Keep Calm and Chop USF

The last game of the season on Saturday will be for the Seniors, and our message from the stands should be simple ... and positive ... as we face the University of South Florida for what may be (we hope) the last time.

Wednesday Night Bull Fight

I'll be over at @BeatVisitor on Twitter tonight during the game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and South Florida Bulls. After last night on Twitter under my alias watching far too many Republicans gloating and avoiding questions during the midterm elections, it may be hard to watch a close or losing game tonight. It's 7-7 as I hit Post on this entry on the strength of two long punt returns. It's time for the Knights to start pulling away.
This is the third game in a row that Rutgers is playing in an ugly half-full professional football stadium. Pittsburgh and USF don't have excuses because they don't have stadiums of their own, but it's a shame that the last Rutgers "home game" had to be played in that pit at the Meadowlands.

The Beat Visitor dot com BlogPoll Ballot Is Up for Your Comments

I watched the Rutgers - South Florida game on Thursday night from my aluminum bench in Piscataway, but as any other game would have been boring in comparison, my information about games played by non-Scarlet-Knight teams last weekend comes entirely from the internets after the fact. My in-depth analysis of the games I didn't see is reflected in the scribbled notes to your right and in the updated BlogPoll ballot posted below. You got a problem wit' that?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Texas	1
3	Florida	1
4	TCU	1
5	Cincinnati	1
6	Boise State
7	Pittsburgh	1
8	Georgia Tech	1
9	Ohio State	2
10	LSU
11	Oregon	1
12	Iowa	3
13	Penn State	5
14	Oklahoma State	5
15	Wisconsin	6
16	Stanford
17	Virginia Tech	3
18	Utah	2
19	Rutgers	4
20	Brigham Young	4
21	Clemson
22	Miami (Florida)	5
23	Southern Cal	10
24	Temple	1
25	Houston	11
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Arizona (#15), South Florida (#22).

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.

The Quote of the Day leading up to the USF game

“When Damaso Munoz got his first interception last week, no one said much to him because he didn’t score. It’s not enough now with this defense just to get the turnover. Guys are looking to score, too.” --Munoz's fellow linebacker Antonio Lowery (who does have a defensive score on an interception return)

Does anyone else have the feeling that the Scarlet Knights are going to have at least one defensive touchdown scored tomorrow night? Rutgers is going into the game against USF having lost the ball only 7 times in 8 games (and three of those were interceptions thrown by Natale in the first half of the first game against Cincinnati) and having stolen the ball 25 times from the opposition. That +2.25 turnover margin leads the nation and it will definitely be a factor against the Bulls, if only because it might cause the players from "South" Florida (actually central Florida, but they flunked Geography 101) to be more careful and conservative with the pigskin than they need to be. That defensive pressure, plus the continuing maturation of the young offense, lead me to be more than a little optimistic about what we're going to witness at the Stadium. If you're not planning to stand and be loud and obnoxious (and you won't need those vocal cords again until December 5 anyway), then stay home and give your tickets to someone with a stronger set of legs and lungs and fewer inhibitions. Go Knights!

And if the words of Antonio Lowery aren't enough for you (it's been awhile since we've run a Beat Visitor dot com quote of the day), how about a randomly generated quote from the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon:

Fear no more the heat o'the Jim Leavitt
Nor the furious winter's rages.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

I hope Leavitt wears his silly little sun visor and screams all night long.

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.

Quote of the Day (speaking of preseason balloteers)

"... Jim Leavitt is barking madness in a visor and Dockers." http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/08/26/jim-leavitts-ballot-fears-not-even-logic/

Current Big East Bowl Lines (3 favorites / 2 'dogs)

Here are the current lines (via the Detroit Free Press) for the five bowl games being played this December & January by Big East teams. Remember, we were 5-0 last year.

PoppaJohns (12/22 at Birmingham)
Cincinnati 11 over Southern Miss

Mikey's Car Care (12/29 at Charlotte)
Wake Forest 3 1/2 over UConn

Sun Bowl (12/ 31 at El Paso)
South Florida 6 1/2 over Oregon

Fiesta Bowl (1/2/08 at Glendale)
Oklahoma 6 1/2 over West Virginia

International Bowl (1/5/08 at Toronto)
Rutgers 10 over Ball State

Remember to get your tickets directly from RutgersBowl.com or ScarletKnights.com (or via 1-866-445-GORU), so that you'll be sitting with us scarlet-clad folks, and so the Knights will get credit for all the fans we're bringing to Toronto.

Déjà vu, or Didn't We Just Rush the Field on a Thursday Night After Beating a Team Ranked in the Top Three?

18 October 2007 (not to be confused with 9 November 2006)

Two days ago, it was too much to hope that we would see a repeat of last November's Louisville game, but the defense that showed up and shut the door on Grothe in the second half was just as impressive as the defense that shut down Brohm a little less than a year ago. There may have been a smidgen less unrestrained joy and surprise on the faces of those who rushed the field, but maybe it's because we're becoming more and more sure of our Knights' ability to defend R House against any and all comers (that means you, you 'neers; see you in a week!).

Ray Rice's Mom & a Fan, 18 October 2007. Ray's mom had no doubt about the outcome on her way into the Stadium last night, posing and chatting with all of her well wishers. The trick plays and Tiquan Underwood receptions were great and exciting, but the heart of the offense was Ray Rice and his 181 yards. To do this against a defense that hadn't allowed anyone to gain 100 yards against them in the last 14 games (since Ray gained 202 yards against them last year) showed that there was nothing "fluky" about this win against the #2 team in the country. Ray had averaged 180 rushing yards in his previous two games against this Bulls team and he matched his average almost exactly. He was also an active and effective blocker, helping to keep Mike Teel from being sacked by this sack-happy line, when he wasn't carrying the ball. He may not have gotten a touchdown yesterday, but you'll start seeing Ray's name in Heisman discussions again, especially next Saturday at noon, when he takes the field opposite Pat White and Steve Slaton.

I hope to see you all at The Birthplace of College Football tonight

I'll be the one wearing scarlet and screaming real loud. You won't be able to miss me.

We've got to get those people in the center seats (you know the ones I mean, the sections that actually have red aluminum backrests) up off their rears and making some eardrum-shattering screams while the Knights are on defense tonight. Really, is being 85 and having been a season-ticket holder since 1955 (the year before the University of South Florida was founded, and 42 years before they had a football team) any excuse for not acting like a maniac and hollering yourself hoarse at a game of this magnitude.

The least they can do is participate fully in the antiphonal R and U screams, and learn to chant the following at the correct point in The Bells Must Ring after each score: R U rah rah! R U rah rah! / Hoo-rah Hoo-rah Rutgers rah! / Upstream Red Team / Red Team Upstream / Rah Rah Rutgers Rah! Let's show the bullfans wearing green and gold what real football tradition looks and sounds like.

Does this feel exactly like the anticipation leading up to the Louisville game last November 9th, or what? I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next six hours.

Joe Lefeged's Big Hits

Do you think that Matt Grothe has seen this clip yet? If he sees it before Thursday night, he'll be looking for number 26 out of the corner of his eye all night long.



He's not a starter, but true freshman safety Joe Lefeged won Big East defensive player of the week honors for his play last Saturday even though he has left the coaches of Syracuse and Maryland crying about his hard hits on their quarterbacks.
What's so amazing about the hit shown above is the way the ball squirts out. The sack was so arresting that no one (other than a couple of alert RU linemen) seemed to even notice the ball. The cameras and directors during the game only seemed to notice that RU had recovered the ball as an afterthought.

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.

It's been over a year since the Knights have been unranked

Last year, on September 23rd during week 5 of the season, the 4-0 Scarlet Knights began their most recent appearance in the national polls, at 23 in both the AP and Coaches polls. They stayed in both polls from 9/23/06 until this past Sunday, 10/7/07, hitting highs of 7 in the 2006 poll and 10 in the 2007 poll. The end of this year-long streak is worth commemorating here simply because the Scarlet Knights have never had anywhere near this kind of run of national prominence in their long history.

That being said, this season isn't over. This important month isn't over. October could easily end with the Knights in a position much higher in the polls than "Other teams receiving votes".

There are three games left in October. Two of them at home against teams that are currently ranked in the top ten.

• A win against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome next Saturday probably won't get the Knights back into the top 25 unless it's another week of carnage among the ranked (but a win, of course, is absolutely necessary).
• A win against #5/5 South Florida at home on the 18th on Thursday-night TV will definitely move the Knights back into the national rankings, maybe into the teens (assuming, of course, that RU had taken care of business against the Orange 5 days earlier).
• Following up a win over USF with a win against #8/9 West Virginia on the 27th would definitely have them ranked back in the teens with a good chance of taking the Big East crown (and the conference's BCS bowl).

This season is far from over.

Go Knights!

(And since I started this entry by mentioning last season's success, I have to mention that last season's star, Brian Leonard, had 102 yards rushing on 18 carries & 33 receiving on five catches for the St. Louis Rams yesterday. If they had been winning rather than losing, maybe he would have had the opportunity to run even more at the end of the game. Go Rams! )

October 2007 could be THE most important month in the Scarlet Knights' long history

With four conference games in October, three of them at home against the other three ranked teams in the conference (and the fourth game, the first road game of the year, against an Orange team that rose to the occasion against Louisville two weeks ago), this is the month that will determine the Knights' placement in the Big East and in the national polls. Four wins in October will almost guarantee at least a share of the Big East title and a return to the top ten. It will prove to the football world (for at least four weeks) that last Saturday's loss to Maryland was a fluke and not a confirmation that Rutgers belongs in the middle to lower tiers of D1 football and that 2006 was an aberration that needs correction.

• A win against #20/24 Cincinnati next week would move the Knights back up into the teens.


• A win against Syracuse on the 13th probably wouldn't do anything positive to their standing (but a loss to Syracuse would knock them out of the top 25).


• A win against #6/9 South Florida at home on the 18th on Thursday-night TV would move the Knights back up into the top ten.


• A win against #13/12 West Virginia would put them into all the BCS bowl discussions and solidify their place in the middle of the top ten.


• Losing any of these games would probably drop them out of the top 25. Losing any two of them would drop them out of the top 25 for the season.

I don't want to put too much pressure on the Scarlet Knights, but, considering the stakes, can you think of a month in this team's long history that has been more pivotal?

Shake-up week

Only Nebraska, at number 25, didn't change position in the AP poll out this afternoon. Everybody else in the poll changed position, and the Big East was at least as shaken up as any conference, with Rutgers (21 AP/21 Coaches) & West Virginia (13/12) moving down and South Florida (6/9) & Cincinnati (20/24) moving up (and Louisville still missing in action). So the new poll in the Beat Visitor sidebar asks you "Which Big East team will end 2007 with the highest AP ranking?" Vote between now and November 1.
With the Scarlet Knights playing all three of the teams ranked ahead of them in Rutgers Stadium in October, they have their fate in their own hands.
Go Knights!!

Scarlet Knights hit the Top Ten for the 2nd straight year

Last year it was the Texas Bowl . . . This year it will be the . . .?

Add another streak to the 10 straight Rutgers Stadium home wins, the 17 straight polls in the national rankings, the 6 straight games scoring 30+ points, and the 6 straight games without allowing a sack. It is now 2 straight years with the Scarlet Knights making an appearance in the top ten. They are now number 10 in both the AP and the Coaches polls out this afternoon.

I know it's early in the season and a lot will change from this point in the season (e.g., Syracuse & Connecticut are currently sharing the Big East lead after their victories over Louisville & Pittsburgh yesterday, but they probably won't be there in December), but let's hope that the Knights continue their upward climb in the rankings and that it's not another one-week appearance at these rarified heights, like it was between the Louisville and Cincinnati games last November. And speaking of Louisville and Cincinnati, Louisville has dropped out of the top 25 in both polls out today, but Cincinnati has entered the AP poll at #24 and is first among the "others receiving votes" in the Coaches poll (in other Big East rankings, West Virginia is still 5/5 and South Florida is up to 18/18.)

Rutgers at #11 in both polls out this afternoon

Going into an off week, not only is Rutgers at #11 in both the AP and the Coaches polls, but there are now four Big East teams, half the conference, ranked in the top 25: West Virginia (5 ap/5 coaches), Rutgers (11/11), Louisville (18/19), and newcomer South Florida (23/24).