Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerQB Mike Teel threw a school-record six touchdown passes in the Scarlet Knights' win over Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH -- This is pretty much what everyone expected, right?

Two tough, defensive-minded teams with inconsistent offensive play -- okay, nonexistent offensive play at times in Rutgers' case -- turning a Big East game into a Texas Tech intrasquad scrimmage.

Go figure.

"This is definitely the offense we expected to see at the beginning of the year," said Knights wide receiver Kenny Britt.

So what if it took eight games for Rutgers to finally fill its enormous offensive potential? It was worth the wait, with embattled quarterback Mike Teel setting a school record with six touchdown passes and the Knights stunning 17th-ranked Pittsburgh, 54-34, at Heinz Field Saturday for their first road victory over a Top 25 team in 20 years.

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerTom Luicci says Mike Teel, left, deserves to finish out October as Rutgers' quarterback.

Tom Luicci has covered every game of the Greg Schiano era except one - and more Rutgers games than anyone in history.

We asked him about a quarterback change, a defense that can't produce turnovers, lineup changes, coaching decisions and more following Saturday's 24-17 loss to West Virginia:

Q: Fans are going to call to replace Mike Teel. Does that really make sense, even at 1-4? And if you did, would you turn to Chris Paul-Etienne or D.C. Jefferson? And if you did it - would you play the new starter on the road at Cincy or wait until a home game against UConn?

Just for fun, we play out the schedule for Rutgers.

Here's a look at how Tom Luicci, Steve Politi and Brendan Prunty see things going:

9/20 Navy

Luicci: W -- Here's the Midshipmen's problem: They only run well -- and passing well is the way to shred this Rutgers defense.

Politi: W -- Rutgers has too many athletes to lose against a team like Navy now (I think).

Prunty: W -- The only way RU wins is if the D holds fort. If this is a shootout, make it a loss.

What's wrong with Rutgers?

Better question: What has gone right so far for the Knights? Not much.

In the ongoing search for answers to the 0-2 start that few people saw coming, we've come up with a half-dozen problem areas (there's a lot more than that, we know, but this is just a starting point) -- or one for each point the Knights managed in the second half of their 44-12 home loss to North Carolina on Thursday night.

So here goes:

Jourdan Brooks is hoping that tomorrow's first scrimmage is a chance for him to get more involved in the tailback competition again -- though he concedes that there has been some separation with Kordell Young and Mason Robinson emerging as the top two in the battle to replace Ray Rice.

"I feel like I'm playing a little catch-up now," the bruising redshirt freshman said.

The offensive line isn't the only thing being rebuilt at Rutgers these days.

Construction is well underway on phase one of the two-part renovation of Rutgers Stadium that will eventually raise the capacity to close to 56,000 (by the 2009 season) while featuring club seats and a lounge (by the start of the season this fall).

The President's Suite has already been gutted and construction crews have demolished part of the wall on the east side of the stadium where the club seats will extend from from end zone to the next.

Rutgers trotted out its five new assistant coaches -- six if you count Chris Hewitt's shift from director of speed and skill development to cornerbacks coach -- during a press conference on Friday, and one thing was obvious immediately.

These guys are as different as their varying backgrounds and ages.

New running backs coach Gary Brown, who is 38, has never coached at the major college level.

But new defensive line coach Gary Emanual is a 49-year-old whose resume boasts 26 years of coaching experience -- not counting three as the head basketball coach at Plymouth State, his alma mater. Emanuel, who spent 2005 and 2006 as defensive line coach of the San Francisco 49ers, was an assistant coach at his alma mater a year before he even graduated there.

It's an interesting mix, to say the least.

It's hard to imagine Greg Schiano not having a major say on the defensive side of the ball this season -- or in any phase of the game, actually -- but Rutgers' head coach said he's ready to relinquish at least some of his duties as defensive coordinator.
Though he said the staff upheavel caused by the addition of five new coaches didn't play a role in his decision to continue as defensive coordinator another year, he did say in a conference call with the media on Friday that he wants to be able to spend more time doing "more of the other things that a head coach does and a little less of the defensive coordinator things."
Had Schiano stepped down from the added role this year he would have had to hire yet another coach.