Friday, November 26, 2010

The Football Season is FAR from Over

This will be the first year since 2005 that the Scarlet Knights aren't going to a bowl game, but they still have one game remaining, a game more important than ANY bowl game other than a BCS bowl. If the Scarlet Knights can win next week and end their twenty ten campaign by starting to make up for the-game-that-must-not-be-named and for approximately 500 years of futility in Morgantown, then this season with its young players and its many injuries, will be at least a partial success and the mood will be much better going in twenty eleven.

This Morning's(?!) Game Against Louisville

This is the first year since 2006 that I haven't received a package full of Rutgers football tickets in late August, so I didn't know until about half an hour ago that the 11/26 game against Louisville was an eleven A.M. start (that's 8 AM for those alumni and students who may live on the West Coast), on a Friday when all of the students are off and at home for the Thansgiving break. Has there ever been a more badly scheduled game? Not only are the students not in New Brunswick (or in the student section in Piscataway), but a large percentage of them aren't even awake yet. Has there ever been a more badly-scheduled Senior Day? It's now noon as I write this and the score is 28-0 Louisville with 8:25 left in the first half. If ESPN2 loses interest in broadcasting Rutgers games, can we go back to playing on Saturday afternoons?
I may say a few things over at http://twitter.com/BeatVisitor as this game continues, but probably not too enthusiastically.
FINAL UPDATE: It ended up 40-13 in Piscataway today, and West Virginia is well on its way to defeating the Pitt Panthers in Ketchup Stadium. So it's now official that Rutgers will not have the opportunity to go to a third-rank bowl game this year and it's almost official that Pitt will not be going to the Big East's BCS bowl. So here's the question. Which would be more satisfying for a Rutgers football fan: Appearing in a "Beef'O'Brady's Bowl" or beating the Mountaineers in West Virginia next weekend? Is it even really a question?

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Tonight's Game versus the Bearcats


I'm over at http://twitter.com/BeatVisitor commenting on the game there. It's Cincinnati 20 and Rutgers 17 with 10 minutes left in the 1st half.
Halftime Update: An Arena Football League game has broken out at Nippert Stadium, where it is currently 41 to 24 in the Bearcats' favor. The Rutgers offense has 260 yards and 24 points, which would have been plenty in any other game, but the Rutgers defense has given up 41 points and over 416 (in a half) yards to the bad guys.
Final Update: Cincinnati 69--Rutgers 38. The missed extra point at the beginning when it was RU 7-Cincy 6 was important in the end; it kept the Bearcats from scoring 70. Even so, it ended up being the highest scoring game in Big East history. There were bright spots on the offensive side of the ball; Rutgers scored on the first play from scrimmage in each half and the passing game was going well, but there were -9 rushing yards. The defensive game isn't worth mentioning, but it would have been nice if they put 11 men on the field rather than 8 or 9; there were large holes wherever the Bearcats ran or threw the ball.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Je m'accuse...

... or mea culpa (mea maxima culpa) for those of you who don't understand French. It is totally my fault that the Scarlet Knights are back to their form and record of a decade ago. I just read that the Syracuse Orange beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a close game two days ago. If I had followed the pattern of the last four years I would have been at every home game at Rutgers Stadium this year and I would have been religiously following Rule #12 and its corollaries. And the Scarlet Knights would have, of course, won.
So blame this fan who moved out of state (to a place that makes New Jersey look like... well, not to belittle the Garden State ... look like "New Jersey") for last Saturday's 13-10 home loss to the Orange. If I had been singing the school songs and screaming until my vocal cords bled, then my team would have won. Don't blame Coach Schiano or any of the student athletes who are proudly wearing Scarlet. I haven't read any comments on the interwebs about last Saturday's game, but I'm sure that the normal lineup of moaners, whiners, nitpickers. and Sunday morning quarterbacks are busy moaning, whining, picking nits, and backseat coaching and quarterbacking, as always. Those assholes are welcome to blame me, if they can find me. They can comment below too, knowing that I won't read their comments.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wednesday Night Bull Fight

I'll be over at @BeatVisitor on Twitter tonight during the game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and South Florida Bulls. After last night on Twitter under my alias watching far too many Republicans gloating and avoiding questions during the midterm elections, it may be hard to watch a close or losing game tonight. It's 7-7 as I hit Post on this entry on the strength of two long punt returns. It's time for the Knights to start pulling away.
This is the third game in a row that Rutgers is playing in an ugly half-full professional football stadium. Pittsburgh and USF don't have excuses because they don't have stadiums of their own, but it's a shame that the last Rutgers "home game" had to be played in that pit at the Meadowlands.