It's "Keep Calm and Chop Ohio State" Week

The year will come when it won't sound like a ridiculous pipe dream to think about the Scarlet Knights beating the football team from Ohio that also wears scarlet and has named themselves after a mildly poisonous nut.

The year could be this year, but it will be some year soon as long as Greg Schiano is coach of the Knights and they keep chopping.

And unlike 2020, home field advantage is a thing again this year. See You Saturday at R House. 

 

Which state are we in?

I hope it seems like a long drive back to Ohio.

Those Buckeyes Were Just Copying the Scarlet Knights (and not only by copying the color scarlet)

There's a great article by Ryan Dunleavy on NJ.com this morning with the title, "Did Rutgers, not Ohio State, start helmet stickers in college football? Here's proof." Not only is it worth reading this piece about large stars added to the front of Rutgers helmets for interceptions in 1961 in its own right, but the timing is perfect with the Buckeyes coming to town in two days.

See you there.

Same Message Every Week During Rutgers Football Season...

...even when, or especially when, we're playing the number one team in the country at R House in front of a national television audience in prime time on Saturday night on ABC:

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.