12/28/2006

I can't believe that it's been eight years since we traveled to Houston for Rutgers' first bowl victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. It's fresh in my mind tonight as I'm watching Arkansas and Texas play this year's installment at Reliant Stadium.

Here's the Houston Chronicle I picked up at the airport the morning after:

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.

Rutgers and Kansas State in the news.

There's an article in the Washington Post this morning, "Long way from dark days, Kansas State and Rutgers surge into position for memorable seasons," about the Scarlet Knights and the Wildcats, their 4-0 starts, and their current national rankings.

The writer of the article dares to look ahead in a way that this writer dares not:

"Rutgers’ next five games line up like this: home against UConn, home against Syracuse, at Temple, home against Kent State and home against Army. It doesn’t take much of a leap of faith to project the Scarlet Knights getting to 9-0, and bringing back memories of 2006 when they went 11-2 and stunningly slipped into the national championship conversation for about a week.
"Can Rutgers and Kansas State stay undefeated heading into November? It won’t take a miracle."

When I see the names of these two schools in one sentence, I think back instead of forward. I think of my first trip to Texas with my son, my first bowl game, and the Scarlet Knights' 37-10 win in the 2006 Texas Bowl. This 46-yard TD run by Ray Rice was only one of many highlights:

Welcome Back Ray!

Here's a photo of Ray Lucas standing up above our seats during the last game that Brian Leonard and Ray Rice played together, the Texas Bowl in Houston on December 28, 2006. Until Ray Rice came along, Ray Lucas was the most famous and successful Ray ever to play for both the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and in the NFL.

It's too bad that Ray never had a chance to quarterback a bowl victory himself, but now he'll be getting paid to go to every Rutgers football game. He's going to be the new color analyst for the Rutgers Football Radio Network. Chris Carlin will still be doing the play-by-play and Anthony Fucilli will still be the sideline reporter, but the previous color analyst, Tim Pernetti, got himself a another job in the off season that will be keeping him busy during the games (there might also be conflict of interest issues in being Athletic Director and color commentator).

Welcome Home Ray!

Can we save big bucks by booking our late-December flights to Houston now??

If it takes chutzpah to come up with a preseason top 25 in May, what's the Yiddish expression to describe what College Football News dot com did yesterday in predicting all the 2008-2009 Bowl Matchups??
It seems the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will be playing the University of Colorado Buffaloes in Houston at the Texas Bowl on December 28. Houston was a lot of fun in 2006, but I'm still hoping for a bowl game in Florida so that I can combine the game with a trip to see my parents for the holidays.
That looks difficult though, because this same CFN prediction has Notre Dame passing the magical 6-6 threshold and stealing the Big East's spot in the Gator Bowl. And the new St. Petersburg Bowl is slated to be a local matchup between Route 4 rivals USF and UCF.

It's not too early to start making this year's bowl predictions

It may have been too early back in mid-August when a certain national magazine (which rhymes with "Warts Illustrated") picked the Scarlet Knights to play the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl.

But with one game left for the Knights against the Louisville Cardinals next Thursday, it's not too early to predict where we'll be travelling in the holiday season this year.

Please vote in the sidebar poll; tell us whether you think we should make our travel reservations for El Paso, Birmingham, Charlotte, Toronto, or somewhere else.

On ESPN.com, Ivan Maisel has the Knights playing Southern Miss in the PapaJohns Bowl and Mark Schlabach has the Knights playing Bowling Green in the International Bowl. CBS Sportsline.com has the Knights playing Florida State in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. And Sports Illustrated seems to be stepping back from their pre-season Rutgers/Michigan matchup, with Stewart Mandel at SI.com also having Rutgers against Florida State in North Carolina.

So, what's your pick?

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.)

Congratulations St. Louis!

You got the Player of the Draft in the second round yesterday!

Here's #23 at the end of his final game for the Knights on December 28, 2006.

And #63 Cameron Stephenson is going to the Steelers!
Click this photo (or any other photo in the Beat Visitor blog) for a large version.

I rooted for the Rams in the past, when they and I both lived in Los Angeles in the late 1960's, so if they give Brian Leonard the chance he deserves, I'll have no problem living up to my promise and rooting for the Rams again.

Go St. Louis!
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UPDATE:

And Go Pittsburgh! -- the Steelers picked up Cameron Stephenson in the 5th round today.

And Green Bay! -- Tight End & Student Section Favorite Clark Harris was picked by the Packers in the 7th round; but who is going to jump into the student section at the end of every game now that Clark's gone??

There are a lot of informative draft updates at the RU Ready blog.

Another First for Fans of the Knights: Watching the Preseason Polls

There was absolutely no dissent after the Scarlet Knights' Bowl win in Houston. Every final poll issued after the dust from the bowls had settled was unanimous in ranking our boys number 12 in the country, finishing ahead of perennial powers and preseason favorites like Texas and Notre Dame. None of those major polls (or any of the preseason publications) had the psychic abilities to place Rutgers in their 2006 preseason top 25.

This year, of course, is different. Rutgers is ranked from #13 to #21 in the three 2007 preseason polls compiled on Wikipedia's 2007 rankings page so far. They are also #15 in this list from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline that includes four Big East teams in the top 25 (with South Florida usurping the space usually reserved for unranked Florida State and Miami).

Is 2007 going to be a great year, or what?

December 28, 2006

Click this photo (or any other photo in the Beat Visitor blog) for a large version.

(12) Rutgers 37, Kansas State 10 (and it wasn't that close)
Thanks to Greg Schiano (far left), Ray Rice (with the microphone & the cowboy hat), Darnell Stapleton (53), Brian Leonard (23), Cameron Stephenson (63), Mike Fladell (72), Pedro Sosa (77), and the rest of the Scarlet Knights for turning Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas into "R House" for a day.