12/28/2006

I can't believe that it's been eight years since we traveled to Houston for Rutgers' first bowl victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. It's fresh in my mind tonight as I'm watching Arkansas and Texas play this year's installment at Reliant Stadium.

Here's the Houston Chronicle I picked up at the airport the morning after:

How to End the Rutgers Homecoming Curse

What curse, you ask? Well, here are the results of the last eight Homecoming games at R House:

• Homecoming 2014 - Wisconsin 37 - Rutgers 0 (1st shutout since posting a zero on the scoreboard at Notre Dame in 2002)
• Homecoming 2013 - Houston 49 - Rutgers 14 (1st 2013 home loss)
• Homecoming 2012 - Kent State 35 - Rutgers 23 (1st 2012 loss; Kent State was a 13.5-point underdog against an undefeated and 15th-ranked Rutgers)
• Homecoming 2011 - The last Homecoming win at The Birthplace of College Football was the 21-20 squeaker over Navy that required a blocked field goal to seal the win.
• Homecoming 2010 - Tulane 17 - Rutgers 14 (Tulane was a 17-point underdog)
• Homecoming 2009 - Rutgers beat an FCS opponent, Texas Southern, by a score of  42-0 for the 600th victory in the program's history.
• Homecoming 2008 - Another close win over UConn requiring a late missed field goal.
• Homecoming 2007 - Another victory over an FCS opponent, 59-0 over Norfolk State.

So, you get the idea. Short of scheduling FCS opponents for Homecoming, how can we combat this obvious curse? Simple.
End Homecoming Games.
Read this. It's a silly tradition from the South and West anyway that only started between Missouri and Kansas in  1911. We won't miss it, and it doesn't encourage more alumni and students to show up anyway if there's a little bit of cold rain.

There should be no quarterback controversy after today's loss.

It's a long drive back from Rutgers Stadium, so it keeps me from writing anything too offensive about today's 49-14 loss to Houston. Instead I'll let all my thoughts about Gary Nova's 3-interception 0-TD 23.9-QBR performance be reflected by this post I made after last December's bowl game. Nothing has changed about my feelings regarding quarterbacks Gary Nova and Chas Dodd since then.
If I had written earlier, or had been able to tweet in the Stadium, I would have ranted and raved about a thousand bad passes, worse coaching, and missed tackles.  But there's no need for any Rutgers fan to relive all that. Is there?
There's one coaching decision I want to comment on though. We were there until the very end (as shown by this photo taken with about 5 minutes left right before the final Rutgers drive) and it's those last few seconds that still bug me hours after the game.

In that final drive Chas Dodd drove the Scarlet Knights 90 yards in 12 plays in 4'41" with a combination of passing, handoffs, and his own legs.  He should have been allowed by Kyle Flood to cap the longest drive of the day with a touchdown rather than letting the final seconds tick away with timeouts in our pocket inside their ten yard line. I was glad to see Kyle Flood put in our more effective quarterback, but it would have been nice if he had done it before the game was out of reach. Dodd had a much better appearance in the fourth quarter than his 11/15 78-yard passing yards and 20 rushing yards will tell you. You should also ignore his one interception. He put the ball into Brandon Coleman's hands with a pass over the middle and Coleman shoveled it into the arms of a Houston defender (Gary [tur]Nova's interceptions, on the other hand, were all completely on him).
If Chas Dodd does not start against Temple next Saturday, I'll be very unhappy about the coach who said this back in December.

Your Keep-Calm-And-Chop Poster for Homecoming Week

Sorry it's a little late this week, but here's a "Keep Calm And Chop Houston" poster to add to your 2013 collection:

See you at Homecoming at R House on Saturday!

December 28, 2006

Click this photo (or any other photo in the Beat Visitor blog) for a large version.

(12) Rutgers 37, Kansas State 10 (and it wasn't that close)
Thanks to Greg Schiano (far left), Ray Rice (with the microphone & the cowboy hat), Darnell Stapleton (53), Brian Leonard (23), Cameron Stephenson (63), Mike Fladell (72), Pedro Sosa (77), and the rest of the Scarlet Knights for turning Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas into "R House" for a day.