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).

The Obligatory Weekly Optimism...

Even though Rutgers has a perfect lifetime record against the team in Maize and Blue, we're not feeling especially sanguine about beating the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday with our current QB and coach. But this is not the place for negativity, so here's your weekly Keep Calm and Chop poster for Michigan week.

Rutgers>The State of Michigan

As of now, there is only one team in the Big Ten that has a winning record over both Michigan and Michigan State, Rutgers.

I just thought that fact was worth putting on the record before we put our lifetime 3-2 record on the line against Michigan State in East Lansing in two weeks. (The Scarlet Knights are, of course, 1-0 against that other team from the mitten state.)

October 4, 2014.   Wolverines 24 - Scarlet Knights 26

Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit Don't Know Football

On the other hand, Katy Perry and Lee Corso weren't surprised by the Rutgers victory over Michigan yesterday in the historic initial meeting between these two schools.

And in case you were already tailgating seven hours ahead of last night's big win, here's the full video of one of the more interesting celebrity appearances on ESPN's College Gameday ever:

Beating Desmond Howard's old team at The Birthplace yesterday was a great accomplishment, but nothing would be more earth-shaking in the Big Ten than doing the same to Kirk Herbstreit's team in our next game in Columbus, Ohio on October 18th.

Michigan Chopped

Michigan chopped. pic.twitter.com/CqyOOZigy5

— Beat Visitor (@BeatVisitor) October 5, 2014

Blackout

Full house at R House and 19-17 Rutgers leading Michigan at the half.

Game Day at The Birthplace of College Football

They won't need to hand out any bobbleheads to get Rutgers fans into our seats before the kickoff against Michigan tonight.

So What's Up With South Jersey Football Fans?

The New York Times has a great interactive college football fan map on The Upshot today. It doesn't surprise me that Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Army are the most popular teams in my Hudson Valley county and Zip Code, and it doesn't surprise me that the area around New Brunswick is solid Rutgers country, but why is southern New Jersey so heavily Penn State country? And why doesn't Rutgers even make the top three in many of those counties? This map is based on  Facebook likes, so please like some Scarlet Knights links if you live in the lower counties of New Jersey.

The map and the accompanying article are fascinating and just a little bit addictive. I was surprised by the size of Fresno State's popularity in central California for one thing. Another surprise is the most popular team in the midtown and downtown Manhattan Zips, our visitors tomorrow, the Michigan Wolverines.

The Two Oldest FBS Programs Finally Play for the First Time this Saturday

That should be the headline for the game that will be taking place at The Birthplace of College Football at 7pm this Saturday.  It really is amazing when you think about the fact that Rutgers (first game 1869) and Michigan (first game 1879) have never met across a line of scrimmage before this week.

The 1898 Michigan Football Team already sporting their block M.

The 1882 Rutgers Football Team proudly wearing the block R.

Sports Illustrated predicted that it might happen in Pasadena at the end of the 2007 season, but it seems fitting now that it will happen with both teams in the Big Ten, scheduled to meet every year from now until the end of time.

Good Thing I Have a Black Raincoat

This Saturday's game against the Michigan Wolverines at Rutgers Stadium is a blackout game. All my Scarlet-Knight gear is, surprisingly, scarlet, so I was wondering what I was going to wear to match my fellow fans. No fear. I checked Weather.com for Piscataway just now and I see the game may be a wet one.

Thankfully, my raincoat is black.

Tulane Week Was Successful, but now the real fun starts

So here's your Keep-Calm-And-Chop-Michigan poster for next Saturday night's Big Ten visitor to R House.

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.

RU shines in the current print issue of SI

Of course there was a time in the very recent past when a fan of the Scarlet Knights would have to search closely through the fine print in Sports Illustrated's annual College Football Preview issue to find any mention of our favorite team. Would we come in last in the Big East? Or would Temple be predicted to finish below us?
This year's issue, dated August 20, 2007 and on the newstands now, has a wealth of scarlet pages, from a full-page John Hancock advertising feature about Greg Schiano on page 44, to a profile of Ray Rice (with photo vs Syracuse) on pages 65 & 66, to a full-page article on SI's #12 preseason pick (with emphasis on Eric Foster) on page 102. You could miss the smaller mentions of Rutgers on the Big East page on page 119, or in this list of Bowl Predictions on page 129:

Our Knights versus the Wolverines in the ROSE Bowl?? I don't want to get too confident, but I'm trying to save my money for a long New Year's Day trip.