Don't overreact to small sample sizes.
College football has a twelve or thirteen game season. Everything's not firing on all cylinders yet, but Rutgers is 3-1, and coming off a win against a Maryland team (without the services of Tom Savage), who bounced back against Clemson last Saturday. The Scarlet Knight front seven is back; now, if only the offensive line would kick it up a notch in turn. Either way, they're very much in the thick of the Big East race. You look around college football, and the exact same phenomena is visible everywhere. It's regression to the mean, and that's a wonderful thing.
That being said, Rutgers shouldn't be playing Texas Southern this week.
This game is an embarrassment, and the program deserves every bit of scorn and ridicule it gets for playing this game. It's not a coincidence that most of the same people making those critical comments are numbskulls who wouldn't credit for Rutgers for any accomplishment, but that's life. Take care of business the rest of the season and it won't matter. The real people who have a right to complain are the season ticket holders who have to subsidize the game. Tulane next year is a slight upgrade, but not nearly enough. Unfortunately, the scheduling situation won't improve for a couple of years. RU doesn't have a pile of money to buy out of its commitments. These awful games are happening all across the country because of financial concerns.
Kenny Britt is who we thought he was.
Wait, you mean that the past two years weren't a complete illusion? Britt is currently on pace to eclipse 1,000 yards as not only a 21-year old rookie, but as the second youngest player in the entire NFL. Yup, that statement has to be qualified a bit. The season will have its ups and downs for any player, but Britt is so good, and so NFL-ready that it blows my mind how so many people who likely hadn't even seen him play a snap nitpicked him to death during the spring. It's too bad that the Titans are having a bad year, but they're a good organization, and will do fine in coming years.
I didn't see the game, but appears that Jason McCourty played a lot with their injuries in the secondary. Even in the most optimistic of scenarios, he probably is being pressed into action sooner than would have been ideal. McCourty started against the Jags, and things won't get any easier against Peyton Manning this weekend.
Ray Rice is an emerging star.
This debate is just about settled.
Brian Leonard is moving up in the pecking order.
On the heels of last week's heroism, Leonard caught six balls out of the backfield today. Carson Palmer and the Bengals are starting to trust in BL's dependable mitts, for when steady hands are at a premium.
Eric Foster is too good to keep off the field.
The versatile 'E' may not exactly have a set NFL position, but he's clearly talented enough for the league. The Colts continue to play Foster over bulkier tackles with loftier pedigrees, and now he's starting to see the field in assorted packages on offense.