Keep Calm (despite today's surprises) and Chop Michigan

I guess we shouldn't have expected the week between Rutgers' 3-0 non-conference season and Saturday's trip to begin running the Big Ten gauntlet at The Big House to be completely uneventful, but who had  "Max Melton and Chris Long will be suspended after an incident incident involving a paintball gun" on their bingo card?  

I'm sure I wasn't the only Scarlet Knights fan wondering about which brother would make the biggest impact during the Wolverines' game, Bo Melton on offense or Max on defense, because both have been stellar so far.

This is a coaching challenge that Greg Schiano did not need during this week, but I hope he's able to fully instill the Keep Calm and Chop Michigan message with the non-suspended members of the team before Saturday at 3:30 in Ann Arbor.

30.833333333

If anyone had told you at the end of Rutgers' 2019 football season that the Scarlet Knights would average over 30 points a game in their first six Big Ten games of 2020 -- without ever scoring less than 20 points -- you would have laughed. I know I would have laughed. Last year the Knights were shut out in three of their first six B1G games and they averaged 4 points per game (4!) in that stretch.

After this evening's 37-30 win over Purdue, the Knights' record is only 2-4, but even that win-loss record seems deceptive. They have fought hard until the bitter end of every game. The 3OT loss to Michigan and the 3-point loss to Illinois easily could have been (or should have been) wins. The Knights weren't embarrassed against the Buckeyes and they even gave us the play of the year (almost) near the end of the Indiana game.

With Greg Schiano back at the helm, I know I'm having more fun as a Rutgers football fan than I have in years. And there's still a chance of ending with a .500 record in the Big Ten for the first time since joining the conference in 2014.

I just wish I could be watching live at Rutgers Stadium. Last week's Michigan OT game would have been a blast (and may have turned out differently in a loud stadium).

Looking Forward to 2016.

2015 ended inauspiciously yesterday when Rutgers tried to sit on an early first half 31-10 lead over Maryland rather than play until the end of the game, with the inevitable result.

2016 began today when President Barchi fired Athletic Director Julie Hermann and Head Coach Kyle Flood. I won't say anything bad about either of them here, but I will say whom I'd love to see on the sidelines when football season starts again, so here's a poster and video meant to be seen by our brand new Athletic Director Pat Hobbs:

The Rutgers Football quotes of the month come from Tampa Bay

I'm a little slow catching up with the news from the NFL this month, but it's just recently come to my attention that our favorite Knight Brian Leonard is hooking up with  his college coach Greg Schiano again and moving from the Bengals to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (otherwise known as the Scarlet Knights South in opposition to the Scarlet Knights North playing at Gillette Stadium).

Brian Leonard's last game wearing
the Scarlet's 23 on 12/26/06.

Here are a couple of quotes from the July 10 article in Brian's local Watertown Daily Times:

“We felt Brian could help us win and that’s why we brought him here. Brian Leonard’s a winner. I have a history with him since he was 16 years old. We’ve been through a lot together. This guy is an unselfish guy who will show up big when we need him.” -- Greg Schiano

and

“It’s comfortable going back to a coaching staff I already know and I’ll also be playing with some former teammates from Rutgers. [...] I’m excited. I had a great time in Cincinnati and have some good friends there, and the fans are great. But I needed a change and I think Coach Schiano knows how to use me. Hopefully I’ll progress throughout camp and show my skills, and my role with the team will get bigger and bigger.” -- Brian Leonard

It's hard not to wish them both the best. This is a coach/player combination that trumps any other loyalty I might have to any other NFL team.

A Commercial Worth Rewatching

One quote sums up Rutgers' loss in last night's Orlando Bowl

“Gary is our starting quarterback. He is the guy that has earned the job and earned the right to be in the game, and certainly nothing I saw from him made me feel like I should make any change.” -- Rutgers Coach Kyle Flood on Quarterback Gary Nova

Was Kyle Flood watching a different game? Gary Nova looked scared, was throwing off his back foot all night, and should have thrown six interceptions rather than one -- if the Virginia Tech defensive backs had any hands.

Wasn't Kyle Flood on the sideline during last year's Pinstripe Bowl during which Greg Schiano's switch to Chas Dodd helped lead to a victory over Iowa State? (I would have loved to have heard Greg Schiano's thoughts as he watched from his box in the Citrus Bowl last night.)

I feel very sorry for a defense full of seniors who played a brilliant game against Virginia Tech, scoring a touchdown, holding the Hokies scoreless for three quarters (until a Nova interception set up the first score in the fourth), and keeping them out of the endzone in OT when the Hokies had a first down at the three. Khaseem Greene and crew are a great defense who deserved just a little bit of support on the other side of the ball.

"Hey Big E! Hey Big E! This one's for you buddy!"

Here's a short iPhone video taken from my seat in section 122  of the trophy presentation at Yankee Stadium after the Scarlet Knights' 27-13 Pinstripe Bowl victory over the Iowa State Cyclones.  You can see Jawan Jamison getting his MVP award and Greg Schiano dedicating the win to Eric LeGrand.

What "SI Curse" for appearing on the Sports Illustrated cover right before a big game?

(Here's the lo-res version I originally posted via Blogger):

No more need to vote in our latest poll.

We won't take the poll away before Saturday. You can still register your feelings in the Chas Dodd and Tom Savage quarterback question if you want, but the word is out this afternoon that Greg Schiano is not going to keep the Rutgers football fans waiting until game time on Saturday for an announcement.The starter will be Chas Dodd. You can read more at Brian Bennett's ESPN Big East Blog.

Greg Schiano and Joe Lefeged on Rutgers' #1 APR (but why does this video only have 18 views?)

Here's a short segment on WNBC news with Bruce Beck talking to Greg Schiano and Joe Lefeged about Rutgers' #1 national ranking in the NCAA's 2010 Academic Progress Rates, and the importance of the student part of the student-athlete mix on the banks of the old Raritan River.

I'm sharing this here not only to show Joe Lefeged's part of the interview (he's more than just a long list of blocked punts, interceptions, forced fumbles and hard hits), but because it deserves MUCH more than the 18 views that it has on YouTube in the last four days since posting. Embedding here at Beat Visitor Dot Com should give it at least 4 or 5 more!

If you were Greg Schiano . . .

... who would you have as your starting quarterback against the Black Knights of Army next Saturday? Chas Dodd or Tom Savage?
Vote in the poll to your right; we're sure that Greg will be reading and taking note of our results.

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.

Just Shut Up Already! The Quotes of the Day for Pitt Week.

Maybe the Whiners will soon be jumping off the bandwagon and riding off into the sunset (this shot of R House at the end of the TSU game also makes a nifty full-screen computer background courtesy of BeatVisitor.com)

"schiano is an idiot...I hope you are gone soon and Rutgers can save 2 million dollars a year from your salary." "...lets let Tom Savage throw the ball all over the field for interceptions and overthrows. The kid is not ready to play Big East football and the only thing that is saving his butt right now is that interception on the last drive being dropped." "Schiano better do something. The ticker is running! New Jersey wants a Big East Champion! ... Mulchahy is gone! Schiano...you gotta give us a winning year!" "Schiano is a stubborn donkey, he will never admit when he is wrong, and he is clearly wrong not to play Williams. Our o-line is not playing well and a back like martinek with no lateral quickness is not going to succeed. This line cannot open up holes, we need a back with speed and cut-back ability. It seems so obvious. Yet we keep trotting out our glorified fullback and hope we can run straight ahead. Pathetic play calling, the co-coordinators is a joke." "Don't play your fastest running back coach, good idea. Does anyone know how to start a real petition to FIRE GREG SCHIANO!! 9 YEARS IT THE LONGEST TENURE COACH IN THE BIG EAST AND EVERY OTHER SCHOOL EXCEPT S. FLORIDA HAS WON A BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP. TIME TO GO GREG" --actual quotes from random idiots who commented on just one Star-Ledger article yesterday

When Saturday Night Live did skits with Bob and Wendy Whiner, did anyone doubt for a second that the Whiners were from some bedroom community in North Jersey? I've learned to ignore the Whiners and continue reading my book as they blame the conductor on NJ Transit for an Amtrak power or switch failure, or the weather. I was hoping I could ignore all this negative chatter on the internet the way I try to ignore all the frustrated head coaches sitting around me in the stands every week, but this has now reached a fevered pitch, and we've only lost twice -- to two ranked teams.

Did it ever occur to any of these Whiners that these are college kids playing a game? A game in which the ball takes funny bounces and luck takes more than a minor role every week? Bill Stull threw at least two third-down passes up for grabs on Friday night when he was in the grasp of the defense that could easily have been intercepted and returned for touchdowns by the Scarlet Knights but instead came down as first downs for the Panthers. Professional quarterbacks for at least two teams yesterday would have been happy to have had Tom Savage's line of 248 yards with 1TD and 1INT (the Titans had Kerry Collins and Vince Young combine for 2 of 14 with minus 7 yards and 2 interceptions; and the Jets' star rookie Mark Sanchez was 10 of 30 with 5 interceptions). It doesn't make these quarterbacks untalented or their coaches inept. They just had bad days (as I'm hoping the nattering nabobs of negativity quoted up above were having on a rainy Sunday with their favorite college and pro teams all losing). They were simply on the losing end of a game. It wasn't their day.

And the season isn't over. There's another game next week for all of these teams. Beat Army! (And shut up if I quoted you up above.)

It's the "Wild Knight", not the Wildcat. Quote of the Day from Coach Schiano

"I don't follow pro football that much, but what I hear is that the Dolphins have this package and they run it all the time. I don't know if we're there. That's probably why you don't see it a lot (with Rutgers). But it is interesting."

-- Head Coach Greg Schiano, 14 October 2009

Greg Schiano's quote of the day comes from this article from Brendan Prunty that appears this morning, "Rutgers' wild card against Pittsburgh? It may be the 'Wildcat'." The Scarlet Knights coaching staff hasn't given away any information about special plays in the recent out-of-conference games, but you know that we are going to see some new looks from the offense on Friday night, and not just the Jabu Lovelace package. The trick plays are always saved for big games and the Wild Knight worked well as a change of pace in last year's season-ending blowout against Louisville. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Joe Martinek or Tim Brown or De'Antwan Williams lining up in an unconventional position in the backfield. On what could be a sloppy night (the last forecast I looked at was calling for rain, 12mph winds, and a low of 38 in New Brunswick on Friday night), the running game will be even more important than usual, and I feel confident in saying that not every running play of the Scarlet Knights is going to begin with a conventional handoff from the quarterback.

Once again, the Beat Visitor dot com style sheet calls this formation "The Wild Knight" for obvious reasons, and especially when it's used during night games. It shouldn't be called the "Wildcat" on Friday unless it's being run by the Pitt Panthers.

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 . . .

The Quote of the Day about Rutgers Football (2007 edition)

Coach Schiano talking to recruits in the stands at the Scarlet-White Game on 4/18/09

"I was contacted earlier this week about the Michigan coaching vacancy, but I have decided to remove my name from consideration. I look forward to our third straight bowl game and to bringing a national championship to Rutgers and the state of New Jersey. I will have no further comment."

-- Greg Schiano, December 7, 2007

Let the rumors fly about which job Greg Schiano really wants. All we as fans of Rutgers football have is the evidence of 2006 (Sorry Miami!) and 2007 (see above) to tell us how our coach feels about staying On the Banks of the Raritan. We've been given no reason not to take him at his word about his plans, or his mission statement.

Go Knights.

The Real Greg Schiano finally found a way to lash out at @FakeGregSchiano

Greg has used his powers to bring Twitter down around the world for hours this morning.
How many brilliant thoughts and precise 140-character aperçus have been lost forever?!

The God of Thunder & The Prince of Darkness, or which deities and demigods help your football team get to the top?

There was more than a little controversy on Twitter at the end of last week about people using the names of coaches to post Tweets. The University of Louisville formally asked Twitter to get rid of the fake Steve Kragthorpe when the person tweeting under @SteveKragthorpe with the Louisville Cardinals coach's image starting making comments like "Whoa man saw that Erin Andrews video hubba hubba". So I started looking at all the twittering Big East football coaches with a sharper eye and I was struck not by any of Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt's inanities (which made him seem all too real), but by the great background image on @CoachWannstedt's Twitter page:
Here's a transcript of a Twitter conversation in 140-character bites that began between @BeatVisitor and @FakeGregSchiano last night and continued this morning:

BV: Hey @FakeGregSchiano ! Why don't you have a cool god-of-thunder-&-lightning Twitter background like the fake Wannstache at @CoachWannstedt ?
FGS: @BeatVisitor Simple: I have been too busy with my many other fake duties to change the background.
FGS: @BeatVisitor Also, I'm pretty sure @CoachWannstedt is the real deal.
...
BV: @FakeGregSchiano The fact that @CoachWannstedt probably is the Echt Wannstedt makes the God of Thunder background even funnier.
FGS: @BeatVisitor Careful - laugh in the face of Zeustedt and prepare to be struck down.
BV: @FakeGregSchiano If Thor Zeusstedt controls lightning, then what superpowers do you use to beat him so consistently??
FGS: @BeatVisitor A quick-strike offense and/or opportunistic defense. I'm also an alchemist, but that doesn't help with the football stuff.
BV: @FakeGregSchiano You could also sell your soul to the original Scarlet Knight @TweetsFromHell if you haven't already..
BV: @FakeGregSchiano .... because a Prince of Darkness can always trump a God of Thunder (@CoachWannstedt) on the gridiron..
BV: @FakeGregSchiano .... and a National Championship (or 2 or 3) is worth one fake immortal soul, isn't it?
FGS: @BeatVisitor The original Scarlet Knight is the Prince of Darkness?! Whose side are you ON??
BV: @FakeGregSchiano. I'm just saying. He looks pretty scarlet to me, and we can't afford to turn down anyone's offer to help ...
BV: @FakeGregSchiano ... but of course we can assume that all the other coaches in the National Championship hunt have already sold their souls.

And really, how cool would it be if instead of pointing to the sky (or roof) and thanking Jesus for a victory and talking to the cameras about going to DisneyWorld, some jubilant Superbowl-winning quarterback of the future pointed down at the ground and yelled, "I'm GOING TO HELL!!!"? (Or is that a simple description of Michael Vick's comeback plan?)

Speaking of dialogues with much greater comic potential than the one reproduced above, it should be known that @NunesMagician made this promise on Twitter yesterday: "Consider yourselves warned...The Octonion cometh..." For those few of you who haven't been privy to previous meetings of The Octonion, please click here. I expect that the Scarlet Knight will once again provide the hearty liquid refreshments to the foul-mouthed USF Bull, the dim Mountaineer, the effeminate Husky, and, of course Otto the Orange ("Kisses for everyone!!!"). We can't wait.

Thanks Greg!

How cool that my very first follower during my first hour on Twitter is Fake Greg Schiano.

Welcome Desmond Scott!

"Desmond Scott of Durham, N.C., rated the No. 2 all-purpose running back in the country by Rivals.com, verbally committed to Rutgers today," reports Tom Luicci of the Star-Ledger this afternoon.

Yesterday we were "warned" that this announcement of another highly-ranked 2009 recruit might be coming today and it was suggested in that article that Scott may have been tipped in his decision by the fact that Rutgers was the school of Ray Rice, a very similar back in terms of size and style.

I have another theory, found in an article that appeared in Yahoo Sports back on March 10 when Scott was starting his tour of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Duke, and others, including RU.

“First of all I want to see how the academics are at the school. I want to major in education and be a social studies teacher and eventually a school principal. Secondly, I’ll look at the coaches and players and if I can get along with them and how I interact with them. Next, I’ll look at the city life and what I can do there and whether I can stay or leave after college. Finally, location doesn’t really matter as long as my family can come see me in a day’s drive.”

Anyone who's saying "first of all I want to see how academics are at the school" has to have been impressed when the NCAA's Academic Progress Report numbers came out in early May with Rutgers trailing only Stanford and Navy -- leading the Big East, and all other state universities, once again. Of course, another of Desmond Scott's schools, Duke, was tied with RU at #3 in the APRs, but I don't think Duke is thinking about challenging for a BCS bowl in the next four or five years.

Welcome to Rutgers Desmond!

(Here's a short summary of the most recent 2009 commitments).

Would you leave New Brunswick NJ for State College PA?

Paul Salman has a post over at Bleacher Report today asking the age-old Nittany Lion question, "Penn State Succession Plan: Is Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano the right choice?"

He asks every important question but one, for which he seems to take an affirmative answer for granted, "Would Greg Schiano leave R House for Happy Valley?"

Anybody assuming that Greg Schiano would jump at the chance to coach at their school should remember that "everybody" thought that Greg Schiano would jump at the chance to take the Miami Hurricanes job when it was offered to him two years ago, and "anybody who knew anything about college football" knew that he would take the University of Michigan head coaching job when it was offered to him last year. Well, he's not living in among the palms of Florida or up in Ann Arbor. And while "everyone" seems to know that he's really been saving himself for the land of the whiteout because "Greg Schiano is a Penn State Man", I think he's truly bleeding a scarlet that's as deep as any bled by those of us who attended classes there many years ago.

At Penn State he could never be more than Joe Paterno's successor. At Rutgers he can be bigger than Joe Paterno. He can create his own program rather than continuing a legacy. He can be the man who brought college football back to the New York metropolitan area. He can be the man whose name is forever attached to the oldest football program in the country. His place here is more solid every year, and the expanded stadium will always be known as "The House that Schiano Built." The real secret of his recruiting success is that the kids he talks to know that he is going to be a Scarlet Knight for the duration of their careers On the Banks, and far beyond.

Read more discussion on Greg Schiano rumors here at Black Shoe Diaries.