Rutgers (4-2) at Army (3-4)

Time: 8:00 pm   TV: ESPN2

Radio: WOR-710 AM, WCTC-1450 AM

35:00 minutes before Kickoff: The Rutgers band is filing in behind the south end goalpost. The red looks sharp against the night sky. I’m sort of disappointed the games I’ve covered here have been at night. It’s hard to see the river.

I apologize for the later start, but I was upstairs saying hello to John Minko. Most of you likely know him as one of the (great) update anchors at WFAN, but he’s also Army’s play-by-play man and he was also training me this summer when I was learning about anchoring. In any case, John says defensive end Josh McNary is the real deal. He had four sacks last week at Temple, the junior is already Army’s single season (9.5) and career (15.0) sack leader and when asked if he’s seen any of him this week, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said, “I’ve seen more than I’ve wanted to.” John also said 6-10 offensive tackle-turned-wideout Alejandro Villanueva (that’s not a typo – he’s six foot ten) has decent hands. And makes jump balls an Army automatic.

22:04 before Kickoff: There are only six true freshmen starting quarterbacks in the highest level of college football this year. Tonight, we get to see two of them. For Rutgers, Tom Savage makes his first ever start on the road. (Remember, he missed Maryland with the concussion.) For Army, Trent Steelman will be going with a cracked rib and a bruised shoulder. Not that he throws that much anyway. His 407 rush yards lead freshmen QBs; Army’s 66.1 yards per game of passing rank 120th in the country. Out of 120.

19:09 before Kickoff: Brian Dohn of ScarletReport.com just came in from outside (he has two little boys sitting in the stands with his wife) and he said it’s pouring out there. Ha – and I just got a text from a former Rutgers athlete who’s out in the stands and wanting to know if I could swing him a spot inside!

(more…)

Rutgers (4-2) is at Army (3-4) at 8 p.m. tonight in Michie Stadium, in West Point.

I’ll be there live-blogging and I’m hoping for just as lively a back-and- forth - if not moreso – as we had last week during the Rutgers-Pitt open post. If you’re not making the trip, power up the computer while the TV’s on and that way, if the talking heads in the booth can’t hear you yelling at least I’ll be able to.

Rutgers plays at Army this Friday night and I’m not quite sure if Rutgers coach Greg Schiano’s really not pumped about the game – or really pumped for it. You tell me…

Sunday morning, at the week’s press conference, Schiano basically said defending Army is a pain the you-know-what. Now don’t get him wrong, he really admires the triple option and he even said that way in the future, when he retires and becomes a high school coach (that’s his retirement plan?), he “maybe …will employ that offense, I don’t know. I think it is very good. It really is a joy to watch.”

He said Army’s triple option is a science, he twice said he enjoys watching it and he said, “the fact that I have to defend it is what I don’t like.” I even asked him if just as a defensive mind, if as a strategist, it’s not sort of fun to get ready for something totally different and… he looked at me funny. And said no.

But then, Monday, on the Big East coaches’ weekly teleconference, Schiano said he was sorry Army isn’t permanently on Rutgers’ schedule.

“I really like (the meetings),” he said. ”I think it’s great. The two Division I institutions that are in the New York metropolitan area, I think it’s a great game for the area.”

And that wasn’t even it. He went on, ”I love the fact that we’re going to be playing in Giants Stadium one time, we’re going to be playing at Yankee Stadium, we’re going to be playing at Rutgers Stadium, playing at Michie Stadium. I think it’s just great for all of our fans.”*

And then even more: “Right now, I’m not sure, I haven’t looked at the schedule, but I think we’re playing for a couple years and then we’re off. I wish, I think that should be an every-year game. But I’ll leave that up to the athletic directors and see if they can’t get that worked out.”

Now what would be cool is if Army-Rutgers could become a real regional rivalry. New coach Rich Ellerson is doing some very impressive things for sure. And Navy’s recently shown that a service academy can be legitimately tough. But Rutgers has won five consecutive meetings and scored more than 30 points in seven of those meetings and so… we probably have a ways to go before we see a real rivalry. Then again, maybe not. At least one beat writer thinks Army can win.

*Rutgers and Army will square off in the first college game at the new Giants Stadium, on Sept. 25, 2010, and they’ll meet on Nov. 12, 2011 at what will then be a three-year old Yankee Stadium.

Hot off the presses (or, um, out of my e-mail inbox), the Big East Conference’s weekly honorees…

BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Dion Lewis • Fr. • RB • Pittsburgh • Albany, N.Y. Lewis ran for 180 yards on 31 carries, including touchdown runs of 1 and 58 yards, to help Pittsburgh improve to 3-0 in the BIG EAST with a 24-17 win at Rutgers. Lewis averaged 5.8 yards per carry against a Scarlet Knight defense that had limited opponents to just 2.3 yards per attempt. Lewis leads the BIG EAST and ranks third nationally in rushing (131.1 yards per game).

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Lawrence Wilson • Jr. • LB • Connecticut • Tuscaloosa, Ala. Wilson had a game-high 16 tackles — the most by a BIG EAST player this season — to go with a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery to lead a Connecticut defense that forced four turnovers in a 38-25 win against Louisville. Wilson leads the BIG EAST with 66 tackles this season and is 19th nationally with 11 tackles per game.

BIG EAST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Jacob Rogers • Jr. • K/P • Cincinnati • Warsaw, Ind. Rogers was a key player in Cincinnati’s 34-17 win at No. 21/21 USF as he scored 10 points and averaged 45.1 yards on seven punts. Rogers made field goals of 37 and 29 yards, had a long punt of 53 yards and had two kickoffs go for touchbacks.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

Zach Collaros, QB, Cincinnati — Came off the bench to rush for 132 yards and two touchdowns while going 4-for-7 with 72 passing yards in a 34-17 win at No. 21/21 USF.

Andre Dixon, RB, Connecticut — Ran for 153 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries in a 38-25 win against Louisville.

Jon Dempsey, LB, Louisville — Had a game-high 16 tackles — the most by a BIG EAST player this season — with a half sack and a tackle for loss in a 38-25 loss at Connecticut.

Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers — Had 11 tackles, including a tackle for loss, and registered his fifth career blocked kick with a punt block in a 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh.

Reed Williams, LB, West Virginia — Had eight tackles with a forced fumble and two pass breakups to help hold Marshall to 207 yards of offense in a 24-7 win.

The Halloween meeting between Rutgers and UConn will kick off at noon up at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The game will be the Big East Game of the Week and air on SNY and it will be the Huskies’ first home game after this past weekend’s tragic loss of Jasper Howard.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The placards hang along the back of Rutgers’ Team Room, a parade of BCS game logos.Each year a new one goes up, with that season’s championship badge and site, and each year, coach Greg Schiano’s left them up. Even after they’ve morphed from goal-fixing motivators to a derision-screaming mockery of where Rutgers yet again won’t go.

Friday’s 24-17 loss at home to Pittsburgh sinks Rutgers to 0-2 in Big East play (and 4-2 overall) and although it may only be the midpoint of this 2009 campaign, even Schiano had to admit the prize he’s spoken of for nine years will almost definitely have to wait another one.

“You never say never but it would be difficult to win the league with the (two) losses,” he said on his Saturday afternoon teleconference.

This, though, is where Schiano has raised expectations to, since that magical 9-0 start to 2006 — and the following year’s installation of those placards. Sure, the Scarlet Knights have a freshman quarterback and have lost six players to the NFL, but after falling to Cincinnati (6-0, 2-0) and then Pittsburgh (6-1, 3-0) on national television, the tag on this season — disappointing — could seem to be set. If, of course, it wasn’t Schiano at the helm.

Keep reading here.

Pitt (5-1) at Rutgers (4-1)            

Time: 8:01 p.m.        TV: ESPN       

Radio: WOR-710 AM, WCTC-1450 AM

90 minutes before Kickoff: I’m up here in a press box that’s almost as busy as the one we had Week One, when Cincinnati was in town. If I’m not a player, am I allowed to admit there’s a different (read: big game) feel to this? Oh wait, I could definitely say that if I was a Pitt player.

Assorted Panthers have been out on the field, running around, doing high kicks, whatever it is they do to loosen. I haven’t seen any of Rutgers’ kids yet. It’s not quite as cold out there as it was this morning: hopefully the weather isn’t scaring away tailgaters. I know Security’s in top form. The gentleman who checked my bag wanted to know if there was vodka in my water bottle.

63:23 before Kickoff: Rutgers is honoring Cappie Pondexter and Gary Brackett at halftime. Cappie just won her second WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury. She had surgery for a scratch she got on her retina during the championship game, so she can’t go straight overseas and I think she’s hanging out in the area for a little bit. When she was here, she was definitely the most dynamic athlete I’d ever covered and I remember the way she said, “Awww” when I told her that.

Gary was just awarded the 11th annual Arthur S. Arkush Humanitarian Award by Pro Football Weekly. The award goes to an NFL player “whose contributions to the community and charitable organizations are especially outstanding” and for Gary, that’s highlighted by his IMPACT Foundation, a charity that gets opportunities and resources to kids affected by cancer. I was just talking to Rutgers corner Devin McCourty about Gary Tuesday and how he is probably my all-time favorite story ever. I did an SI.com column on him before the 2007 Super Bowl and I think that will explain exactly why. I hope I get to see him tonight.

(more…)

Every day I’ve heard or read one more thing out of Pitt. And honestly, it’s like being in an alternate universe.

Let’s see… it started when Pitt receiver Jonathan Baldwin told me about the team’s Sunday meeting. Coach Dave Wannstedt told every senior to stand up, then said – according to Jonathan – “All the seniors who beat Rutgers sit down.”

Sixth-year senior Adam Gunn sat and then got back up quick because in 2004, he redshirted and didn’t actually play in Pitt’s win. No one else could even consider sitting because Rutgers has won four years in a row – Wannstedt’s entire tenure – and the point was made.

Then came word that Wannstedt was looping game tape of these last four Rutgers’ losses on screens in the practice center and locker room. Then that he had a student manager dress up in Scarlet Knights-esque armor.

Then center Robb Houser - who broke his fibula and tore two ligaments in his right ankle thanks to a blindside hit in last year’s Rutgers games – said, “Everybody has a little revenge for them. I have my own revenge.”

(more…)

Sorry for the quiet all morning. I was at a meeting at the home office and have only now just gotten back…

This morning at SNY.tv, I wrote about the potential of seeing Pitt superstud wideout Jonathan Baldwin going mano-a-mano with Rutgers’ senior corner Devin McCourty, one of the smartest, fastest, least-likely-to-make-a-mistake defenders in the league.

Baldwin is just a sophomore, but on the phone earlier this week, he very much struck me as having the even-tempered cool of another player I know: Devin.

Now granted, Baldwin has reason to have grown up this past year. Still, as his older teammates talked about revenge and having an extra oomph (I’ll have more on that in a few minutes) and word leaked about his coach’s motivational ploys (more on that too), Baldwin sounded like a kid who, well, plays for Greg Schiano.

On playing a big conference tilt: “I just go into every game the same way. I don’t want to get too high or too low, I just want to keep doing the things I’ve been doing.”

On a Friday night ESPN audience giving him a national stage: “I just go out there and try to do what I do. It doesn’t matter if it’s on national television or no one’s there.”

I tried to get him joking, asking if he’s taken his roommate  and star freshman tailback Dion Lewis - who dropped a sure-touchdown pass last week – out for extra pass catching skills. He very soberly said, “He dropped one. It happens. You wish you could catch all of them.”

Baldwin certainly isn’t bland. He was the one on the Pitt sidelines last week, promising teammates, “It’s not over” when they were down late and he certainly plays with way too much dynamism to be boring. I have to say, though, it was interesting hearing him. When Rutgers kids stick to the non-controversial, you know it’s because of the mandate that’s set. Pitt’s leadership clearly isn’t worried about any censuring. Maybe Baldwin really is that business-like.

In any case, check out the story.

Dave Wannstedt gave Greg Schiano his first NFL job, hiring him out of Penn State in 1996 to be a defensive assistant with the Bears. Three years later, Wannstedt recommended then-Miami coach Butch Davis (Miami’s d-line coach when Wannstedt was d-coordinator under Jimmy Johnson) hire Schiano as his defensive coordinator.

Every year, this time of year, Wannstedt and Schiano talk about how they’re very good friends. Schiano, as usual, said yesterday Wannstedt and his wife Jan have been very good to him and his family and Wannstedt likely offered something very similar, as usual, to his local beat reporters. So how much do you think it sticks in Wannstedt’s craw that he has yet to beat his one-time assistant?

Now in his fifth year at Pitt, Wannstedt’s beaten every single team at least once, except for Rutgers. As a Pitt lineman, he beat every single team in his league at once. Pitt has once lost 11 in a row to Syracuse (from 1991-2001) and let West Virginia ring up a five-game streak (from 1992-1996), but to Wannstedt, this has to be worse.

And so, yesterday, in Pitt’s whole-team meeting, he had every senior stand up. Then he said, “Okay, all of you who’ve beaten Rutgers, sit down.” 

“No one sat down,” sophomore wideout Jonathan Baldwin said, telling me the story. Baldwin said Wannstedt hasn’t made the streak about him, but at the same time, “We all know it’s been four straight. We know what we have to do.”

Ed. Here’s the transcript of Dave Wannstedt’s press conference today.