Per Army beatwriter Sal Interdonato, Rutgers and Army are in discussions to play another game at Yankee Stadium in 2016. Sigh; really, really don't want to play them any more. Not unless there's a Giants Stadium 2010-level payout involved. Rutgers needs quality OOC games. Is there any chance of a 2 for 1?
Coach Schiano's post game presser is up at SK.com, as usual. Topics discussed included the depth chart, injuries, and taking two days off with the team feeling a little battered.
So, it looks like I may have lost it a couple weeks back about the Big East bowl lineup for good reason (saw this link on Rivals).
Bowl and conference insiders say that despite earlier reports, there apparently never was opportunity that the Big East - looking to nail down bowl affiliations for the 2010-13 seasons - would land what might have been a former ACC berth in the Music City Bowl.
Hot off the wire from Brett McMurphy is the news that the Big East will play the Big 12 in a new bowl at Yankee Stadium. The key thing to watch here is the payout, and specifics about the matchup and any sharing arrangement with the Meineke Bowl. I have a very bad feeling that the glitz of New York will cover the fact that this is going to be a weak matchup. I don't have the energy to lose it again about this topic. The Big East is an incompetent kleptocracy. BE football will never thrive again until it splits from Providence. Either way, I do not want Rutgers affiliated with the present 16-team monstrosity.
NFL notes from Sunday: Jamaal Westerman had his first career sack (Vernon Gholston has yet to record one). Ray Rice (video) ran for 108 yards on 5.7 ypc. Eric Foster did manage to start for the Colts. Brian Urlacher will miss a few weeks with an injury, so it'll be worth watching to see whether Chicago brings back Malast today. A lot of you probably know the story about Mike Teel's dad during 9/11, but the Seattle Times did a piece on that last week (h/t: Steve Politi's Twitter).
There weren't as many NFL scouts in the stands as there were for the opener, but three (scroll down) did manage to show up on Saturday.
C. Vivian Stringer: Hall of Famer. Nice ring to it.
Oh man, I wanted to link to a meltdown thread on Ohio State's Scout forum, but their mods already deleted it. I'll say it again: no one is rational after a loss. Can you imagine calling for Jim Tressel to be fired? And that's taking into account his loyalty to several terrible assistants. I'll say it again: they would have bungled Anthony Davis.
FIU just couldn't keep up with Alabama, and may be without their JUCO Tight End starter this week, as he's still awaiting NCAA clearance. As I recall, RU's staff did at least give LaPorte a look last year. I also found this bit at the end of that story interesting.
Garcia, who inherited games at Alabama and at Florida from the previous administration, announced earlier this year that FIU would now play only home-and-home games with non-conference opponents.
Maryland struggled in the trenches (without injured LT Bruce Campbell, their best lineman) against JMU, but managed to hold on in overtime. It may have been a pyrrhic victory, however.
Making matters worse was Coach Ralph Friedgen's postgame announcement that cornerback Nolan Carroll, a senior co-captain, will almost certainly miss the remainder of the season with a broken tibia bone in his leg. When told of the injury, linebacker Alex Wujciak lifted his head and said: "He broke his leg? That's going to hurt us. He's our leader."
The Terps are also struggling to sell seats in their expanded stadium. Dunno how our visiting ticket allotment is looking, but once those are exhausted, plenty of tickets are still available for the game.
Aditi: NCAA teams are leaving money on the table by banning beer sales in on-campus stadiums. This, and similar proposals, are worth revisiting. The concept of "amateur" status is completely inconsistent to begin with, so where would be the harm in collecting a few hundred thousand dollars more from EA Sports in exchange for the rights to have accurate rosters in their video games?
Nonessential bit of trivia: SNY's Nooner host Brittany Umar is a Rutgers grad.
Veryyyy interesting brief from New York City's independent budget office last week on the proposed new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Money quotes, from the summary right at the start:
Over a 30-year period, the arena would cost the city nearly $40 million more in spending under current budget plans than it will generate in tax revenues (present value, 2009 dollars). The costs total nearly $170 million from fnancing city expenditures on the arena and the loss of existing tax revenues at the site.
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For the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, the mix of special government benefts result in total savings of $726 million.
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The project also includes tax exemptions and other provisions that reduce the level of potential additional revenues the arena might generate for the city, state, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority. These opportunity costs total $181 million for the city and $16 million for the state, plus another $22 million for the transportation authority due to its below market rate sale of land.