This, this shows what our priorities are at Rutgers.
One of the tasks Pernetti had last week was attending what he called "a cannon meeting," when university officials decided exactly where to place the cannon that is fired when Rutgers scores a touchdown.
It was decided to place the cannon in front of Section 131, near where the east stands meet the new sections. The Scarlet Knights' horse will be stationed beyond the north end zone.
With two days to go, the expanded stadium sold out. I'll be in attendance today, and will try to have some impressions up later on about the game, and how the stadium looked.
Dr. Saturday is bucking the seeming consensus, and picking Cincinnati over Rutgers. He's a great writer, but damn if I don't often disagree with him, often virulently, on practically everything. Expecting the Knights to be completely inept on offense ignores the strong running game/line, and the combo of Timmy Brown and Mohamed Sanu. Plus, Rutgers has a defense, and the best player on the field. I'm with Keith Sargeant in that the game makes me nervous. The press saw the offense over the past month, albeit against a much better defense than what the Bearcats will have. Then again, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions about that unit from Brian Kelly's public confidence.
Dom Natale may not be able to gun it downfield, and Savage may not be ready yet. So, what? Didn't UConn beat them last year with even less to work with on offense? Here's one last thought though; is anyone wondering what CPE could have done?
"I don't know if I've ever seen an individual performance like I saw from our quarterback," Trainer said of URI's Chris Paul-Etienne, who completed 13 of 19 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns before being pulled early in the third quarter after suffering a minor elbow injury to his non-throwing shoulder with the Rams up by five touchdowns.
As usual, kind of mixed emotions here in response to Steve Politi's latest column. There's feel-good stuff there, but of course, the perfunctory PSU mention that will make anyone reading feel like turning into the Incredible Hulk.
The Ledger's Brendan Prunty checks in with the first edition of his Rutgers football podcast with Greg DePalma. They previewed the depth chart, and talked a bit about the freshmen class.
Yeah, the pressure is on. It should be.
Bob Mulcahy will be on the sidelines today as a guest of Greg Schiano. I don't think he gives the overwhelming majority of fans enough credit. They bought the ad in the Ledger. They know what's up.
"I have had an influence in everything they've done — from the Hale Center, which we built for $5.5 million, to the original stadium expansion in the '90s. I've had a major role in everything that's happened for this program. I had always committed to trying to build a Divison I athletics program the right way with strong academics. And I proved that. But nobody seems to want to acknowledge that."
Jim Sheridan, you're on notice buddy.
All fans should be as sensible as Jim Sheridan, a Rutgers follower who flew in from Livingston, N.J., for Saturday's UF opener. You see, Rutgers doesn't play until Monday, and, as Sheridan explained, "I just wanted to see Tim Tebow play one time live and in person."
Sheridan was among the hundreds of fans who had their picture taken before the game in front of "The Promise" — the recently installed bronzed plaque of Tebow's famous postgame pledge after last year's loss to Ole Miss.
"I'm a college football fan," Sheridan said. "If you're a college football fan, how can you not love Tim Tebow?"
Easy. Be a New Jerseyan. We're legally obligated to hate everything. Jim, please turn in your Block R magnet at the Will Call office this afternoon. Hate, hate that article too. Wondering why the Tim Tebow backlash is growing? Because the press won't stop talking about him!
I don't think former Bayonne HC Rick Rodriguez (who was a friend to the RU program) meant to knock Kenny Britt in his comments to the PSU Collegian, but this comparison to Jerome Hayes wasn't the brightest thing to say in the internet age.
"Let me tell you something," Rodriguez says, "Kenny doesn't come close to Jerome. But the difference between Kenny and Jerome is Kenny's been healthy, Jerome hasn't."
Get ready for awful traffic and paying through your nose for parking.
The Jets did end up cutting Brandon Renkart after a day, although he'll probably end up on their practice squad again. Ironically, Westerman's versatility (he saw looks at ILB) could have hurt here. The Jaguars are stashing Underwood and Stephenson on their PS. No word yet on Greene, or on any of last week's cuts like Malast and Brock.
A Rutgers administrator said that the school doesn't credential sports bloggers (video).
Pres. McCormick: new Rutgers deans need to show fundraising prowess.
The New York Post was again caught stealing stories from the blogosphere. Happens far too often with more prestigious outlets too.