Rutgers/Maryland will only be available on ESPN 360, ala last year's Pitt game. It's not nearly as bad as last year now that Comcast has ESPN 360 along with Verizon, but this still is shoddy. ESPN's producing the game; they can't let SNY directly air the 360 feed? I don't know whether this has to do with weird contract minutae is just a plain shakedown, and unfortunately don't have enough time to look into it right now. Hard to believe that not airing this game benefits any of the parties involved.
It'll help if Kordell Young can return this weekend. De'Antwan Williams could use more touches, but Young also can bring a home run threat to the backfield if he's close to 100%.
Right now, the top priority has to be to get better in the trenches. Rutgers needs its vaunted offensive line to live up to its press clippings, and generate some pressure up front.
Equally as perplexing as what's up with the OL has been the relatively disappointing play of Shamar Graves. There were some comments from the press and Schiano during camp that he wasn't looking great, but it's still har to accept that a young player that looked promising as a receiver down the stretch last year is working with the second string. And Schiano's excuse about special teams?
Turns out, that's not exactly the case since Graves admittedly doesn't do much for Rutgers' speciality units.
"I'm not quite sure what my role is on special teams," Graves said following practice Tuesday. "I do some K.O.R. (kickoff returns). I just do whatever Coach tells me to do. Little things (on special teams). Not a lot. Nothing special."
As for the other depth chart moves, the writing has been on the wall for a while with regards to David Rowe jumping Brandon Bing. Caleb Ruch is probably out, and Pat Kivlehan is a question mark.
Check out the Miami Herald's FIU coverage.
The spin is already underway when it comes to the new Gotham Bowl.
"Obviously, New York is the media capital of the world," Carparelli said. "And there’s already a large Big East presence in New York with our basketball tournament. We feel this would be an opportunity to further brand the Big East in New York City."
Looks like the Big East will stay with the Pizza Bowl as well (guessing Toronto is a goner).
In the game's first two years, the Big East was matched against Conference USA. The Papajohns.com Bowl then acquired the SEC's No. 9 pick and has made a proposal for the No. 8 pick in the SEC's next bowl cycle, starting with the 2010 season.
The Big East and SEC are analyzing bid proposals they have received from bowls. Last Friday was the deadline for the Big East to receive proposals and the conference's bowl lineup should be set in the next two weeks, Marinatto said.
The week three Schiano show podcast is up at SK.com.
Jets coach Rex Ryan continues to praise Jamaal Westerman, perhaps in a ploy to motivate Vernon Gholston.
The Bears didn't sign Kevin Malast to replace Brian Urlacher, although a thread on Rivals yesterday (unconfirmed) said that the Pats were bringing him in for a lookout. Jerod Mayo is injured, and they were expected to use more of a 4-3 look this year. Also of note is that the Bengals cut DeDe Dorsey, which solidifies Brian Leonard's spot in Cincinnati.
H/T to Rivals posters for pointing out that the Steelers signed Kevin Brock to their practice squad. Another thread pointed out that Mike McMahon is now with California of the UFL (Pedro Sosa signed with Las Vegas a few weeks back). Mr. TV also said that Mike Fladell signed with the New York team, although I wasn't able to find anything about that as of this morning.
For anyone who has ESPN Insider, I enjoyed Seth Wickersham's article about coach headhunting firms.
Unlike @FakeGregSchiano, I'm not a devoted fan of Jay Leno and his brand of comedy. Apparently Michael Moore was on last night, and rocking a Rutgers cap. He's a Michigan State fan, but wears the cap out of gratitude to a Rutgers alumnus for supposedly saving his career.