Mason Robinson on the front of ESPN's College Football page

The real question at this Saturday's Scarlet-White Game at Rutgers Stadium will not be whether or not the Scarlet team beats the White team, but whether or not the rushing game will be quicker and more explosive than the quick and explosive Scarlet Knights passing game of Teel to Underwood, Britt, and Brown.

Tailback Mason Robinson is featured on the front of today's College Football page at ESPN.com, but the accompanying article is not about him alone, but the the four-headed 2008 tailback of Mason Robinson, Jourdan Brooks, Joe Martinek, and "old" favorite Kordell Young.

On the first play of Rutgers' intrasquad scrimmage last weekend, sophomore tailback Mason Robinson took a handoff and raced 70 yards for a touchdown. A few plays later, freshman Jourdan Brooks burst through the line and raced 65 yards for a score, covering the last 40 yards or so without one of his shoes.

Kordell and Jabu Lovelace were the offensive stars of last year's Scarlet-White game (Ray Rice sat the game out with an injury), so it will be interesting to see who the star of this year's game will be and who will inevitably emerge as the "first among equals" among this potentially-explosive post-Ray-Rice tailback position.

See you Saturday at R House! It's supposed to be 74° and sunny. There will be free t-shirts, the first tailgating since November 17, autographs after the game, and a guaranteed Rutgers win!

The perfect song verse for the Scarlet Knights taking the field in the Fall of 2008

Ray Rice, Ray's Mom, Mason Robinson, and shutterbugs
on the big screen at the Rogers Centre on January 5

Now I don't mind choppin' wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you need and you leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best.

from"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
by Robbie Robertson

This song appears prominently in the February 2008 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. Eerily appropriate today, isn't it, as the very best Scarlet Knight leaves for the NFL and leaves the wood chopping to the rest of our very talented players?

Good Luck Ray,
and Go Knights!

The Answer Was Blowing in the Wind

Greg Schiano talks with freshman Mason Robinson (24)
on the big screen after a 4th quarter kick return.

Before the game, as my son and I played catch in the parking area, it was clear that the wind would be a factor inside Rutgers Stadium. Stiff swirling breezes made it an ugly kicking and punting day for Jeremy Ito all day long, and in the first quarter when Mike Teel was passing into the wind the Knights only managed to score 3 points. That changed quickly -- with the first two long passes of the second quarter leading to the first two touchdowns of the 42-point second quarter -- once the wind was at Teel's back.

The only other highlight worth mentioning is the fact that Norfolk State's marching (& dancing) band, like Howard's band last season, was worth the price of admission to the Stadium. They brought down the house, and brought the crowd to its feet. Their marching band trounced the Marching Scarlet Knights, "The Pride of New Jersey," as badly as the Football Scarlet Knights trounced the Football Spartans on that same field before and after halftime.

Of the streaks mentioned in the last entry, all but one are still alive. 16 will be the number of weeks that the Knights will be ranked, 10 is the current home winning streak, 6 is the number of games scoring 30+ points, 6 is the number of games without a sack of Mike Teel, 4 is the number of straight Homecoming Day victories, but Ray Rice's current streak of 100-yard games ended at 5 when he (like many of the starters) didn't come back for the second half. He "only" ran for 72 yards on 12 carries (with 3 touchdowns) in his first half action.