Good to see that one of the good guys in sports…and a pretty good basketball coach…continues to resurrect his career in the Buckeye State. Former Rutgers head coach Gary Waters has been given a new five-year contract by Cleveland State after leading the Vikings to the NIT last season, their first post-season appearance in 20-years. Gary, as you all remember, was basically run out of town three years ago by R-U Athletics Director Bob Mulcahy, in effect, to clear the way for Fred Hill to become the new Scarlet Knight head coach. Mulcahy used the so-called “smoking gun” of Waters missing a Rutgers game when he was snowed in in Northeast Ohio after being inducted in Kent State’s Hall of Fame for his achievements as Golden Flashes’ head coach. Mulcahy, who had given permission to Waters to attend the event, became upset when the coach didn’t make it back for a home game the following day with Marquette. Waters left the Banks of the Old Raritan after a five-year under-appreciated stint with the Scarlet Knights including a trip to the N-I-T Championship Game…three appearances in the Big East Tournament, which has never been a given at Rutgers (until this coming season when all 16 of the league’s teams get to automatically go to the Garden) AND the recruitment of Quincy Douby who went on to lead the conference in scoring his junior year before becoming a first-round NBA Draft pick. Fred Hill, with his impressive recruiting credentials, may very well excede Waters’ achievements but Gary’s place in Rutgers basketball can not be discounted, particularly after he resurrected the image and stability of the program following the controversial final days of the Kevin Bannon Era.
Archive for October, 2008
Well deserved, Mike Teel
I’ve been as hard as anyone when it comes to criticizing Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel this season. But, giving credit was credit is due, congratulations to Teel for being named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for his scintillating school-record six touchdown pass performance in the upset at Pittsburgh. 361-yards on just 14 completions is off the chart.
Welcome back Rutgers offense!
Can you believe that?!?! It took until the eighth game of the season but the Rutgers offense you came to know and love in recent years (sans Ray Rice and Brian Leonard) finally showed up. Quarterback Mike Teel, wide outs Kenny Britt and TIm Brown and the rest of the Scarlet Knights put together one for the ages on Saturday, coming up with a mind-bending 54-34 win at number-17 Pittsburgh…R-U’s first road win over a Top-25 team in 20 years. The question is—does this astounding victory turn around what has been an utterly disappointing season and put Rutgers back on track…dare we say it, for a bowl bid. More on that later. First, accolades for the embattled fifth-year senior Teel. In one afternoon, he erased most of the bitterness of 2008 and delivered one of the great performances in Scarlet Knight football history. A school-record six touchdown passes and 361-yards in the air…and in a startling efficient manner…on just 14 completions. That’s almost 26 yards per completion. Britt continued his fine season with a career-best three t-d catches. And Brown chipped in with two. And, although the defense gave up 34 points, it came up with two key third-quarter turnovers including linebacker Kevin Malast’s first career interception which he returned 74-yards to set up a game-breaking Scarlet Knight touchdown.
So, Rutgers picks up it’s second straight Big East win to improve to 2-2 in league and 3-5 overall…keeping alive its hopes for a winning season with four games left…and keeping its bowl game hopes on life support. Next up is a very winnable home game on November 8th against hapless Syracuse followed by the final non-conference contest at home against Army. Then its at South Florida followed by the season finale at home against Louisville. It’s still a tough task ahead BUT the unexpected spectacular win at Pittsburgh gives all Scarlet Knight fans a great deal more hope…and reason to believe.
The chance of a winning season for the Rutgers football team will fall into the “Pitt” of despair
The Rutgers football team is 0-3 on the road this season…and it will be 0-4 by Saturday evening after the Scarlet Knights lose a Big East game at number-17 Pittsburgh…and lose any hope of a winning season in 2008. Let’s get to the bottom line right away. I’m picking R-U to lose to the favored Panthers 24-10…failing to cover the ten-point spread…and seeing their three-game winning streak over Dave Wannstedt’s Pitt program come to an end.
Rutgers comes in at 2-5 overall, needing to run the table in the final five games in order to finish with a winning record. The Scarlet Knights are 1-2 in the Big East. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league, tied for first with arch-rival West Virginia. The Panthers are coming off a 42-21 win at Navy last Saturday which was preceeded by a big Big East victory at USF. Pitt has a strong ground game, led by sophomore running back LeSean McCoy, who is 13th in the nation in yards per game. McCoy has 689 yards rushing with ten touchdowns. The quarter is redshirt junior Bill Stull who has thrown for nearly 13-hundred yards and four touchdowns. BUT it’s Pittsburgh’s DEFENSE that drives the team. The Panthers are tenth in the nation in pass defense, 11th in total sacks and 20th in total defense. Leading the way is senior linebacker Scott McKillop, who leads the Big East in tackles and tackles for losses. I expect the Pittsburgh defense will dominate the underachieving Rutgers offense…and even though the Scarlet Knight “d” will continue to play well…it will be too much of Pitt on the road…leading to a R-U 24-10 loss in the Steel City. And, in addition to it being a loss that will knock out any chance of a winning season, it also will put the Knights on the brink of bowl game ineligibility since the best they could do then is 6-6, which probably will not be enough to get a post-season berth. Just ask last season’s Louisville Cardinals.
What else is new? The Rutgers women’s basketball team has been picked by the Big East’s 16 coaches to finish second to Connecticut this coming year. The poll was unveiled Thursday morning at the league’s annual Media Day at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. Meanwhile, one of R-U’s prized recruits, forward April Sykes, has been named the Pre-Season Freshman of the Year. Scarlet Knight teammates Kia Vaughn and Epiphany Prince have been selected to the All-Big East Team. UConn’s Maya Moore is the Pre-Season Player of the Year.
Also, the Big East has signed a contract extension with the XL Center in Hartford to hold the league tournament thru 2011. I don’t mind the professional arena. It’s just the thought of that tourney continuing to be held in that dump of a city. Nowhere to eat…nowhere to go. Why can’t it be in Providence? Now that’s a nice city to hang out in. Very good restaurants, a great mall, not too far from Boston. Instead, we get the deadbeat Insurance City.
If you’re looking for any tangible sign of an upgrade in public perception of the Rutgers men’s basketball program under third-year head coach Fred Hill, then look no farther than Wednesday morning’s annual Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden. The coaches’ poll predicts that the Scarlet Knights will finish 12th in the 16-team league this coming season. That’s an improvement from the 15th place prediction last season. Picked to finish below R-U are Seton Hall, St. John’s, DePaul and USF. Of course, that’s a bit of a moot point this season since all of the team make it to the Big East Tournament, not just the top-12. Even with this bit of good news for Fred Hill and Company…and despite the outstanding recruiting class that the Scarlet Knights are bringing in…there’s still a definite amount of disinterest towards the current cast of R-U players. None of them were named to the Big East Pre-Season All-Big East team…not the suspended senior forward J-R Inman, who’s the team’s leading returning scorer and rebounder…not junior center Hamady N’Diaye. Also shunned was highly-regarded incoming freshman guard Mike Rosario. Fellow MacDonald’s All-Americans Samardo Samuels of Louisville and Greg Monroe of Georgetown were named the Pre-Season Co-Rookies of the Year.
Give credit where credit is due
The defense came to play for the third straight week…the offense was basically inept yet again…punter Teddy Dellaganna continues to be the team’s MVP…a safety proved to be the difference in the game…and the right upright turns out to be the Player of the Game. All that adds up to a hard-fought 12-10 win for the Rutgers football team over favored Connecticut on Homecoming Day 2008. So, the Scarlet Knights improve to 1-2 in the Big East and 2-5 overall and their mathematical hopes for bowl game qualification barely remain intact.
The Rutgers defense did a good job of containing UConn’s Donald Brown, the nation’s leading rusher…particularly in the second half. In all, he carried 27 times for 107 yards. And Dellaganna did a great job pinning the Huskies in the shadow of their end zone most of the second half. In fact, one of those punts resulted in Brown getting tackled in the end zone for the safety that proved to be the difference in the game. But, even with all that said, UConn had a chance to win the game in the final minute but a 42-yard field goal hit the right upright…giving the Scarlet Knights a much-needed win and a big collective sigh of relief.
As for the offense, there’s not much to say. The ground game produced only 76 yards on 34 rushing attempts. And fifth-year senior quarterback Mike Teel continues his nightmarish season…going only 17 of 30 for 192 yards and no touchdown passes. And to add insult to insult, Teel was booed through-out the game when head coach Greg Schiano decided to shuttle in and out fourth-year junior quarterback Domenic Natale for the first time this season. But a win is a win is a win. Give credit to the Rutgers football team for holding to a victory that it desparately needed. Next up, a big Big East game next Saturday at Pittsburgh…which you can only “see” on the radio. Kick-off is 3:30 at Heinz Field; air-time on 1450 WCTC for our expanded 90-minute pre-game show is 2-pm. I’ll be giving my prediction later in the week right here.
First of all, who scheduled Connecticut as Rutgers’ Homecoming football opponent? A solid UConn team from your own league as the opponent on Homecoming? What happened to the days of Norfolk State, Ohio, Navy and Temple? Is R-U just looking for more trouble scheduling a rival on Homecoming? Like the Huskies needed any more incentive coming to Piscataway this Saturday? Homecoming is a day when you schedule a patsie to guarantee a win for all the alums coming back for a festive weekend. Now, UConn can spin this into…as football teams are famous for doing…”What a slap in the face. We are being dissed!!!” It doesn’t bode well for a Rutgers Scarlet Knight squad that desparately needs a win to keep alive a season that mathematically is hanging by a thread. Do the math. In order for Rutgers to finish with a winning season, the Knights have to run the table in the final six games in order to go 7-5…and that includes Big East games at nationally-ranked Pittsburgh and South Florida. One more loss gives R-U…at best…a 6-6 season and, although that would be enough to qualify for a bowl bid, there will be no post-season for the Knights in that scenario…just ask last season’s Louisville team.
Alright, with all that said, let’s tee it up for Saturday’s Connecticut game. The Huskies come in off a bye week at 5-1 with the only loss at North Carolina two weeks ago by the count of 38-12…the same Tar Heel team that won at Rutgers in Week-Two 44-12. The Huskies are 1-0 in the Big East, having won at Louisville 26-21. UConn also has solid non-conference home wins over Virginia and Baylor. So, it’s no suprise that the Huskies come into the Rutgers’ game as a one-point road favorite. In fact, I’m surprised it isn’t a wider spread…but let’s chalk that up to the Homecoming factor. UConn beat R-U last season up in West Hartford 38-19. Huskies’ star running back Donald Brown had a big game in that one…24 carries for 154 yards including a 33-yard touchdown run. Brown currently is the NCAA rushing leader, averaging 177.8 yards a game…and should have another big game this Saturday. Filling in at quarterback for Tyler Lorenzen, who’s out with a foot injury, is Zach Frazer who made his first start in the North Carolina loss. He’s adequate at best. Defensively, UConn ranks 33rd in total defense including nine interceptions…so it will be tough for Rutgers to roll up the points. So, I’m looking for Brown and the Huskies to spoil R-U’s Homecoming and win it 21-17…putting the Scarlet Knights’ season on life support heading into Pittsburgh the following Saturday.
The Autumn of 2008 is becoming just like the movie “Groundhog’s Day.” Saturday afternoon comes along, you mow the lawn…rake the leaves…put SNY on the tv…watch New York City’s college football team lose another game…and wait for former Scarlet Knight quarterback Ray Lucas to bash the current R-U q-b Mike Teel. It’s the “feel good” story of the year. But that’s exactly what happened again Saturday afternoon…the latest episode being the 13-10 Big East loss at Cincinnati…dropping the Knights to 1-5…their worst start since 2002, head coach Greg Schiano’s second year on the Banks of the Old Raritan…or should I say on the Banks of the East River. Anyway, I digress. The big thing here is that Teel’s inability to put together a complete game and the running game’s lack of firepower has placed Rutgers on the precipice of not making a bowl game for the first time in four years. You certainly can’t pin any blame on the defense, which has played tough on the road for the second straight week. The question now is “Does Schiano ride out the season to nowhere with Teel at the helm OR does he plan for 2009…even when next season’s quarterback may not even be in uniform?” I doubt that will happen with Homecoming against Connecticut coming up next Saturday at noon. We’ll find out more in Schiano’s news conferences coming up in the next two days. By the way, in the meantime, has anyone seen Tiquan Underwood? An APB may be in order. But that’s another story for another day.
This just in!!! Rutgers has moved to the east side of Manhattan. Yes, it’s true. Or, so says SNY, the TV home of the Big East. Look at the bottom of page 36 in today’s Star Ledger sports section. A SNY ad promoting Saturday’s R-U’s football game at Cincinnati, in effect, proclaims the State University of New Jersey has moved to the east side…or as it so cleverly says “New York’s BIG East side.” Nowhere in the ad can you find “New Jersey”, “NJ” or “on the banks of the Old Raritan.” So, SNY would have you believe that Rutgers now is the City University of Manhattan…situated on the banks of the “Old East River.” As I take my tongue out of my cheek, let me frankly say that this SNY ad is the biggest bunch of garbage that I’ve seen in a long time…at least on this side of the Hudson River. We’ve known for a long time that the Rutgers Athletics Department has been pushing its football program as one that belongs to both New Jersey and New York. I get that. But this really is the first time that, at least subliminally, the point is trying to be made that Rutgers is the college football sports franchise for NYC. Before you say “Well, this is the doing of only SNY”…don’t believe that for one second. Rutgers and the Big East are so in bed with SNY that I’m sure they sign off on all this type of advertising and branding. For all the New Jerseyans who have bitched and moaned for so long about how the national media says the Giants and Jets play in New York even when they’re showing a shot of the Meadowlands…I urge you to add this latest Rutgers/SNY revelation to your rants. This is another indirect step by Rutgers to move away from its New Jersey roots in an attempt to position itself as NEW YORK’S college football team. I wonder how that big Scarlet Knight booster, Governor Corzine, feels about this OR the New Jersey state legislature that is loaded with R-U alums. You’re losing your grip on the State University of New Jersey! What’s next? Taking the block “R” off the helmets and replace it with “SNY” or “NYC?” It’s a slippery slope, people! Think about that the next time they light up the Empire State Building in red. Oh, wait a minute. They didn’t do that for the big win over Morgan State? Yeah, I forgot that Greg Schiano’s crew is 1-4 and going nowhere in 2008. Instead of going to a bowl game this season, maybe the Scarlet Knights can go to Rockefeller Center in mid-December and help NYC hoist up the big Christmas tree. But, you know what? A couple of mediocre seasons and NYC will back away from Rutgers like the plague and will look for the next big thing. And the Scarlet Knights will be lucky if spurned R-U fans let them back thru the Lincoln Tunnel.
