PISCATAWAY – After five seasons on campus, pride could’ve come in.

After opening training camp sharing space atop the depth chart, ego could’ve reared its head.

After two foot surgeries, after plenty dashed dreams, after everything Jabu Lovelace has given this program, plain old offense could’ve taken hold.

“Not at Rutgers,” Lovelace said. “When you’re a Rutgers football player, you learn a lot of things and the first is, there’s no place for personal pride or ego. It’s all about the greater good of the team.”

There may not have been any better show of that at Rutgers’ Saturday practice than Lovelace. A fifth-year senior quarterback, who’s completed his coursework and set to graduate at semester’s end, Lovelace stood behind the scout team center and mimicked Central Florida quarterback Brett Hodges all morning. He did it for the first time two weeks ago, when West Virginia’s Jarrett Brown was coming to town and now, the player once listed as a co-starter at quarterback, the signal-caller who opened the season with the team’s most experience, is again taking a role generally saved for redshirting freshmen.

“It’s all hands on deck right now,” Lovelace said, shrugging at the seeming enormity of his acquiescence. He wore no green jersey to save him from tackles – or potential hurt – and he’s likely waved good-bye to any chance for a second post-season snap before he moves on.

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PISCATAWAY – Game day is still eight away and the asker has his entry guaranteed anyway. But Tampa native Jonathan Freeny stood straight ahead, Rutgers is headed down to Freeny’s neighborhood and so the question had to come out: “Got four tickets?”

“I’m looking for four if you’ve got them,” Freeny said, laughing at the affectionate poke – but full well serious too. The Scarlet Knights are headed down to the St. Petersburg Bowl, the junior defensive end has so far secured 24 tickets and his dad’s hassling him every day for more.

“It definitely feels like a bowl game,” Freeny said, letting out yet another of those deep, rumbling laughs. He’s a menace on the field – his 8.5 sacks led the Big East’s top-ranked defense – but he’s habitually jovial off it, and if anything’s going to stress him now, it’ll be letting down all the hometown folks desperate to see him.

Really, everything about this week should be stressful for the Scarlet Knights, who’ve never had a post-season turnaround quite like this. They closed their 7-5 season with a tough 24-21 loss last Saturday, late Sunday evening they learned their bowl fate – a Dec. 19 meeting with Central Florida – and in the days since, they’ve moved up their final exam dates, adjusted final paper assignments and drilled on the Central Florida game plan. Head coach Greg Schiano has repeatedly likened it to a bye week and did so again Thursday, saying, “There’s a lot of pressure on these kids right now, there’s no doubt about it.”

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It’s finally official. Charlie Strong is the new head coach at Louisville and the first-time head coach let his eyes freely well when asked about finally trading in the bridesmaid’s bouquet for the real deal.

“When we were offered this job, my wife (Victoria) and I looked at each other, because (we) just never thought it was going to happen,” he said, choking back tears and surely winning over Louisville’s fans. This is a man who’s been planning for this job a long time.

In any case, here’s what folks are saying:

Louisville AD Tom Jurich couldn’t uncover one negative about Strong. (ESPN.com)

Jurich probably didn’t need to take as much time on this one as he did. Strong’s a no-brainer. (Courier-Journal)

Louisville’s getting a great one in Strong. (Gatorcountry.com)

Transparency at its best: Strong’s contract with Louisville. (Courier-Journal)

Strong is going to have to start entirely over. (ESPN.com)

Strong’s going to still coach the Florida defense against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl. (ESPN.com)

It’s a historic week for minority coaches. (ESPN.com)

Local African-American coaches and players are thrilled by Strong’s hiring. (wave3.com)

Greg Schiano sure was honest.

As I wrote a few minutes ago, the Rutgers coach is not thrilled about a Dec. 19 bowl date. Of course he insisted that the game is still a reward, of course he said UCF – and its staunch run defense – makes a tough and worthy foe and of course he stressed the fact that his program never takes a bowl game for granted. But Schiano also candidly admitted both he and athletic director Tim Pernetti made lobbying phone calls today, trying to get a date further away – and outside Rutgers’ exam period. (Exams start next Wednesday, Dec. 16 and run through Dec. 23. Right smack in the middle of bowl week.)

“Yeah it is,” Schiano said when the first question tonight asked if the slot in the St. Petersburg Bowl was disappointing. ”Quite frankly it’s very disappointing. I cherish that time with the underclassmen to really bring them along. This date doesn’t work so well for that.”

“At the same time,” he said, ”We’re going to a bowl game for a fifth straight year. We need to take a deep breath and realize that. There’s a lot of football teams in this country that would like to go to five straight bowl games. Some would call it not at the level they expect. Well I apologize for that. The reality is five straight bowls is five straight bowls. We’re going to get to the top and this is part of the process.”

I asked him if the Big East was open to his requesting another slot and he said to ask the league.

“We all kid ourselves that we have more control than we do,” he said. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be. If we won more games, then it wouldn’t be that situation where you have to worry. Right now we are who we are. I’m not ashamed of who we are. We’re growing and we’re going to become great. But right now we’re not great. We gotta deal with it and we will.”

Here’s my full story with Greg Schiano in all his honesty.

Post-loss locker rooms are never any fun. Having to ask a football player about a comeback-killing interception is definitely part of that. But having to asking a 19-year old football player about a comeback-killing interception when he’s clearly beating himself up is just plain brutal.

Most fans can see Tom Savage plays with an uncommon maturity for a true freshman; he’s got it off the field too. I wrote about Tom’s response to today’s 24-21 loss to West Virginia right here.

Greg Schiano said today, “We’re a young, growing-up football team. If we find a way to score at the end, we’ve grown up.” Rutgers’ true freshman Mr. Everything Mohamed Sanu tipped a ball from true freshman Tom Savage into linebacker J.T. Thomas’ hands and so no, Rutgers didn’t score there at the end. But read about Tom Savage’s feelings afterwards: you’ll feel like growing up is pretty darn close.

West Virginia (8-3, 4-2) at Rutgers (8-3, 3-3)

TV: ESPN

11:34 before Kickoff: West Virginia fans are a riot. They’re out in the parking lots, talking some fun trash, crashing tailgates and making friends with Rutgers fans. Seriously. There was a lot of good cheer out there. Even with the gray skies.

4:39 before Kickoff: I tried to make a little sense of the bowl mess here.

4:37 before Kickoff: The team just ran out, with the dry ice. No one had the axe. The seniors are coming out one by one no though. Maybe one of them has the thing. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m not into it. Zaire Kitchen just got a good applause.

1:53 before Kickoff: Billy Anderson was given the axe. Steve Beauharnais is starting for Antonio Lowery again.

Kickof: Okay, that’s really funny. Someone out in the stands is waving a sign that reads, “Our son and money go to WVU, but we cheer for RU.”

13:08 left in the 1st Quarter: The Scarlet Knights clearly still have sleeping dust in their eyes. Five plays, 86 yards, 1:52 and a 6-4, 223 quarterback outran Rutgers’ entire secondary for 28 yards.

9:28 left in the 1st Quarter: Two Gator Bowl officials are here. I wonder if they sent folks to Pittsburgh too. I mean, if Cincinnati loses, wouldn’t they at least look at the 11-1 Bearcats? Shamar Graves had three nice catches on that last drive, and San San Te’s 38 yard field goal was good. West Virginia 7, Rutgers 3.

4:47 left in the 1st Quarter: Pitt’s up 7-0 and midway through the first quarter Dion Lewis has 11 carries. Someone on press row just tried to make the argument that Mohamed Sanu is more important and valuable to Rutgers’ offense than Lewis is to Pitt’s. And then Sanu was dropped for a two-yard loss. It’s an interesting premise. Lewis has to account for a greater percentage of Pitt’s offense. But Pitt does have another capable freshman behind him, Ray Graham, who lost the starting spot largely because Lewis came on campus in January. Rutgers doesn’t have any other proven offensive weapons outside Sanu and Tim Brown. The line hasn’t blocked consistently well enough to count the run game as a weapon, right? What do you think? (more…)

PISCATAWAY – Every night’s the same for Tim Brown. He hassles his roommate, he calls home to his mom and then he crawls under the covers, 5-foot-something.

Every morning’s the same too. He wakes up 6-foot-something.

In his head.

“It’s every short guy’s dream, to be tall,” Brown said, his face earnest, his mouth straight.

The words should’ve sounded like a jokey little tale, a practiced psych-up for one of Rutgers’ most accomplished wide receivers ever. But as Brown sat on the cusp of his college career, after a season where reality bludgeoned its way into his consciousness, there was only seriousness.

“I give myself an inch every day,” he said. “Like I would tell any scout, I’m not a big target, but I definitely try to play like I’m 6-4.”

As Rutgers (8-3, 3-3 Big East) readies for Saturday’s visit from no. 23 West Virginia (8-3, 4-2), there’s no question Brown has been the Scarlet Knights’ most dependable big-play threat. His 20.61 yards per catch rank third in the country, his 95.5 yards per game ninth. He’s been eye-rubbingly tough over the middle, virtually uncatchable down the sideline and slinky in traffic. He leads the Big East in receiving yards and yet, he’s still definitely auditioning for a football future.

“His size and lack of return experience hurt him,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said, very matter-of-factly. Still, though, Mayock admitted there’s something captivating about Brown, that “his speed and production will get him into an NFL camp.” (more…)

I can’t vouch for the writer(s) at FootballCoachScoop.com because he(they) are anonymous. But since I’ve been reading the site (which is highly addictive and which I totally recommend), FCS has broken a bunch of stuff, been right about even more stuff and the About button says the whole thing was founded by a college football coach. And the way the thing’s sourced, you have to see that. That out of the way…

FCS is reporting that Cincinnati’s put a contract extension on the table in front of Brian Kelly… and that Notre Dame’s put an offer out to him too.

Kelly’s called all the Notre Dame talk “irrelevant” and tried to shy entirely away from it, but then Cincinnati tight end Ben Guidugli told the school paper in today’s editions that he’s ready for Kelly to at least address the speculation. He said, “that doesn’t help the issue when there’s a lot of speculation and he’s not telling us anything one way or the other.” And that, “I would rather him tell us what’s going on either way, just be honest about it. Not saying something is saying a lot.”

After that, later this morning, Kelly went on a radio show and sort of said something, asking the show’s host why he would leave.

It was rhetorical. But let me ask: why indeed?

Whatever Lou Holtz says, Notre Dame is not the best job in the country anymore. Yes, Notre Dame is higher profile and tradition rich and always on TV. But these days, good programs get on TV. These days, successful programs build fancy stadiums. These days, kids don’t only dream of one school and there’s something to be said for being THE guy to build something. Especially under a little lesser spotlight, with less-demanding boosters. 

Sheesh, look at Rich Rodriguez. He was at his alma mater, in his home state, where he was revered and where he was one lousy loss to Pitt from playing for the national title. Then he left for Michigan. There was Shredgate (West Virginia accused him of stealing documents from its football office) and there was Practicegate (Michigan players accused him of practicing them too hard). He’s had Purdue’s Joe Tiller call him a “wizard-hat-wearing-snake-oil-guy,” he’s been sued for defaulting on a real estate deal and his attorney says he’s been a victim of a Ponzi scheme. Now imagine he’d stayed put. Noel Devine, Jarrett Brown, Reed Williams… something Kelly should think about.

Go ahead and argue and tell me Kelly can’t make Notre Dame money at Cincinnati. (I can’t argue back.) Tell me a Big East school can’t compete for the national title (West Virginia could’ve two years ago and anyway…give it time; we’re getting a playoff ) and tell me Notre Dame is a Catholic kid’s dream (didn’t they say that about Urban Meyer?). It’s not so cut and dry.

Of course, for what it’s worth, I think I probably just really want Kelly to stay, for what it says. And, also for what it’s worth, I think he probably ends up going. I guess we’ll see soon enough.

In The Illiad, Homer wrote, “The fates have given mankind a patient soul.” He clearly didn’t know footballfankind.

Steve Kragthorpe’s farewell press conference in Louisville was, by all accounts, very classy. He insisted he had no bitterness, he expressed regret at not having won more than the 15 games he did and he refused to lob any parting shots at the fans, the ones who booed him in his very first game in 2007, when Louisville led 70-10 and he called for 11 straight runs. He did sort of say he wished he’d gotten to at least fulfill his contract (a standard five years), but he wouldn’t even call the three years he got unreasonable, pragmatically saying, “patience doesn’t exist anymore.”

Well, let me say it then. Three years is absurd. 

A coach’s own recruits aren’t even seniors in three years. Greg Schiano went 3-20 in his first two years and then got a contract extension.  He won five games the next year and yes, it took a while for the wins to take hold and yes, taking over a completely-irrelevant and talent-barren Rutgers was different than taking over an Orange Bowl-fresh Louisville squad. But if that’s an issue, then look at Pitt.

Dave Wannstedt took over a tradition-rich Pitt program that had just gone to the Fiesta Bowl. He went 5-6, 6-6 and then was 4-7 with a game to go in his third season. He was a Pitt alum, the choice of Pitt alumni and yet, after pulling in some highly-touted recruiting classes, there was some restlessness with that win total. Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg called Wannstedt in for a meeting and the way Wannstedt told the story on the Big East conference call a couple weeks ago, he asked the coach what it would take to win.

Wannstedt walked out with a contract extension. A couple days later Pitt upset a would’ve-been-title-game-bound West Virginia and the Panthers are 18-6 since. And playing for the conference title and a BCS berth Saturday. And you better believe Wannstedt ties the two together.

“(Nordenberg) stood up and made a commitment and extended my contract and basically came out and said, ‘That’s the coach,’” he said on our conference call. “We’ve had an unbelievable run since then.”

Wannstedt credited a lot of this year’s success to that patience, saying, “The kids that are seniors this year, (tight end Dorin)Dickerson and these guys, were the first recruiting class that I brought in and we (have had time) to get these kids to mature and come along.”

Kragthorpe, of course, didn’t have that time – or that hysteria-quenching support. Schiano did, because of a stubborn athletic director and perhaps because Rutgers fans didn’t feel they had the right to expect better after so many years of ineptitude. While Wannstedt’s fans did expect more, he had the cooler (re: more patient) city.

“I think it might be the city of Pittsburgh,” Wannstedt said. ”I remember being at the Dolphins and to be quite honest with you, we spent four years down there and I think we won 10.5 games a year and people were ready to run me out of town because we weren’t winning Super Bowls. And I remember the Steelers, they won 6, 7, I think 9 with Bill Cowher (and) they give him a contract extension. And two yeas later, he wins the Super Bowl.”

There’s a reason patience is a virtue, right? I don’t know – unless there’s mass discipline issues or a total denigration of the program and an institution’s academic and character standards, shouldn’t a coach get at least five years? You tell me.

PISCATAWAY – Memory says it was almost every day that first camp.

Greg Schiano patrolling the bleachers, megaphone in hand, bellowing out the one player’s name. Sometimes the whole “Damaso Munoz!” Sometimes just “Munoz!” But always sharply, and absolutely always more than any other player’s.

“What?!” Devin McCourty said. Snorting from a seat over, the fifth-year senior cornerback shook his head and said memory’s wrong: “Coach Schiano loves Damaso. He’s always loved Damaso.”

Okay, five years is a while for memories to stay sharp. And for where Munoz is now, his once having incessantly net Schiano’s wrath does sound odd. But the megaphone and those scoldings aren’t made-up – and neither is McCourty’s claim.

“I think ‘Coach’ always saw something in me and so he was hard on me,” Munoz said. “But it was cool. It never bothered me that he yelled. It’s why I am who I am now.”

Who he is is just that something. He’s a three-year starter and stalwart in Rutgers’ linebacking corps, the one with the driest sense of humor, an uncanny knack for the ball (“Look at all the defense’s big play pictures – he’s in every one,” McCourty said) and yes, a player Schiano has to love.

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