Rutgers tailback Joe Martinek ready to go in St. Petersburg Bowl whether Tim Brown plays or not
December 17, 2009, 10:19PM
Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerJoe MartinekST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Joe Martinek says he is prepared for both scenarios in Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl: The one in which injured wide receiver Tim Brown is able to play and the one in which he isn’t.
Both directly affect Martinek, Rutgers’ sophomore tailback, and in dramatically different ways.
“It’s a big difference if he’s in there and able to go. He’s one of the keys to our offense,” Martinek said. “But if Tim can’t go or is limited it really hurts us.”
Brown, the only true big-play threat in the Scarlet Knights’ offense, continues to be hobbled by an ankle sprain. Head coach Greg Schiano has said it won’t be known until game time whether Brown will play against Central Florida.
Having the 5-8, 165-pound senior — the team’s leading receiver with 51 catches for 1,051 yards — on the field means business-as-usual for Rutgers’ offense. It means UCF’s porous pass defense, ranked 112th nationally, has to account for one of the fastest players in college. That, in turn, would open opportunities for the running game and Martinek.
And Martinek knows the ground game can use all of the help it can get against a UCF defense ranked No. 4 nationally against the run.
“A lot of our offense feeds off Tim,” he said. “He sets up the running game because he’s such a big-play threat. He’s a guy that defenses worry about. It’s definitely a loss if he can’t go or is limited.”
Having Brown also means that talented true freshman Mohamed Sanu can remain as the No. 2 wide receiver, which then frees him up to run more Wildcat.
Not having Brown probably limits the amount of Wildcat touches Sanu will have because he will be needed as the go-to receiver.
So it’s all connected, especially if Brown is out and Sanu has to stay at wideout. That would probably means Martinek could be in for a heavy workload.
“I hope that we can have balance and mix it up. We’re going to have to mix it up,” Schiano said. “As good as they are at stopping the run is as good as they are at pressuring the passer. We just can’t let them get into a groove. We just need to run our offense.”
And Schiano’s offense has always been predicated on the run.
“I’m ready for whatever they need me to do,” Martinek said. “If they need me to be the big-play guy because Tim is out, I’ll do what I can. If they need me to carry it a lot, I can do that. The thing is, you have to be prepared for anything because Central Florida is going to have a say in what we try to do.”
Martinek, whose career high in carries is 25, said he would embrace an added workload.
“I’d love it,” he said.
More carries would also mean a better chance for Martinek to have a 1,000-yard season. He enters the game needing 77 yards to become just the second Rutgers running back since 1995 to top 1,000 yards.
“That’s really not something I’m thinking about,” Martinek said. “It’s one of those things that has to happen naturally. You can’t go into a game with that as your goal, trying to get what you need to get 1,000. When you do that you press and you might lose focus. So if it happens, it happens.”
If it doesn’t, Martinek can still look back at a solid season, one that has seen New Jersey’s high school career rushing leader eliminate all doubts about his ability to produce at the college game’s highest level. Martinek has 923 yards on 192 carries and nine touchdowns.
“It’s been a good year,” he said, “but it’s not over yet.”