Rutgers Getting No Love From the CBSSports.com Preseason 126

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights do not even make it into the top half of the CBSSports.com preseason 126, coming in a number 77.

This makes game number one coming up on August 29th against Fresno State that much more important.  This meaningless preseason list (from the network that's still blacked out on my Time Warner system) has the Bulldogs ranked at number 26.

Rutgers ranked in Top 20 (internationally) ...

... on the Times [of London] Higher Education World University Rankings of Arts and Humanities institutions.

The Importance of Game One

In this year for Rutgers Football between the Big East and the Big Ten, there will be a scarcity of games that will mean something on the national level, especially early in the season. So I was glad to see the Fresno State Bulldogs are ranked at 22 in the preseason Athlon, Phil Steele, and USA Today polls.

From CollegeFootballPoll.com

If the Scarlet Knights can drive the ball with authority into the red-and-white checkerboard end zones of Bulldog Stadium more often than the home team on the night of August 29th, Rutgers has a possibility of making a dent in the polls by Labor Day.  There won't be another chance to impress national voters until the Arkansas game on September 21. The games against the second-tier Norfolk State Spartans on September 7 and the Eastern Michigan Eagles (touted to finish last in the MAC) on September 14 won't make the news unless Rutgers fails to win those home games by at least three or four touchdowns.

The Updated BCS Map for 18 November 2012

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-1, 5-0) are still the only team from the Northeast among the 25 colleges in the BCS rankings announced tonight. Ohio has gained color once again with the Kent State Golden Flashes moving into the BCS picture at number 23.

Geographical Distribution of the 25 ranked BCS football teams on 11/18/12.

Rutgers at 18 in the BCS Standings

As shown one minute ago on ESPN:

As seen on TV, 18 November 2012.

The Updated BCS Map as of November 12

The Northeastern United States still has only one representative in this week's updated map of the 25 teams included in BCS rankings of November 12, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights:

Geographic distribution of 25 BCS-ranked teams on November 12, 2012.

The Northeast Again Has a Representative on the BCS Map

Rutgers has again brought the Northeast back onto the BCS map this week, without running a single play.

Geographic Representation of the 25 ranked BCS teams, 4 November 2012.

Idaho, West Virginia, and Arizona dropped off the map this week, replaced by New Jersey, Illinois (Northwestern), and Ohio (Toledo is the third representative from this battleground state to rise onto the BCS rankings in 2012, after Cincinnati and Ohio).

Rutgers in the Polls

On this off week, The 7-1 Scarlet Knights (4-0 Big East) rose back up to 20 in the Coaches Poll and 24 in the AP Poll.

It's also interesting to see that the 8-1 Kent State Golden Flashes (5-0 MAC), the one team to beat the Scarlet Knights, won again and are very close to being ranked in both polls themselves.

This may be the last BCS map I post on BeatVisitor dot com

With the departure of schools from New Jersey and Ohio and the addition of more schools from Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Arizona, all is once again well with the college football world.

There may not be any more representatives from the Northeast threatening the football world's traditional southern and western tilt this year.

You can check out my entries from October 14 and October 21 to see how the BCS top 25 has changed this year.

The Updated BCS Map

There have been some minor geographic adjustments in the top 25 BCS rankings this week. Texas lost one of its teams, Iowa lost its sole representative on the list and Wisconsin and Michigan have entered the map (Ohio lost one, but gained another.)

The Northeast is still represented in the BCS rankings by only a single team, the #15 Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Homeostasis in the BCS

The BCS rankings are being announced on ESPN as I write this, but only one number counts, and it hasn't changed from last week.

Rutgers is still #15:

BCS Standings as televised on ESPN 10/21/2012

The Initial BCS Standings Were Just Announced

Just announced on ESPN a few minutes ago, the undefeated Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the highest-ranked Big East team in the initial BCS rankings at number 15, higher than their AP (19) and USA Today (17) rankings announced earlier today.

What's at stake with UConn today.

1) BIG EAST: A win in this season finale means that Rutgers will share the Big East crown with Louisville (which won yesterday) and maybe Cincinnati and maybe West Virginia. A tie between Rutgers, Louisville, and Cincinnati would give Rutgers the BCS bid, but all the Scarlet Knights can worry about is hucking the fuskies first (while rooting for Syracuse to lose to the Bearcats).

2) NATIONAL RANKINGS: Rutgers is at number 26 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, at 30 in the AP Poll, 29 in the Harris Poll, 30 in the ESPN Power Rankings... With a convincing win at Rentschler Field today, the Scarlet Knights should be ending the regular season in the top 25 in most, or all, of these polls.

After being picked by "everyone" to finish last in the conference this year, these are not insignificant accomplishments.

I'll be over on Twitter @BeatVisitor tweeting updates this afternoon.

Go Knights.

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Update at the half: UConn 24--Rutgers 10. 21 of the Huskies' points came off turnovers deep in the Rutgers half of the field. In the first drive Juwan Jamison fumbled while being injured, but the good news is that he came back in the 2nd quarter with a taped ankle and scored the one Rutgers touchdown. Connecticut can't count on Rutgers handing them the ball with a short field three more times in the second half.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update at the end of the 3rd quarter (because I'm not sure if I'll feel like updating at the end of the game): UConn 40 -- Rutgers 10, and we can't blame it on turnovers this time. And at the beginning of the 4th quarter, UConn just downed another punt at the one-yard line, with Gary Nova making his first appearance at quarterback. My faith in miracles is starting to dwindle though.

~~~~~~~~~~
Final: UConn 40 -- Rutgers 22

I Almost Forgot What This Felt Like

Back in 2006 and 2007, checking the web for the earliest online appearances of the AP and Coaches' Polls was almost an obsession, but it's a pastime that has fallen by the wayside for many fans of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (and certainly for this one).

However, if the Knights beat the Louisville Cardinals and move the 6-1 this Friday night, then be sure to check ESPN and SI on Sunday night, because they might just move onto one, or both, lists. They are currently knocking on the door of the Coaches' top 25 with 31 votes, placing them in 28th, and they have a tougher chance of breaking into the AP, with their 2 votes placing them in 35th.

The Beat Visitor dot com BlogPoll Ballot Is Up for Your Comments

I watched the Rutgers - South Florida game on Thursday night from my aluminum bench in Piscataway, but as any other game would have been boring in comparison, my information about games played by non-Scarlet-Knight teams last weekend comes entirely from the internets after the fact. My in-depth analysis of the games I didn't see is reflected in the scribbled notes to your right and in the updated BlogPoll ballot posted below. You got a problem wit' that?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Texas	1
3	Florida	1
4	TCU	1
5	Cincinnati	1
6	Boise State
7	Pittsburgh	1
8	Georgia Tech	1
9	Ohio State	2
10	LSU
11	Oregon	1
12	Iowa	3
13	Penn State	5
14	Oklahoma State	5
15	Wisconsin	6
16	Stanford
17	Virginia Tech	3
18	Utah	2
19	Rutgers	4
20	Brigham Young	4
21	Clemson
22	Miami (Florida)	5
23	Southern Cal	10
24	Temple	1
25	Houston	11
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Arizona (#15), South Florida (#22).

Preseason Prognostications at the New York Times and ESPN.com today

First the Times, where this afternoon Paul Myerberg in The Quad blog, places Rutgers at #34 of 120 (last year he placed the Knights at #58 at the beginning of the season and re-ranked them at #34 at the end):

...Everything is in place for a conference title run. And I would not be surprised at all to see Rutgers claim its first Big East championship, though I am predicting this team will finish third in the conference, trailing Cincinnati and West Virginia. I’m concerned about a lack of explosiveness from this Scarlet Knights offense, which will break in a new quarterback while struggling to locate depth at wide receiver. {...} Only a major slip-up would prevent the Scarlet Knights from winning at least eight games for the fourth consecutive season.

Over at ESPN.com this morning, Brian Bennett made three predictions about Rutgers' upcoming season. 1) Tom Savage (#7 on the new roster, taking Tiquan Underwood's lucky jersey) will start at some point this season, 2) the Knights will have at least 9 wins, and "If things break right, the Scarlet Knights could be looking at a 10- or even 11-win season -- and their first Big East title," and 3) that Anthony Davis will be leaving the Banks of the Old Raritan for the pros on the first day of the next NFL draft.

Go Red Teams: Reminded of a pre-season prediction from Stewart Mandel

Watching the Sugar Bowl between the Utah Utes and the Alabama Crimson Tide last night, I was reminded of Stewart Mandel's preseason prediction from July 30th. (Click here to see his origjnal SI.com Mailbag prediction.)

The three teams he gave the best chance of going from unranked to the top fifteen in the final 2008 rankings were the Utah Utes (who at 13-0 have a strong argument for being the National Champions and certainly can't finish lower than #2 if there's any justice), Alabama (ranked at #1 for five weeks until they lost to Florida in the SEC championship game; they'll definitely finish in the top ten), and our beloved Scarlet Knights. When the Knights were 1-5, Stewart looked like he was totally off on one of his three picks, but who would have known at that point of the season that the Knights would then pull off seven victories in a row? With an extra four points in the game against Cincinnati, we would have been going to the Orange Bowl instead of the Pizza Bowl, and we would have been ranked despite the slow start. If early season games were discounted in football the way they are in basketball, the dominant RU team of November and December would definitely be in the top 15 now, so I'm giving Stewart props for his predictive acumen.

He was also two for three on his picks for the three teams he thought had a chance to drop out of the top 25 in the final standings after starting in the top 10. West Virginia and Wisconsin didn't waste much time dropping from their preseason heights. Ending the regular season at #8, Texas Tech will probably hang onto a place in the top 25 even after their bowl loss to Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl yesterday, but they'll probably drop out of the top 10.

Congratulations Stewart! I know you're probably reminded about your bad picks more often than about those with which you're (almost) right on.

The Site of the Day: FSFB (and other Fresno State Links)

It's time to start learning (if you haven't already) about the first visitors to R House on Labor Day, the Bulldogs of Fresno State. I plan on keeping up with the following blog at fsbulldogsfootball.blogspot.com:
They have big plans to challenge for the WAC title and a BCS bowl if everything goes their way in 2008, and that challenge begins for Fresno State not with success in the preseason polls, but with a game in New Jersey on September 1st. However, as we've said before, the Bulldogs' presence in the preseason polls could catapult the Scarlet Knights into the first regular season rankings if the Knights pull off the nationally-televised "upset" to start the season. Even though the Knights started at 16 in the AP poll last August and may very well be unranked this August, I have a much better feeling about 2008 with Rutgers playing a real threat in the first game. It was harmful to the 2007 team to begin with Buffalo and Norfolk State; they felt invincible by the time they met Maryland, when, at 3-0, they hadn't even been challenged yet. If the healthy passing game of Mike Teel to Britt, Underwood, Brown, Campbell et al. opens up the running game for Kordell Young, Mason Robinson and friends, we could find ourselves in a good mood leaving the Stadium on the first.

Here are a few more Fresno State Bulldogs links for your pre-game (and long football-free summer) reading and research:

• BarkBoard.com
• The Bulldog Bounce
• gobulldogs.com (The Official Site)
• Measured Buildup
• RedWaveReport.com (slogan is "Anybody, Anyplace, Anytime)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights at #3, in the Academic Progress Rates issued by the NCAA

Behind only Stanford and Navy, and tied with Duke, Rutgers is not only #1 in the Big East, but #1 among state universities for the second year in a row.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete.The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

Number 22, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, revealed today at AthlonSports.com

The Knights have received their first preseason ranking:

Only four schools have been revealed on the Athlon Sports preseason top 25 so far, Rutgers at 22, Penn State at 23, Wake Forest at 24, and Fresno State at number 25. As mentioned earlier today, that nationally-televised battle between the Bulldogs and the Scarlet Knights on Labor Day is looking bigger and bigger -- as if it could set the tone for the 2008 season the way the televised Rutgers/UNC season opener set the right tone for 2006 (not to put any pressure on the guys in Scarlet or anything).