Rutgers Hangs On for Victory

Ray Rice rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns Friday night at Tampa, Fla., leading No. 23 Rutgers to a 22-20 victory over South Florida in the Scarlet Knights’ first game as a ranked team in 30 years.

Jeremy Ito kicked field goals of 32, 40 and 53 yards for Rutgers, 5-0 overall, 1-0 in the Big East. The Scarlet Knights are unbeaten through five games for the first time since 1976, thanks to the Bulls (3-2, 0-1), who failed to make a two-point conversion with 15 seconds left.

Matt Grothe threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ean Randolph to give South Florida a chance to send the game into overtime, but the quarterback’s pass on the conversion attempt was dropped by a wide-open Amp Hill in the left side of the end zone.

Rice matched a school record with his seventh consecutive 100-yard game, boosting his season total to 806 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He scored on a three-yard run in the first quarter and on a six-yard run that gave Rutgers the lead for good early in the fourth quarter.

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Ohio Northern and Otterbein postponed today’s scheduled game after a member of the Otterbein team was diagnosed with meningitis, the Division III schools said. No makeup date has been scheduled.

The player was hospitalized and is expected to recover, Otterbein spokesman Ed Syguda said.

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With his new, gold Citadel graduate’s ring and a crisp, blue alumni shirt, Marc Buoniconti told the latest group of Bulldogs he longed every day for one more chance to play.

“Let me tell you something. Not a day goes by, not a moment, that I don’t think about what I’d give to be back on that football field,” Buoniconti said, surrounded by kneeling players in Charleston, S.C.

Buoniconti, the son of Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, is a former Citadel linebacker paralyzed after making a tackle against East Tennessee in 1985. After two decades of estrangement and hard feelings, Buoniconti will be honored by his former school when his No. 59 jersey is retired at halftime of today’s game with Chattanooga.