The Quote of the Day following the USF game

No matter how you want to analyze USF’s 31-0 loss at Rutgers on Thursday night, here is what stands out to me in the immediate aftermath: the Bulls didn’t even look like they belonged on the same field with Rutgers tonight, and if these teams played 10 times, I think USF would have a good chance to win the series.

-- Scott Carter, The Tampa Tribune's Bulls Report, 13 Nov '09

Is there anyone connected with the Scarlet Knights who wouldn't want to take them up on this ten-game series "threat"?

Congratulations to everyone playing on the field for last night's impressive performances on both sides of the ball (especially to Devin McCourty!) and to Coach Schiano for finally getting to the .500 mark for his career at Rutgers. The percentage will only get better from here.

Déjà vu, or Didn't We Just Have a Team in the Top Three Playing in Rutgers Stadium on a Thursday Night?

9 November 2006. There's some FieldTurf under there somewhere.

The school whose most famous alumnus invented the Sledge-O-Matic® for squirting watermelon juice on ponchoed audience members is bringing the youngest team in college football to The Birthplace of College Football this Thursday for yet another nationally-televised ESPN game between the Knights and a team ranked in the top three.

We know that what happened against the #3 Louisville Cardinals last year is a real possibility against the #2/#3 USF Bulls this year, but it's important for those of us in the stands to do our part as well!

And speaking of déjà vu, didn't we already beat a team called the Bulls (albeit a team with more tradition and history) on a Thursday night earlier this season??

By the way, Gallagher will be unsheathing his Sledge-O-Matic® just down Route 18 from Rutgers at Monmouth University in West Long Branch on the 19th, so maybe he'll be at the game on the 18th, inspiring the Bulls and Bullfans with his antics. Of course, Gallagher graduated from USF in 1969 -- 28 years before his alma mater played its first intercollegiate football game (and 100 years after Rutgers and Princeton played the first) -- so he may not even know his old school has a team.

"When You Ain't Got Nothing, You Got Nothing to Lose"

Bob Dylan could be giving advice to the Buffalo Bulls in this line from "Like a Rolling Stone."

Is anyone else just a little nervous about this opening game on August 30th? My season tickets didn't even come in the mail yet, but I'm already getting a little knot in my stomach.

When I see these predicted results for the 2007 Buffalo Bulls in this preview page from Athlonsports.com, I can't help thinking that this is a desperate team with nothing at all to lose -- and the world to gain -- by pulling out all stops, using all its tricks, and playing over its head against a highly-ranked Rutgers team.

A team that's being shown such complete preseason disrespect -- "hey, maybe you'll win one . . . against Temple" -- can be a dangerous team. A Rutgers team that was treated lightly shocked the football world at the beginning of the 2004 season by beating Michigan State. And, of course, those same Scarlet Knights lost to New Hampshire in their second game of the 2004 season. That's what scares me. The Knights won't have any trouble getting up for Louisville and West Virginia, but they can't ignore the New Hampshires and Cincinnatis and Buffalos and Norfolk States on their road to a third-straight bowl bid.

Jokes for 2007's First Visitor to Rutgers Stadium

Click Here for the Buffalo Bulls jokes (mostly tired, mostly old, but jokes that should be part of any American's general joke literacy, even if they're not always in the best taste).

And Click Here for the Buffalo Bulls Official Football website (because it's never too early to start getting prepared for the first game of the season in R House on Thursday, August 30th).

AND, congratulations to the Rutgers Women (who are often spotted as spirited spectators at the Stadium in football season) for winning the Big East tournament -- and to do it by beating Connecticut (ranked 2/3). Good Luck in the NCAA tournament! You're peaking at the right time of year.