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:

Keep Calm For The Seniors On Their Day at R House.

Leonte Carroo announced that he's definitely playing during his last chance to take the field at Rutgers Stadium this Saturday, so let's send him off with a victory (even if that means that Kyle Flood might have to think about switching from Laviano to Rettig at QB at some point earlier than the waning minutes of the fourth quarter).

We'll see you there to see off Carroo and the rest of the Seniors. We don't Fear The Turtle!

I don't exactly "Fear The Turtle," but you have to admit the way they can hide their heads & legs in their shells is more than little scary.

— Kyle Bobbleflood (@KyleBobbleflood) November 23, 2015

Game Day at R House

See you all (except for @KyleBobbleflood) at Rutgers Stadium at noon as the Knights #ChopKansas.

It hasn't been a good week for Rutgers Football, but...

...if we beat That Team From Pennsylvania in the B1G opener on Saturday, even without Coach Flood, it will take away a lot of the pain.

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.

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

There should be no quarterback controversy after today's loss.

It's a long drive back from Rutgers Stadium, so it keeps me from writing anything too offensive about today's 49-14 loss to Houston. Instead I'll let all my thoughts about Gary Nova's 3-interception 0-TD 23.9-QBR performance be reflected by this post I made after last December's bowl game. Nothing has changed about my feelings regarding quarterbacks Gary Nova and Chas Dodd since then.
If I had written earlier, or had been able to tweet in the Stadium, I would have ranted and raved about a thousand bad passes, worse coaching, and missed tackles.  But there's no need for any Rutgers fan to relive all that. Is there?
There's one coaching decision I want to comment on though. We were there until the very end (as shown by this photo taken with about 5 minutes left right before the final Rutgers drive) and it's those last few seconds that still bug me hours after the game.

In that final drive Chas Dodd drove the Scarlet Knights 90 yards in 12 plays in 4'41" with a combination of passing, handoffs, and his own legs.  He should have been allowed by Kyle Flood to cap the longest drive of the day with a touchdown rather than letting the final seconds tick away with timeouts in our pocket inside their ten yard line. I was glad to see Kyle Flood put in our more effective quarterback, but it would have been nice if he had done it before the game was out of reach. Dodd had a much better appearance in the fourth quarter than his 11/15 78-yard passing yards and 20 rushing yards will tell you. You should also ignore his one interception. He put the ball into Brandon Coleman's hands with a pass over the middle and Coleman shoveled it into the arms of a Houston defender (Gary [tur]Nova's interceptions, on the other hand, were all completely on him).
If Chas Dodd does not start against Temple next Saturday, I'll be very unhappy about the coach who said this back in December.

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.

Lucky Member 13 of the Big Ten

Here are a few links about the reports today that Rutgers and Maryland may soon be invited to become the 13th and 14th members of the Big Ten [sic, of course, but no more ridiculous than the fact that the so-called "Big East" will soon include teams from San Diego, California and Boise, Idaho]:

• "Maryland, Rutgers to Join Big Ten?" from SI.com, giving the basic AP story that is available all over the web this morning.
• Video on ESPN.com on the possibility focusing more on Maryland than Rutgers, but bringing out important points about the Big Ten giving up on Notre Dame after the Dame picked the ACC. Also noting that Maryland and RU are both AAU academic institutions, Land Grant universities, in states contiguous to the current Big Ten, and in large TV markets the Big Ten Network would like to break into. The way Andy Katz descibes it in this video, you wonder why the Terrapins and the Knights aren't already playing the Wolverines, Buckeyes, and Nittany Lions.
• "Rutgers coach Kyle Flood is mum on possible move to the Big Ten" from NJ.com quotes Coach Flood, who echoes the feelings of all long-time Scarlet Knights fans: ``I’ve heard a lot of things over the last eight years and I’ve come to realize that the best thing for me to do is the not react to it. Those types of decisions I leave up to Tim Pernetti and the athletic department. I know they’re going to make sure that regardless of what happens, we’ll be in a good place.’’  He needs to concentrate on only one thing, making sure the 9-1 Knights are 1-0 again this week against Pitt.
• Steve Politi's take on the change on NJ.com puts the case for the change in its best light, and includes the following quote from former AD Bob Mulcahy: "The Big Ten is the dream scenario. That’s what I always felt. I felt the combination of land grant universities and research universities, plus athletics, Rutgers would fit right in.”

Also, it's hard to imagine a more natural rivalry than the one that could develop between the state universities of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Quote of the Day

“We don’t need the rowdy pep talks to get us going. He tells us exactly what he wants us to do, and we go out and do it. He tells us the visions that he sees for us before the game, and we go out and do it" 

-- Rutgers Linebacker Khaseem Greene on Coach Kyle Flood