Rutgers Needs to Protest Penn State's Punishment!

Today, the NCAA did not go far enough. They vacated all of Penn States victories back to 1998, thereby leaving all of the Nittany Lions' victories over the Scarlet Knights intact, including this shameful final 1995 performance at the Meadowlands in which Joe Paterno ran up the score in the final seconds to cover the spread for his gambling buddies.
Be sure to watch the video for the pleasure of watching Saint Joe Pa get cursed out by Doug Graber at midfield, with some inappropriate language making it through the network filters.

A Great Moment from a Not-So-Great Era in Rutgers Football History

Watch Saint Joe Paterno throw a meaningless touchdown for Penn State (#6/6) against Rutgers (Unranked) in the Meadowlands on September 23, 1995 with an 18-point lead and exactly a minute left in the game. Meaningless, that is, unless he was trying to cover the spread for his buddies in the mob. Not that we're saying he has any buddies in the mob. He's not even Italian, is he?
Anyway, watch Rutgers coach Doug Graber meet him at midfield and use an unprintable word (whose initials are "Bullshit") to describe Saint Joe's classless action.

I love the way that Coach Paterno seems pissed that the lesser mortal refused to genuflect during their post-game meeting.

The Quote of Day

"The organization approaches the decision of whether to serve alcohol on a game-by-game basis, with input from the NJSEA [New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority]. With the late start of Sunday's game, coupled with this being the final regular-season and final game at the stadium, we feel it is prudent not to serve alcohol."

--New York Jets spokesman Bruce Speight

This is probably a good thing. Maybe the reactions from the upper-deck Jets fans will be a little more restrained and a little less beer-fueled when they hear me cheering for Bengal (and Scarlet Knight) Brian Leonard at Giants Stadium on Sunday night.

I should apologize in advance for my actions this coming Sunday. . .

I'll be sitting way up under the press box for the last professional football game ever played at Giants Stadium on Sunday night. And most of the time (between shivers and the sound of my own teeth chattering) I'll be cheering for the gang in green to beat the team from Cincinnati with the tiger stripes on their helmets, but there will be one exception. If number 40 from the Bengals touches the ball, I'll be rooting for the visitors, even though number 40 usually only touches the ball in key third-down situations.

"I get pumped up when I get a first down," Leonard said. "To me, it is a touchdown. I see those sticks, and I feel like I've got to get past those sticks. And if I get past those sticks, guys seem get pretty pumped by it. It's my job; I've just got to make the extra effort to get it."

Read more in this article from The Daily News

So, apologies in advance to any Jets fans sitting around me in the cold on Sunday night, but my loyalties to Brian Leonard run deeper than loyalties to any mere professional sports corporation, or its playoff aspirations.

Wear Red to the Game!

Just the links ma'am. Just the links.

I'm normally not a big fan of link lists, but today the news affecting Rutgers football just seems to be coming too fast.
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Greg Schiano is more than hinting here at Scarlet Scuttlebutt there may be three (or more) quarterbacks seeing action on September 7:

“D.C., Tom and Jabu are all working (for the No. 2 position),” Schiano said. “Where we go is going to be determined a great deal by the two scrimmages. So we’re mixing up. Again, if you had idea where, you’d have a 1, you’d have a 2 and that would be it. But we’re going to make sure we utilize all their strengths and see if we can’t put together a plan that moves the ball and puts it in the end zone.”

I say you put Jabu in only for the long passes. I certainly expect some serious trickeration in the opening game along the lines of the Tiquan Underwood QB appearances against Pitt in 2005.
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We also like this story from the Star-Ledger's website about Jim Dumont's progress this summer and his strong family links to Rutgers and the Scarlet Knights.

"This is where I've always wanted to come, this is where I've always wanted to play," Dumont said. "Playing, it's such an honor to be here."

We love the fact that he can sing, "My father sent me to old Rutgers, and resolved that I should be a man . . ." with real feeling and meaning after every game.
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We don't like this story appearing here in the West Point area Times Herald-Record about Rutgers and Army playing the first college game at the new Meadowlands Stadium. Their source is very specific about the date (September 25, 2010) and the fact that Rutgers would be the home team (though we already knew that, because Army will be the home team at Yankees Stadium in 2011). We made our feelings plain yesterday about college teams playing in anodyne new pro parks, so we won't belabor the point here (but though it would be much better to play football in R House on the Raritan and Michie on the Hudson, at least both the Black Knights and the Scarlet Knights are giving up one home game).
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In other not-so-good-news, this short story on ESPN.com tonight outlines how the Big East will be trading future appearances in the Gator and Sun Bowls for a bowl in Orlando, Florida named after a clothing store that you've probably seen in a mall near you. This poses a dilemma for the style guide of Beat Visitor dot com. We're under no obligation to mention brand names just because the owners of those brands have paid a fee to bowl organizers, and we try to avoid doing so if at all possible. So we can use Sugar, Rose, Orange, and Fiesta without mentioning the names of a large insurance company, bank, quick delivery service, and a salty faux-Mex snack food. We can say Pizza Bowl and Muffler Bowl and you know that we mean the bowls in Birmingham and Charlotte. But what should our shorthand name for the bowl in Orlando be? For now we'll just call it Orlando Bowl, or maybe Chumps.
You must read Bleed Scarlet's take on the Big East Bowl Fiasco in a little post entitled "Burn Providence to the Ground."
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And finally, in the tradition of saving the worst news for last. Ryan D'Imperio (leg) and Blair Bines (ankle) both suffered injuries in Tuesday's scrimmage.

“We’re getting some tests,” Schiano said of D’Imperio, a Bednarik Trophy candidate who Tuesday was named tri-captain. “I’m very concerned.”

The entire Rutgers family is wishing speedy recoveries to both Ryan and Blair.

As an alternate avenue to gain fans, maybe they could just start winning.

In their deep desire to be known as "New York's College Football Team," the Syracuse Orange have taken the drastic step of scheduling three of their upcoming home games in the Meadowlands (so maybe they're trying to become ""New Jersey's College Football Team"?).

In any case, the biggest losers are the Syracuse students. (I've seen a lot of comments about the pros and cons for Alumni and other old fogeys, but nothing about the sacred right of students to be able to stumble out of bed and into the bleachers.) If you were a student who could fly like a crow from Syracuse to New York City, you would have to fly 195 miles. As a Rutgers fan I can't imagine the students and season ticket holders being told that our "home" games were going to be played 195 miles away in Baltimore or Boston. The distances are similar, but at least there are direct fast trains from New Brunswick, New Jersey to both those locations.