30.833333333

If anyone had told you at the end of Rutgers' 2019 football season that the Scarlet Knights would average over 30 points a game in their first six Big Ten games of 2020 -- without ever scoring less than 20 points -- you would have laughed. I know I would have laughed. Last year the Knights were shut out in three of their first six B1G games and they averaged 4 points per game (4!) in that stretch.

After this evening's 37-30 win over Purdue, the Knights' record is only 2-4, but even that win-loss record seems deceptive. They have fought hard until the bitter end of every game. The 3OT loss to Michigan and the 3-point loss to Illinois easily could have been (or should have been) wins. The Knights weren't embarrassed against the Buckeyes and they even gave us the play of the year (almost) near the end of the Indiana game.

With Greg Schiano back at the helm, I know I'm having more fun as a Rutgers football fan than I have in years. And there's still a chance of ending with a .500 record in the Big Ten for the first time since joining the conference in 2014.

I just wish I could be watching live at Rutgers Stadium. Last week's Michigan OT game would have been a blast (and may have turned out differently in a loud stadium).

Hoosier Daddy?

The Knights are a two touchdown underdog to the Big Ten team we have never lost to? I have a better feeling about today's game than I've had in a while, especially after the close game at Minnesota two weeks ago and the bye last week. This should be a totally different Rutgers team on the field at noon.

See you there.

Just one thing to say this week...

Last Saturday's Halftime Show at R House

For those of you who weren't there (or for those of you who were waiting in line through halftime for a hot chocolate or a urinal), here's the joint patriotic appearance of the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights and the Indiana University Marching Hundred on video:

I'm sorry this home season is over so early, but I hope we see this kind of joint appearance again soon, like when Ohio State comes to Rutgers Stadium next year.

Keep Calm and Chop Indiana

This Saturday, of course, we'd like to see the Hoosiers beat that team from Pennsylvania, but here's the poster for next week when Indiana make its first visit to the The Birthplace of College Football.

Never too early to start #ChopIndiana week

Continuing the tradition in which BeatVisitor.com introduced our new Big Ten opponents Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, here are a couple of early team photos showing our October 15th visitor to The Birthplace of College Football, the Indiana Hoosiers, who began playing football in 1887, just 18 years after that first game between Rutgers and Princeton, and are another team we have never met before on the gridiron.
I couldn't find any 19th-century portraits of the early Hoosiers, so I've gone with slightly later photos for both squads in advance of this very first meeting.

The 1910 Indiana football team after beating Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago team 6-0.

The 1917 Rutgers team featuring future All-American and valedictorian Paul Robeson.