If you can't say anything nice....

... use Twitter.
Rather than trying to summarize today's 52-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats here, I just took all the words from the tweets I wrote at the Stadium this afternoon and threw them into a single vaguely-football-shaped word cloud.

You can click on the cloud to enlarge the smaller words, or you can see them in context by looking at twitter.com/beatvisitor if you're interested in today's frustrations.
The only things I'll add are that it will be a crime if Dave Cohen is still the Rutgers defensive coordinator when the Scarlet Knights take the field in our next game against the UCF Knights. And it will be a worse crime if Chas Dodd is not at least considered for the job of starting quarterback in that game. Anyone (of the few hundred of you) who stayed for the last three Rutgers offensive series this afternoon will know why. As at the end of the Houston game, in front of another empty Rutgers Stadium, Dodd demonstrated that he can move this team with confidence in a way that our starting quarterback fails to show in any consistent way.
From this day forward, the words "Gary Nova gives us the best chance to win" need to be banned. He doesn't. 

Keep Calm and Chop Cincy

It was strange to go through a November weekend with absolutely no football games of any note taking place last Saturday, but now we're only three days away from another long drive to Piscataway to see the Scarlet Knights take on the Bearcats at R House for the last time, so (in case you lost last year's) here's your Keep Calm and Chop Cincy poster.

Keep Calm and Chop Cincy

Don't tell the players how big tomorrow's game at Nippert Stadium is -- that a win keeps the Scarlet Knights (8-1, 4-0) all alone in first place in the Big East and a loss creates a three-way tie between the Bearcats, Cardinals, and R Team.
Don't let them know.
Tell them to keep calm and try to go 1 and 0 again this week.

Get your copy of the poster from

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-chop-cincy/ 

It's Noon and Your Television Should Be On If You're Not at Rutgers Stadium

I'll be tweeting updates to the Cincinnati game over at @BeatVisitor

It's already 7-0 Rutgers with 11'43" left in the first quarter.

The score came on a 12-yard Jamison run up the middle after Bearcat QB Munchie Legaux bit the turf and fumbled.

Let's keep it up Knights. Go RU.

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

At the half: Rutgers is up 10-3, but there were too many lost opportunities after strong drives through the middle of the field. Penalties have been especially harmful, and Mohamed Sanu has been quiet. Dodd actually threw what could have been two touchdown passes to Sanu on the 23-play field goal drive, but you have to give credit to the Cincinnati secondary in breaking up both long plays.

~~~~~~~~~~~

At the end of the 3rd quarter: The defensive star of a dominating defense is Khaseem Greene and the offensive star is Juwan Jamison, who has 170 yards and 2 touchdowns with a full quarter left. The only thing that keeps him looking exactly like Ray Rice today is the fact that he's wearing Brian Leonard's 23 rather than Rice's 27. The score is Rutgers 17- Cincinnati 3. Go Knights!

~~~~~~~~~~~

And at the final whistle: Rutgers 20 and Cincinnati 3. It wasn't that close. The defense was dominating (and helped by the fact that Munchie Legaux looked like an alumnus of the Tim Tebaux Passing Academy) and the Rutgers running game was dominating, led by Juwan Jamison's 200-yard performance. The passing game was effective, with Chas Dodd going 19/33 for 173 yards. Mohamed Sanu only had 4 of those 19 receptions, but Dodd was able to spread the ball around. There is no quarterback controversy in Piscataway going into next week's Connecticut game.

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

Congratulations to all the Scarlet Knights on a very complete and satisfying performance

Tonight's Game versus the Bearcats

I'm over at http://twitter.com/BeatVisitor commenting on the game there. It's Cincinnati 20 and Rutgers 17 with 10 minutes left in the 1st half.

Halftime Update: An Arena Football League game has broken out at Nippert Stadium, where it is currently 41 to 24 in the Bearcats' favor. The Rutgers offense has 260 yards and 24 points, which would have been plenty in any other game, but the Rutgers defense has given up 41 points and over 416 (in a half) yards to the bad guys.

Final Update: Cincinnati 69--Rutgers 38. The missed extra point at the beginning when it was RU 7-Cincy 6 was important in the end; it kept the Bearcats from scoring 70. Even so, it ended up being the highest scoring game in Big East history. There were bright spots on the offensive side of the ball; Rutgers scored on the first play from scrimmage in each half and the passing game was going well, but there were -9 rushing yards. The defensive game isn't worth mentioning, but it would have been nice if they put 11 men on the field rather than 8 or 9; there were large holes wherever the Bearcats ran or threw the ball.

What to watch when your Scarlet Knights aren't playing football.

As a fan of Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, you might think that there's no reason at all for you to pay the slightest attention to any of this weekend's college gridiron battles while our Knights are enjoying a bye week, mais au contraire mon frère!
There are at least 10 games in which you, as a loyal son or daughter of Rutgers, should have at least a mild rooting interest over the next three days. Here they are, in order of appearance (not in order of importance):

Tonight @ 7:30pm: Virginia Tech at East Carolina. You should root for the Pirates to beat the Hokies. While not vital, it's necessary for some teams currently ranked in the twenties to lose to make room for the Scarlet Knights.
Friday @ 8pm: Boise State at Louisiana Tech. The Smurfs must lose, as must every other undefeated team except Cincinnati. The best chance for the Scarlet Knights to make it into a BCS bowl begins with the Bearcats making it to the National Championship game. To do that they need to do more than go undefeated; they need for all the other undefeated teams (or all but one) to lose.
Saturday @ 12 noon: UCF at Texas. See above. Death to Longhorns.
Saturday @ 12 noon: Northwestern at Iowa. The Hawkeyes are undefeated? The Hawkeyes must lose.
Saturday @ 12 noon: Syracuse at Pittsburgh. We Rutgers fans want to see Otto the Orange giggling with glee and rolling on the sidelines of Ketchup Stadium as Syracuse breaks out of their week of extreme bad luck with a laughingly easy victory over the Panthers. Why? Not only does Cincinnati need to win convincingly every week, but the Panthers need to lose three games in order for the Scarlet Knights to jump over them in the Big East standings.
Saturday @ 12 noon: Louisville at West Virginia. The Mountaineers need to have the best possible record and ranking when they enter Rutgers Stadium on December 5th, so say bye bye Cardinals (& move one step closer to the end of the Kragthorpe era at PapaJohnsStadium).
Saturday @ 2:30pm: Navy at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is another of those schools ranked in the twenties that needs to make room for the Scarlet Knights. Plus we'd just love to see the Midshipmen beat the Leprechauns after losing to the Temple Owls last week. Plus we just love to see Notre Dame lose. Don't you?
Saturday @ 3:30pm: LSU at Alabama. The losses need to be evenly distributed around the SEC in November, so this Saturday it's the Crimson Tide's turn to be mauled decisively by the Tigers of Baton Rouge.
Saturday @ 4pm: TCU at San Diego State. The Aztecs need to rip the heart out of any Horned Frog dreams for an undefeated 2009 season.
Saturday @ 7:15pm: Vanderbilt at Florida. Florida is undefeated. You know for whom to root. Commodores. Commodores. Toot. Toot. Toot. (If that isn't their cheer, it should be.) OK, so Vanderbilt lost to Army. All that means is that if the Gators don't beat them by twenty points, then the Gators don't deserve their top national ranking.
Saturday @ 8pm: Connecticut at Cincinnati. You almost feel sorry for the fluffy white doggies from Storrs this year. With a couple of bounces in their favor in the fourth quarter, they could be 8-0 rather than 4-4, but as Rutgers fans we have to root for them to go 4-5 on Saturday night, and for them to lose convincingly to the Big East leaders, for all the reasons already given above.

Which Big East teams to root for in Week Seven

There are four games this week that will involve Big East teams. If you're a fan of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights who is unsure of how to root in any of these contests, we'll be glad to give you guidance.

~~Thursday, October 15, 7:30pm
The 5-0 (1-0) Cincinnati Bearcats will be visiting the 5-0 (1-0) South Florida Bulls for the marquee Big East matchup of the weekend. One of them will leave Raymond James Stadium with their first loss and the other will be the favorite to win the Big East's BCS Bowl bid. So, for whom should we Friends of Rutgers root? It's easy. As annoying as they are, we need to root hard for USF (aka, South Florida, Ponce de Leon University, Flamerica University, Sunshine State University, Citrus State University, etc.). There are two reasons for this. 1) Cincinnati will need to lose twice if Rutgers is to have any chance of winning the Big East, and 2) the higher USF is ranked when they visit Rutgers Stadium in November, the more of a bump it will give to the Scarlet Knights' national ranking and recognition when the Knights win that game on November 12th.

~~Friday, October 16, 8pm
The ferocious 5-1 (2-0) Pittsburgh Panthers (see illustration to the left for identification purposes) head to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on the 4-1 (0-1) Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. If you have any doubt as to which way you're rooting in this one, then you are reading the wrong blog. One of these two teams will be ranked by many poll voters at the end of the night. If you are lucky enough to have tickets for the game and you feel that you are not willing to stand and yell loudly enough to damage to your vocal cords whenever the Knights are on defense, then you should stay at home, watch on ESPN, and give your tickets to someone louder and more rambunctious. The only words that should not be allowed on Friday night? That's easy: "Down in Front!"

~~Saturday, October 17, 12pm
The 2-3 (0-1) Louisville Cardinals will be visiting the 3-2 (0-1) University of Connecticut Huskies. This is a pick'em in which Beat Visitor dot com is taking no formal position. As long as the Scarlet Knights beat both teams later this year, you can root based on which of your personal hatreds is greater.

~~Saturday, October 17, 3:30pm
The 4-2 Marshall Thundering Herd will be thundering into Morgantown to meet the 4-1 (1-0) West Virginia Mountaineers. This one is easy not only for Rutgers fans, but for all fans of Big East teams. Let's Go Mountaineers! The Big East should not be dropping any games to non-conference foes as long as sportswriters and fans of other conferences are questioning our conference's legitimacy and ownership of an automatic BCS Bowl bid.

Syracuse is the only Big East team to have the coming week off. There will be no Crying Child next weekend.

Why so glum?

Anyone surfing around the web for any news or comment about our favorite football team is sure to see a lot of "commentary" from various Gloomy Gusses about the sorry state of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 2009 (and let's be brutally honest, does anyone love to complain more than a whiny North Jersey a**hole?). As an answer, I give them this picture taken on Labor Day.

As with any photo on Beat Visitor dot com, click to enlarge.

Of course Gloomy Gus will see only the "45" and the "7," but I love this picture despite the score. This one image shows the debut of the ginormous new HDTV screen above the new south endzone seats, it shows people still in those seats despite the score, it trumpets the one honor -- "THE BIRTHPLACE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL"-- that no school will ever take away from Rutgers, and it shows the debut of Rutgers' quarterback of the future (and the present) in his first quarter of action for the Scarlet Knights, before he threw his first touchdown pass and his first 2-point conversion pass (and before he gave up a safety to give those 2 points back to the Bearcats).
If Tom Savage continues to throw the ball against Florida International this weekend the way he did against Cincy and Howard, and if Cincinnati wins again against Oregon State (in the Beavers' home) showing that they are who we think they are, then they are going to be moving up close to the top ten in everyone's polls next week and Rutgers' first-week loss to them with our second-string quarterback (and Dom Natale didn't even show he could move the ball against Howard in the second half on Saturday) will start to look like an aberration.
The most important game for Rutgers this Saturday is obviously the game against the FIU Panthers, but the second most important game for Rutgers football is the game being played by the Pitt Panthers against Navy. Pittsburgh is lurking just below the bottom of most polls right now; a few stumbles among the top 25 and a stellar performance by Pitt could put them on the lower rungs of the national rankings next week. There would be nothing better than to see a highly-ranked and undefeated group of Panthers entering Rutgers Stadium on October 16th to meet a Scarlet Knight team that has had a chance to gel around Tom Savage's leadership. If the Bearcats are still undefeated they will be in the top ten at that point; nobody would have a problem putting the Knights into the rankings if they beat a ranked Pitt and their only loss was to a top-ten team in week one. Well, maybe by "nobody" I mean that I would have no trouble placing them there in my BlogPoll compiled on October 17.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just want to note that I hope to be able to get a BlogPoll posted here early on Sunday, but then I'll be out of the country for nine days (in a place where football is played with the feet, and where the players wear shorts instead of pads and helmets) and I'll be computer-free while I'm in that land of beer and castles. I won't be around for the Maryland game or the post-Maryland poll, so I will either miss that week or get it in just before the Wednesday-morning deadline on June 30th. Don't completely abandon Beat Visitor dot com while I'm observing radio silence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Mohamed Sanu doesn't make the catch, watch out

Even if true freshman Mohamed Sanu doesn't make the reception on any given play, he still is very into the play. The defensive backs from Florida International should note this video clip from the opening game against Cincinnati and keep their heads on the swivel looking for the wide receiver wearing number 6 next Saturday:

And they might also find this block from last Saturday's Howard game of more than academic interest:

Speaking of high-impact true freshmen, that's also not a bad pass from Tom Savage to Tim Brown in the Howard clip.

Some Questions Settled Earlier Today. One New Question Unanswered.

A beautiful view of the expanded Rutgers Stadium on 7 September 2009
(beautiful except for the halftime score, that is)

I'm not going to write too much tonight, or put together a video before bedtime (or ever?) of today's 47-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats in R House, but there were some questions settled today in Piscataway.

1. Freshman Tom Savage is the starting quarterback for the Scarlet Knights for the rest of 2009 (and he should have been the starting quarterback in the first half as well as the second today).
2. Mohamed Sanu is another true freshman who will be thrilling Rutgers fans with his receptions and runs for the next four years.
3. One Big East team deserves to be placed firmly in all the top 25 lists (hint: it's not the Scarlet Knights)

But some questions remain unanswered, chief among them being:

1. Where was the f***ing defense?

Summer's Gone and the Time is Right for Dancing on our Seats

The best day of the year. Summer officially ends. The New Yorkers with their Benzes and Beemers and Bentleys (none of whom know how to drive) will be gone from my beach town when I get home tonight, with my shredded vocal cords and bleeding ears, after watching my Scarlet Knights at Rutgers Stadium.
If I'm home in time I may post my BlogPoll contribution tonight after today's Rutgers/Cincinnati and Florida State/Miami games. If not tonight, it will go up early tomorrow morning.
I'll definitely post some photos and videos from the game later this week.
I'll also be doing a little tweeting from the game if I can get a connection, but not if it gets in the way of screaming and yelling and banging on the aluminum benches.
Have fun today, whether you're in the Stadium with the noise and the cannon smoke, or just screaming with joy in a bar or living room! It's time for me to get ready to hit Route 18.

With a day to go until football begins . . .

Some of you may not know what to do today, though you may be tempted to head to the parking lots on the north bank of the Raritan River 24 hours early with tents and grills and footballs and coolers full of adult beverages. Sorry, you have to wait a little longer, but you can click these links to more fully immerse yourself in the world of the Scarlet Knights until kickoff tomorrow at four.

• The Official Rutgers Preview and pdf Game Notes for the game
• The Official Cincinnati Bearcats Preview and Game Notes from GoBearcats.com
• Updates from Game Day at the Daily Targum
• Updates from Scarlet Scuttlebutt
• Updates from Bleed Scarlet
• Updates on Rutgers Football at NJ.com (Star-Ledger)
• Current Tweets mentioning Rutgers (if you're on Twitter, tweet it up!)
  
• Remember your cheers, rules, and wave instructions

And while we're all anxiously waiting to see whether Dom Natale, Tom Savage, or Jabu Lovelace will get that first snap tomorrow afternoon, one other Rutgers quarterback did not have to wait until Monday to get his season started, his chance to play, and to pass for 245 yards and score three touchdowns in an opening day victory. Chris Paul-Etienne, who saw a couple of years wearing scarlet, is now the starting quarterback for the University of Rhode Island. Here he is in a very short clip from the 2008 Scarlet-White game throwing a short pass to Shamar Graves:

Congratulations Chris! We'll always remember you as a Scarlet Knight, and may you lead URI to an undefeated season.

I hope for his sake that Tony Pike has eyes in the back of his head

I hope that the Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback finds himself trying to listen for footsteps over the deafening crowd noise next Monday. I hope he has this video from two years ago etched into his neurons. Joe Lefeged is bigger, stronger, faster, and more experienced as a starter than he was in this game against Syracuse when he won Big East defensive player of the week as a true freshman, and a substitute:


What more can we add, than another slightly modified quote from King Lear:

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the Lefeged
They kill us for their sport.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

"... I'll tickle your Bearcat ..." another slightly shaken Shakespearean quote

I'm sorry, but The Shakespeare Quote Generator is too addictive. Here's one for our friends from the University of Cincinnati.

Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustilarian!
I'll tickle your Bearcat!

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Two More Quotes of the Day for Rutgers Football

Here's a quote about Rutgers Stadium I pulled off ESPN.com from 2 October 2007, from a safety who is now playing for the Baltimore Ravens:

"We went up there two years ago, and it was not a very good environment," said Bearcats senior safety Haruki Nakamura, recalling a 44-9 loss. "They're pretty brutal fans. Their student section is very proud of their program -- very loud, very hostile. I mean, it's one of those atmospheres we were yearning for at the University of Cincinnati."

Despite Haruki Nakamura's impression of the 2005 game (which seemed good-natured to me), it always seemed like there was one loud end of Rutgers Stadium and one end where the opposition got a respite from the noise. That is all changed now.

Here's the companion quote of the day from Tim Pernetti in which he assured the press that the Stadium addition will be "fully operational" by next Monday's game (from Scarlet Scuttlebutt, 1 September 2009):

“And I think the folks toward the open-end of the stadium in the past may have felt a little distanced from the action, but the closed-in stadium makes everybody feel like they’re part of the action no matter where you sit.
“I think it’ll be special — anybody who’s holding a ticket right now is going to have a real special experience on opening day because it’s not often you can be part of history and something that’s new at the same time.”

It's funny that he puts it quite that way though, because I always feel (or, at least, have felt for the past four or five years) that Rutgers football is the perfect mix of a long historical tradition with something brand new. And once again, like every year at this time, I can't wait until I'm sitting on a hard aluminum bench waiting for the first kickoff of the year.

Quote of the Day About Quarterback Number 7

He really does remind you of John Elway, No. 7 on his back, blond, big arm and growing pains. Elway lined up behind the guard waiting for the snap in one of his early pro games.
As good as Elway was at the collegiate level, the next step was too much for a while. As good as Barkley was in high school, no reason to think the next step won't also be too big for a while.

--T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times, 30 August 2009

So the quote isn't about our freshman quarterback wearing the number 7, Tom Savage, but it's interesting to see how many parallels there are between the two highly touted true freshmen at Rutgers and USC. I was tempted to remove Barkley's name and the LA Times tag up above; every Rutgers fan would then have thought that the quote on a Rutgers football blog about the blond quarterback with the big arm wearing the number 7 who has been widely compared to John Elway was in reference to our freshman Wunderkind, and not USC's.

Pete Carroll and USC have set themselves up for lots of media criticism and discussion with their early announcement of freshman Matt Barkley as their opening-game starter (even if it was at least partially motivated by an injury to another QB). I love that Greg Schiano is keeping the final quarterback decision under his hat until the last possible moment, as reported yesterday:

“Well, neither of them are captains so I don’t have to tell them until they’re in the tunnel, ‘Hey, you’re the guy.’ ” Schiano said, grinning only slightly. “I’m only kidding. The guy’s going to know who’s starting. I probably won’t tell you guys [i.e., the press]. That’s why I probably won’t make it public.” [ . . . ] “They’ll know soon enough,” Schiano said, referring to Cincinnati’s coaching staff. “The (quarterback) will come trotting out first series – that’s who they got.”

--Keith Sargeant, Scarlet Scuttlebutt, 29 August 2009

It may sound heretical to those who remember only Mike Teel's last seven games in Scarlet in 2008, but if I were Brian Kelly preparing the Cincinnati Bearcats for the Labor Day opener, I'd much rather be doing my game planning against Mike Teel (against whom the Bearcats defense had no small success) than against the unknown mix of Natale, Lovelace & Savage. Hell, with Greg Schiano's desire to pull out all stops in order to win this important first game in a autumn full of one-game seasons, Brian better be prepared to see D.C. Jefferson under center for the first play of 2009, or for Tim Brown running the Wild Knight, or . . .

This just makes the Labor Day opener even MORE important

The preseason AP football poll just came out and, as with the Coaches poll, not a single Big East team is in the top 25.
If you count down through the "Others Receiving Votes," you will see that the voters placed Pittsburgh Panthers at #28, Rutgers Scarlet Knights at #30, West Virginia Mountaineers at #32, Cincinnati Bearcats at #33, and South Florida at #45. Among the Big East football teams, only UConn, Louisville, and Syracuse are starting the season with no votes.
Not to put any pressure on the Scarlet Knights, but the Labor Day game is going to put Cincinnati or Rutgers into the top 25, and move the other down into the forties or worse.
Go Knights!

The Quote of the Day about Rutgers Football comes from Rutgers' first opponent (Let's get Gilyard a Hyundai for the long ride back to Ohio)

“We’re getting antsy. The coaches are running us into the ground. We knew the coaches were going to run us into the ground, so we had to adjust to that. It’s like if we win against Rutgers – when we win against Rutgers – we’re in the driver’s seat of the Big East. We’re driving a Maserati. I’d rather be driving a Maserati in front of the pack than trying to catch up to the rest of the Big East in a Hyundai.”

--Mardy Gilyard,

Cincinnati Bearcat Wide Receiver

What? He's Anti-American too? He's too good to drive a new Pontiac or Plymouth or Oldsmobile?

Beat Vistor should be writing for the Gray Lady

In the New York Times' Quad Blog, Paul Myerberg has placed the Cincinnati Bearcats at #23 in his countdown from 120 to 1. I beat him to it in my Saturday BlogPoll picks.

Another Bearcat Theory.

One of our readers wrote in to say that in addition to being a car made by Stutz (as we pointed out yesterday), a bearcat is also a real animal, as pictured here.

We'd love to see the University of Cincinnati spring to bring one in a cage to Rutgers Stadium on September 7th.

~~~

And in other mascot-related off-season news, we'd love to see the next redesign of the cartoony Scarlet Knight bearing a face more like the one that you can see here at @TweetsFromHell (the knight riding the horse should remain unchanged). The whole scarlet armor with the scarlet face thing might not work at all, but it might be worth testing, and it just continues the whole trope about the Jersey being Hell and our hockey team being called the Devils. Sir Gawain thought that Green Knight was tough? Well, get a look at this diabolical Scarlet hombre!

~~~

But here's our favorite college mascot (and its even stranger tie-dyed sibling).