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:

Kyle Flood's Post-Bowl Press Conference

This is what a happy coach looks like:


And here are a very happy Chris Carlin and Ray Lucas summarizing the 40-21 win over the Tar Heels:

"You could put that in your pipe and smoke it." --Ray Lucas sums up Rutgers Football's 8-win first B1G season in 2014.

ASDSADADADASFA SADFGFGFDSGFDGFDGFD!!!

If you want to know what that means, you'll have to ask ESPN:

Seems ESPN used their ace graphics team as well as first-string announcers today: RT @StevePoliti Seems about right. pic.twitter.com/dvucj6WhWo
— Beat Visitor (@BeatVisitor) December 27, 2014

Despite the third-string ESPN announcers and the mostly empty Ford Field (why wouldn't people want to travel to Detroit on Christmas?), the Scarlet Knights had a great 40-21 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels today. The game wasn't as close as the score would lead you to believe, with Rutgers dominating on both sides of the ball for almost all game until late in the fourth quarter when UNC recovered two onside kicks and made things look interesting for a few minutes.

Freshman running backs Josh Hicks (202 yards, 1 TD) and Robert Martin (100 yards, 2 TD) made 2015 look very bright, but 2014 -- finishing at 8-5 with a convincing bowl win against an ACC opponent -- didn't look too bad either.

ASDSADADADASFA SADFGFGFDSGFDGFDGFD indeed!

Rutgers' Mount Rushmore

The Big Ten Network announced the results of their contest for the Mount Rushmore of Rutgers football. No current players were eligible (sorry Kemoko) and no coaches (sorry Schiano),

The winners of the vote were from four different eras and matched my choices.

• Paul Robeson (1915-1919)
• Bill Austin (1956-1958)
• Marco Battaglia (1992-1995)
• Brian Leonard (2003-2006)

Did you choose different players from the 10 that BTN suggested? Honestly, I feel that only Paul Robeson is undebatable.

The last Keep-Calm-And-Chop poster of 2014

It's time to #ChopUNC on the day after Christmas in Detroit to bring this first Big Ten season to a fitting end.

Once again, no one named "Rutger" is associated with Rutgers...

... so the correct possessive form of our university's name should therefore be Rutgers', not Rutger's.

But congratulations to Rutgers' Gary Nova anyway for winning this week's Manning Award Quarterback of the Week honor from the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Facebook page.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery?

With Nebraska firing Bo Pelini today and putting @FauxPelini's career in jeopardy, is there room for another ersatz Big Ten football coach?

— Kyle Bobbleflood (@KyleBobbleflood) November 30, 2014

Video Highlights of Yesterday's Maryland Game

You won't see many defensive highlights here until the very end of the video, but there are a lot of explosive offensive plays starring Nova, Carroo, Grant, Patton, Martin, and Hicks.

Exceeding Expectations

This is not where Maryland and Rutgers were expected to end up in the Big Ten pecking order at the end of this, their inaugural season:

Maryland Chopped

If you missed today's Maryland game, be sure to look for the replay on BTN, or find someone who has it on their DVR, or at least watch the highlights online.

Rutgers wins and the Knights are 7-5 (3-5) in their first B1G season. That was a GREAT win. #MarylandChopped #RFootball
— Beat Visitor (@BeatVisitor) November 30, 2014

The Rutgers (lack of) defense was painful to watch in the first half, but the offense was steady throughout and Gary Nova acquitted himself excellently in his last regular season game as a Scarlet Knight. The comeback from 25 points down at 35-10 to win by 41-38 was impressive and historic and the perfect way to end this inaugural Big Ten season.
It's also not a bad way to begin a rivalry with an I-95 neighbor.
Or to silence all the negative nellies on Twitter.

Someone should get a game ball for whatever was said to the defense during halftime.

Great Film on the Rutgers/Princeton Cannon Wars

How long will it take before Maryland or Penn State establishes a rivalry with us as deep as the one between Rutgers and those pretentious rich assholes in orange?

Knights, Tigers, and Cannons. Oh My! (2012) from Zack Morrison on Vimeo.

Throwback Uniforms from the 'Nineties for Saturday's Maryland Game

The Maryland Agricultural College (which became the University of Maryland in 1920) fielded its first football team in 1892.

The 1892 Maryland Agricultural College football team with their bowler-hatted overlord.

The 1891 Rutgers football team had a shady-looking guy in a black suit and bowler too.

This will be the last in a BeatVisitor.com series that began during this inaugural Big Ten year with early photos of  Michigan's football team and continued with Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan State,

Unlike some of the other Big Ten matchups this year, these teams have a little bit of history between them; the Scarlet Knights' all-time record against the Terrapins, 4 wins and 5 losses, needs to be evened up this week.

Keep Calm and Chop Maryland

I was in a television- and internet-free zone almost all weekend, but I see from the score that things didn't work out too well for the Scarlet Knights in East Lansing. I'm not sure I'll watch if it's re-run this week on BTN or dig back into my Twitter timeline to confirm that the whiny side of the Rutgers fan base was out in full force on Saturday afternoon.

The only goal this week is to go 1-0 against Maryland and finish the regular season with a 7-5 record that no one would have predicted for our first season in the Big Ten.
Here's this week's poster:

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.

The Throwback Photo for Our Next Opponent, the Michigan Agricultural College.

As with Rutgers changing its name from Queens College after the Revolutionary War made that royal name politically incorrect, our next football opponents have had some name changes too. In 1855, the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan was founded; in 1861, it became the State Agricultural College; in 1909, the Michigan Agricultural College; in 1925, the Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science; in 1955, the Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science; and finally, in 1964 it became plain old Michigan State University.

In the tradition we started in this inaugural Big Ten year with MSU's big brother Michigan and continued with Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Indiana, here's a photo of the 1915 Michigan Agricultural College football team.

The 1915 Michigan Agricultural College football team.

The 1917 Rutgers College football team.

It's Michigan State Week.

It was a fun win against Indiana at R House today, but now it's time to concentrate on our next opponents, the Michigan State Spartans.

Here's the BeatVisitorDotCom poster for the week:

Rutgers Women Moving On in the NCAA Soccer Tournament

The Rutgers women won their first 2014 NCAA tournament match tonight, beating La Salle 2-0 at Yurcak Field with goals from Amanda DeVolk and Stefanie Scholz.
Next up? The second-seeded University of Virginia women, who won their first game 8-0.

Rutgers>The State of Michigan

As of now, there is only one team in the Big Ten that has a winning record over both Michigan and Michigan State, Rutgers.

I just thought that fact was worth putting on the record before we put our lifetime 3-2 record on the line against Michigan State in East Lansing in two weeks. (The Scarlet Knights are, of course, 1-0 against that other team from the mitten state.)

October 4, 2014.   Wolverines 24 - Scarlet Knights 26

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.

"...headlong running, wild shouting, and frantic kicking..." Happy 145th Birthday to College Football

I'm republishing the following for new visitors to Rutgers who wonder about "The Birthplace of College Football" line that's proudly displayed next to the football field at R House. Tomorrow is the 145th anniversary of that first intercollegiate football game played between the men of Rutgers and Princeton in New Brunswick, New Jersey on November 6, 1869, just across the river from the current Stadium on the site of the College Avenue Gym.


The details of the game, played by two teams that still needed to agree on rules at game time, are a little like reading the details of an alien game from a foreign land, but this game was neither soccer nor rugby. It was something new, being invented on the fly by college students, and here's a first-hand report of that first intercollegiate game of "foot-ball" played on American soil, exactly as reported first in Rutgers' daily newspaper, the Targum, in 1869, and as reprinted in a short book published for Rutgers' 200th anniversary in 1966, Aloud to Alma Mater, edited by George Lukac, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press,  pages 67-69.

Enjoy! But remember, at some point there will be a pop quiz on this information for our new Big Ten conference opponents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Birth of Intercollegiate Football

On Saturday, November 6, Princeton sent twenty-five picked men to play our twenty-five a match game of foot-ball. The strangers came up in the ten o’clock train, and brought a good number of backers with them. After dinner, and a stroll around the town, during which stroll billiards received a good deal of attention, the crowd began to assemble at the ball ground, which, for the benefit of the ignorant, we would say, is a lot about a hundred yards wide, extending from College Avenue to Sicard Street. Previous to calling the game, the ground presented an animated picture. Grim looking players were silently stripping, each one surrounded by sympathizing friends, while around each of the captains was a little crowd, intent upon giving advice, and saying as much as possible. The appearance of the Princeton men was very different from that of our own players. They were almost without exception tall and muscular, while the majority of our twenty-five are small and light, but possess the merit of being up to much more than they look.

Very few were the preliminaries, and they were quickly agreed upon. The Princeton captain, for some reason or other, gave up every point to our men without contesting one. The only material points were that Princeton gave up “free kicks,” whereby a player, when he catches the ball in the air, is allowed to kick it without hindrance. On the other hand, our practice of “babying” the ball on the start was discarded, and the ball was mounted, in every instance, by a vigorous “long kick.”

Princeton won the toss, and chose the first mount, rather oddly, since it had been agreed to start the ball against the wind. At three p.m. the game was called. The Princetonians suffered from making a bad “mount” or “buck” as they call it; the effects of which were not remedied before the sides closed, and after a brief struggle, Rutgers drove it home, and won, amid great applause from the crowd. The sides were changed, Rutgers started the ball, and after a somewhat longer fight Princeton made it a tie by a well directed kick, from a gentleman whose name we don’t know, but who did the best kicking on the Princeton side.

To describe the varying fortunes of the match, game by game, would be a waste of labor, for every game was like the one before. There was the same headlong running, wild shouting, and frantic kicking. In every game the cool goal-tenders saved the Rutgers goal half a dozen times; in every game the heavy charger of the Princeton side overthrew everything he came in contact with; and in every game, just when the interest in one of those delightful rushes at the fence was culminating, the persecuted ball would fly for refuge into the next lot, and produce a cessation of hostilities until, after the invariable “foul,” it was put in straight.

Well, at last we won the match, having won the first, third, fifth, sixth, ninth, and tenth games; leaving Princeton the second, fourth, seventh, and eighth. The seventh game would probably have been added to our score but for one of our players, who, in his ardor, forgot which way he was kicking, a mistake for which he fully atoned afterward.

To sum up: Princeton had the most muscle, but didn’t kick very well, and wanted organization. They evidently don’t like to kick the ball on the ground. Our men, on the other hand, though comparatively weak, ran well, and kicked well throughout. But their great point was their organization, for which great praise is due to the Captain, Leggett ’72. The right men were always in the right place.

After the match, the players had an amicable “feed” together, and at eight o’clock our guests went home, in high good spirits, but thirsting to beat us next time, if they can.

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

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.

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.

The First Meeting of Rutgers and Wisconsin Summed Up in One Photo

Taken with 3:48 left in the game. Janarion Grant on the 20 to receive a punt.

Quite a difference from our last home game.

Homecoming 1992

On Halloween of 1992, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights had one of their more memorable wins in the early Big East era over the Virginia Tech Hokies, 50-49 as time ran out.
Don't feel like you have to watch all three and a quarter hours as homework for this year's Homecoming against Wisconsin (though there are great shots of the pre-expansion Stadium, giant shoulder pads, television coverage unmarred by on-field computer-graphic distractions, etc.), but please watch Brian Fortay lead the last Rutgers drive at least; it begins at about the 2 hour and 50 minute mark of this video.

Another First Meeting in this First B1G Year

I did the same for Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska, so here are early team pictures of Wisconsin and Rutgers to commemorate the Homecoming game this Saturday that has been entirely too long in coming. The Wisconsin football program is a year older than Ohio State's and only twenty years younger than Rutgers', having been established in 1889.

The 1903 Wisconsin Football Squad, with pads starting to make their appearance.

The 1891 Rutgers Football Team (I'm not sure of the subtleties of the 1891 rules, but I think the player with the Clockwork Orange bowler was the designated knife carrier).

The 1891 RU image is a New York World-Telegram & Sun photograph from the Library of Congress.

A Political Question for #ChopWisconsin Week

Which GOP Governor wears his state university's colors better, Scott Walker or Chris Christie?

Marquette University
(no degree)

University of Delaware
(BA); Seton Hall (JD)

[I won't give the correct answer away, but let's just pray that New Jersey represents itself much better on the football field this Saturday than on the gubernatorial fashion runway.]

Prepare to Welcome Wisconsin to The Birthplace

It will good to be back home against Wisconsin next Saturday after visiting Columbus, Ohio and Lincoln, Nebraska (while we were losing 42-24 to Nebraska just now, Wisconsin was beating Maryland 52-7, and Maryland didn't score their touchdown until the last minute of the game).

#ChopWisconsin

Nebraska versus Rutgers in The New York Times, November 3, 1920

You can read a facsimile of the entire article about the first and only meeting between the Cornhuskers and Scarlet Knights in New York City on 11/2/1920 by clicking here, but I'm sure these first paragraphs will hook you.

NEBRASKA'S SPEED HUMBLES RUTGERS

------

Cornhuskers' Lightning Grid-

iron Tactics Sweep Them to

Victory by 28 to 0.

-------

FUMBLES PLAYED PART

-------

Sanford's Pupil's Err at Critical Times--Crowd of 15,000 Watches Battle at Polo Grounds.

-------

They grow something besides corn out on the prairies of Nebraska. An avalanche of football warriors descended yesterday upon the unsuspecting Rutgers eleven at the Polo Grounds, a great, husky, fearless mass of gridiron terrors, coached by a square-jawed individual named Henry Schulte, and, when they had finished with George Foster Sanford’s cripples, the score stood 28 to 0.

A crowd of more than 15,000 brought umbrellas and raincoats to the baseball lot after they had attended to their civic duty of voting [in the 1920 election between Harding/Coolidge and Cox/FDR], and for the rest of the afternoon, wondered if all western elevens were of the same breed. If so, their advice to Eastern graduate managers is to dispense with intersectional football games [until joining the Big Ten in 2014]. New York won't see any faster or harder football all the rest of this season. Yesterday's first period left the spectators breathless, and what Nebraska's gatling-gun hammering must have done to Rutgers was evident in the second quarter when the cornhuskers pushed across the first two of their touchdowns.

Read the rest here.

A Big Ten Musical Challenge to Rutgers from The Best Damn Band in the Land

Here's the halftime show that wasn't shown on ABC television when Rutgers visited Columbus, Ohio for the first time yesterday:

I think we'll be competing with Ohio State on the football field before the Marching Scarlet Knights (a.k.a. "The Pride of New Jersey") are able to compete with the choreography of the TBDBITL when the men in pads relinquish the field.

Musically TPONJ is not bad at all, but we want marching Frankensteins and people smashing guitars.

This Week's Poster and Message : #ChopNebraska

There was a fair amount of the normal whining from disappointed fans (and the normal Rutgers haters) on Twitter and Facebook yesterday, but who among us can say that we didn't know that there would be losses like yesterday's 56-17 defeat in Columbus, Ohio when we joined the Big Ten? On the positive side, I didn't see any quit on the offensive or defensive sides of the ball even after a superior team (which would be a playoff favorite without an atypical loss against VT early in the season) led by a quarterback who should be a Heisman candidate got off to a large early lead.

We're all disappointed about going 0-1 last week, but here comes another chance to go 1-0 against another ranked team and another Heisman candidate in a large hostile environment this week.

#ChopNebraska

Throwback Photo of Our Next B1G Opponents

For the third game in a row, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will be taking the field against a Big Ten team with its roots in the 19th century. However, unlike the games against Michigan and Ohio State, this game against the Cornhuskers on October 25 will not be the first meeting between the squads. They met once before -- a 28-0 Nebraska victory at the Polo Grounds on November 2, 1920.

The 1891 Nebraska Football Team (The United Nations didn't field their first team until the mid-twentieth century).

The 1882 Rutgers Football Team.

The official Ohio State - Rutgers trailer from OSU for today's game seems to be missing something.

They couldn't even find a single clip with player wearing a Rutgers uniform?



The fans aren't showing much knowledge or respect for Rutgers football in advance of this first meeting either. Look at this article by Harvey Araton in The New York Times in which Buckeye fans guess that our Scarlet Knights might be called the 'Nuggets' or the 'Bulldogs'. Our players were wearing scarlet twenty years before there was an Ohio State football and a year before there was even a college in Columbus.

Let's all hope the players and coaches are looking past Rutgers as much as the fans and press office are.

Go Knights!

Getting to Know the Buckeyes

We may have played against Virginia Tech in the Big East for years without ever learning what a Hokie was, but there's no reason for us to be as uninformed about our fellow Big Ten member schools' mascots.

Another Big Ten school, Minnesota, has published a helpful page to assist anyone interested in identifying  the difference between the similar chestnuts, horse chestnuts, and Ohio buckeyes, which is a valuable service when you consider that only one of the three is edible by humans.

Even though the buckeye nut may be as inedible as a horse chestnut, the leaves almost look as if they might be smokable.

Let's Hope THE Ohio State University Players and Coaches Believe Vegas...

... and look past Rutgers this Saturday.

. #Rfootball installed as a 19.5-point underdog against #OhioState http://t.co/AP6jZy82Gj
— Keith Sargeant (@KSargeantNJ) October 13, 2014

An October Weekend With No Football

The Scarlet Knights are resting up this Saturday, getting healthy for what could be one of the biggest games in Rutgers football's very long history. But we don't need to tell the players and coaches how important next weekend is. We just need to tell them to Keep Calm and Chop OSU (or is that more properly "Keep Calm and Chop THE OSU"?)

Another First Game That's Been A Long Time Coming

Just like last Saturday's game against the Wolverines, our next game -- in Columbus, Ohio on the 18th -- will be the first meeting on the gridiron of two teams that have been around since the 19th century. The Ohio State Buckeyes are proudly celebrating the 125th anniversary of OSU football this year (something that Rutgers football did in 1994).

The 1890 Ohio State football team (augmented by three prisoners from a local jail?).

The 1882 Rutgers football team.

Keep Calm and Chop The Bye

In advance of the October 18th quarterback duel in Columbus, Ohio against that other Big Ten team claiming scarlet as their color (it's been ours since the turbans worn in 1869), it's important to let the players use this off week to become fully healthy and watch a lot of film.

Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit Don't Know Football

On the other hand, Katy Perry and Lee Corso weren't surprised by the Rutgers victory over Michigan yesterday in the historic initial meeting between these two schools.

And in case you were already tailgating seven hours ahead of last night's big win, here's the full video of one of the more interesting celebrity appearances on ESPN's College Gameday ever:

Beating Desmond Howard's old team at The Birthplace yesterday was a great accomplishment, but nothing would be more earth-shaking in the Big Ten than doing the same to Kirk Herbstreit's team in our next game in Columbus, Ohio on October 18th.

Michigan Chopped

Michigan chopped. pic.twitter.com/CqyOOZigy5

— Beat Visitor (@BeatVisitor) October 5, 2014

Blackout

Full house at R House and 19-17 Rutgers leading Michigan at the half.

Game Day at The Birthplace of College Football

They won't need to hand out any bobbleheads to get Rutgers fans into our seats before the kickoff against Michigan tonight.

A Classic Big Ten Chant

Would Julie Hermann approve if the Rutgers student section picked up this classic Big Ten chant from our friends in Wisconsin, or would it necessitate another apology?

So What's Up With South Jersey Football Fans?

The New York Times has a great interactive college football fan map on The Upshot today. It doesn't surprise me that Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Army are the most popular teams in my Hudson Valley county and Zip Code, and it doesn't surprise me that the area around New Brunswick is solid Rutgers country, but why is southern New Jersey so heavily Penn State country? And why doesn't Rutgers even make the top three in many of those counties? This map is based on  Facebook likes, so please like some Scarlet Knights links if you live in the lower counties of New Jersey.

The map and the accompanying article are fascinating and just a little bit addictive. I was surprised by the size of Fresno State's popularity in central California for one thing. Another surprise is the most popular team in the midtown and downtown Manhattan Zips, our visitors tomorrow, the Michigan Wolverines.

The Two Oldest FBS Programs Finally Play for the First Time this Saturday

That should be the headline for the game that will be taking place at The Birthplace of College Football at 7pm this Saturday.  It really is amazing when you think about the fact that Rutgers (first game 1869) and Michigan (first game 1879) have never met across a line of scrimmage before this week.

The 1898 Michigan Football Team already sporting their block M.

The 1882 Rutgers Football Team proudly wearing the block R.

Sports Illustrated predicted that it might happen in Pasadena at the end of the 2007 season, but it seems fitting now that it will happen with both teams in the Big Ten, scheduled to meet every year from now until the end of time.

Good Thing I Have a Black Raincoat

This Saturday's game against the Michigan Wolverines at Rutgers Stadium is a blackout game. All my Scarlet-Knight gear is, surprisingly, scarlet, so I was wondering what I was going to wear to match my fellow fans. No fear. I checked Weather.com for Piscataway just now and I see the game may be a wet one.

Thankfully, my raincoat is black.

Tulane Week Was Successful, but now the real fun starts

So here's your Keep-Calm-And-Chop-Michigan poster for next Saturday night's Big Ten visitor to R House.

Days I'll Be Busy Between Now And 2018

No one I'm related to is allowed to schedule a wedding or a funeral on any of the following dates:

Ray Who?

Can you name one famous NFL Scarlet Knight who hasn't been included on this IBEW wall behind Section 107?

Game Day

Today's free Scarlet Knight bobblehead is in his seat and anxious for this Tulane game to begin!

No, I haven't forgotten...

Here's the Keep-Calm-And-Chop poster for this Saturday's Tulane game.

Wishing Paul James the Best

You hate to hear the letters A, C, and L mentioned when talking about any football player, but it's very disappointing to know that 2014 will mirror 2013 in that we won't get to see Paul James realize his potential over a full season for the Scarlet Knights after a very promising start.

But the helmet that Paul James took to his knee in the second quarter wasn't an isolated incident; the number of low blocks and tackles from the Midshipmen was obvious even to me watching on a small laptop screen (special thanks to TimeWarnerCable for cutting out TV service in my area all weekend). If this Navy team were from any school other than a service academy, they'd be getting a lot more shit (and penalties) for their cut blocks and other attacks on their opponents lower extremities.

Even Kyle Flood couldn't help pointing this out after the game:

"You have to be really smart about how you operate because playing Navy is a very physical football game [...] the way they block on offense, the way they attack your legs on offense with your defense, even the way they tackle and take on blocks with their defense, it just creates a lot of very violent collisions and we're going to have to make sure we're being really smart here as we go through the week so that our bodies recover."

Overall, teams tend to have losing records the week after playing Navy, so it's good for the Scarlet Knights to have Tulane at home this weekend before facing Michigan, but Paul James will be missed all season.

I Apologize in Advance for this 'CHOP NAVY' Poster

Even though the official @RFootball Twitter feed is using the #ChopNavy hashtag in advance of this Saturday's game in Annapolis, I still have a sneaking feeling that the current Athletic Director would prefer it if the following poster said something less aggressive like "Keep Calm and Play Nicely With Midshipmen."

The people of Connecticut are still patiently waiting...

... for Julie Hermann to retroactively apologize for all the years of "Huck the Fuskies" buttons and t-shirts, now that she has apologized to Penn State.

I guess boorish football fans don't fit into the plan to turn R House into an idyllic sanitized "Disney World Experience." 

KEEP CALM AND CHOP PENN STATE

What a great win just now out in Seattle for the Scarlet Knights over Washington State. The team showed a lot of heart coming back over and over again tonight (this morning).

I have a season seat at Rutgers Stadium this year, but I'll be out of the country and away from television and computers during the first two home games against Howard and Penn State. I don't feel a need to do a KeepCalmAndChop poster for Howard, but I can't let the first Penn State game of Rutgers' Big Ten era pass without this:

The First Keep-Calm-and-Chop Poster of 2014

Continuing a long Beat Visitor dot com tradition, here's the Keep Calm and Chop WSU poster for the Big Ten / Pac-12 showdown that will be taking place in Seattle on Thursday to open the season.