256.5 per game on the ground, including 38 rushing touchdowns. 

They will lose their top rusher Bernard Pierce (1,481 YDS, 27 TD), who was a third-round draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens, so Baltimore native Matt Brown figures to see some more carries this season.

Brown was no slouch last season either, netting 916 yards and six touchdowns as a backup to Pierce.  

Shutting down Brown and the Temple ground game will be the key for the Knights, who allowed 142.3 rushing yards per game last season.

After a couple of non-conference games, it will be back to the Big East grind for RU, with a trip to Cincinnati.  

This season, the Bearcats will have to deal with the loss of starting quarterback Zach Collaros and running back Isaiah Pead.

But by the time the Nov. 17 matchup with Rutgers arrives, Collaros' dual-threat replacement under center, Munchie Legaux, should be settled in at quarterback.

Last year, by shutting down Legaux while Collaros was injured, Rutgers stomped the Bearcats 20-3.

Stopping him again this year will be vital to the Knights' success.

Running back Ray Graham is probably the most talented player in the Pittsburgh offense.

He gouged Rutgers for 159 yards and a touchdown last season—but the Scarlet Knights came out on top, all because they pressured quarterback Tino Sunseri until he was benched at halftime. 

Then, his replacement came in and saw even less success. Back onto the field Sunseri went, where he ended up throwing for just 127 yards, zero touchdowns and a total of three interceptions.

The Knights' defense failed to keep Graham in check, but they actually used Sunseri's play to their advantage, which won them the game.

Even if they fail to stop Graham again this year, the blueprint of harassing Sunseri should work heavily in their favor.

Last season against Rutgers, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater did just enough to lead Louisville to victory. 

His touchdown pass in the third quarter put the Cardinals up 16-7, a deficit from which the Knights would never recover.

Gary Nova had one of his more underwhelming performances, throwing the ball to a UL defender three times.  

That simply can't happen if the Knights expect to beat what should be an improved Louisville team, but at the same time, they can't let Bridgewater beat them.

Just ask USF, which allowed the Miami, Florida native to throw for 241 yards and three touchdowns last year.

Bridgewater showed how talented he is in his freshman year, so Rutgers and the rest of the Big East can expect him to be even more dangerous in his sophomore campaign.