Typically, when a coach sees his team shut out their opponents, his first response is not “We need to work on our defense.”

But that’s exactly what Joe King said Saturday after his Engineers pounded Utica, 47-0, on a day when quarterback Dan Cole acquired another RPI passing record by throwing for six touchdowns in a single game.

The Pioneers, who went 0-8 last year in their first season as a varsity program, clearly were not much of a test for RPI. And yet they moved the ball quite effectively at times, as the Engineers’ defensive line had some trouble clogging the running lanes of Utica backs Chad Clark, Joe Dattellas, and Paul Hart.

On the other side of the ball, Rensselaer was piling up points in a hurry. Utica’s pass rush was inconsistent, and the RPI receivers exploited countless holes in the Pioneers’ coverage. The Engineers were up 21-0 after their first three possessions, forcing Utica to abandon their moderately effective rushing attack in favor of an aerial attack.

The strongest part of RPI’s defense, though, is their secondary, and other than a corner route that nearly burned the Engineers on several occasions, Utica quarterback Aaron Rogers had almost no one to throw to all day long. The only legitimate scoring opportunity for the Pioneers was on their first drive.

Utica took six minutes off the clock going 55 yards to the RPI 25—the closest they got to the end zone all day. On third-and-seven, freshman wide receiver Matthew Connors had the RPI secondary beat in the corner of the end zone, but Rogers overthrew him. The Engineers left no one open on fourth down, and Rogers was forced to throw the ball away, ending the threat.

RPI next travels to New London, Conn., to take on the Coast Guard Academy. Though the Bears are the bottom-ranked team in the Freedom Football Conference according to a pre-season poll, they are coming off of a 27-0 victory over Massachusetts Maritime. Saturday is also Homecoming for the Bears, and reclaiming the Shotglass Trophy may prove to be something of a challenge for the Engineers. Game time is 1:30 pm.