Rutgers Apology

From the Scarlet Knights website:

On behalf of Rutgers University and the Athletic Department, we would like to apologize for the regrettable actions of a handful of Rutgers fans on Saturday that do not convey the message of good, competitive spirit that we look forward to having with our new Big Ten rival Penn State University.

Some of the signage and t-shirts that we have been made aware of were both inappropriate and offensive.

I have spoken with and apologized to the Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour and I would like to apologize equally to the Penn State University fans, as well as Rutgers fans that were subjected to this classless display that does not represent the ethos of our university, athletic department or fan base.

The two inappropriate pictures that appeared briefly on our Facebook page as part of a 200-picture montage were immediately removed when we were alerted to their content.

It is unfortunate that the actions of a few spoiled an otherwise historic and record-setting night that Rutgers fans provided for our first Big Ten football game.

Julie Hermann
Rutgers Athletic Director

Sometimes there is a fine line between humor and insensitivity.  I think that some Rutgers fans crossed that line.  But some think I cross the line sometimes.  Oh, well.

In a related story, New Jersey has renamed the town of Piscataway . . .

And apparently, a picture of Franklin heading to New Jersey on a recruiting trip has surfaced . . .

We can only hope the Land Grant Trophy on the back falls in the river!

Knightmare Nova

Gary "turNova" threw five interceptions while the Penn State defense shut out the Scarlet Knights in the second half, to key a 13-10 win over our newest "rival."  This game is probably the most hyped, yet unimportant game outside of these two programs, that I have seen in a while.  (The Ohio State-THEM game is the perennial over-hyped game which generally most other fans could care less about.)  But I digress.

Hackenberg passed for over 300 yards, setting a new school record of 7 games in his career of 300+ yards.  Despite a 10 to nothing deficit at the half, this Penn State team did not give up.  They may not have the best team.  They may not have the biggest stars.  We may not have the "best" coach.  But this team gives 110% of itself for a full 60 minutes of every game.

It would appear that Mr. Hackenberg operates best under pressure.  And I'm not talking about defensive pressure, because he saw a lot of that in the first half from the Scarlet Knights.  They were stunting, blitzing, and magically appearing in the backfield to help with the hand-off on nearly every down.  Credit Penn State with making second half adjustments that allowed Hack to have more time.

We still have an annoying problem.  No running game.  Yes, but that is not the annoying problem to which I allude.  We seem to amass large quantities of yardage--mostly through the air, but fail to convert said yardage into points on the scoreboard.  We are totally smashing the stats sheet (and the win column!!!!) but we can't seem to light up the scoreboard.  Granted, at 3-0, it's an annoyance.  But with BIGger prizes to play for now, it could become a real pain in the loss column later on.

We can nitt-pick all day about having Hackenberg punt (did not work) and running the wild cat with Hackenberg out as a receiver (which hasn't worked).  Are we trying too hard to be gimmicky?  I don't know.  I kind of like seeing new wrinkles.  And with a little better execution, these plays could catch some people by surprise (such as the toss back to Hack at wide receiver for a pass.)  Had we lost, well, then these things might be more important.  But for now, they are just more nuances that other defenses have to prepare for.

What was the deal with Witvoet's mike?  They didn't replace it at half time.  He looks like he's a hundred years old.  Maybe that's his natural voice!  And to his credit, he and his merry band of misfit zebras called a great game--perhaps the fairest game I have ever seen a Big Ten crew officiate.  Okay, the two holding penalties that called back big plays annoyed me, but I have to admit, they were correct calls.  Now, it's not like holds like that always get called in our conference, but in the final analysis, they were correct calls.

I've seen various estimates of the Penn State crowd (8-10,000) and one poster went so far as to guesstimate 25%.  I think that's a bit over the top, but it sounds like we were well represented.

Post by Penn State Football.

I will also give the Scarlet Knight fans some credit.  They sold out their puny little stadium for this "rivalry."  And the game noise sounded loud and might have contributed to one false start penalty.  I doubt Beaver Stadium would have been full had this game been played there on this weekend, but I could be wrong.  But when your highest sell-out is still around what the other team pulls in for a spring scrimmage, I wouldn't spend so much time crowing about it.  That don't impress me much!

I will also give the Scarlet Knight players kudos.  The emotion in the first half was unbelievable.  You actually played hard enough to win.  But in the end, emotion only carries you so far, and your best just wasn't good enough.

Some reports have trickled in about bad experiences from RU fans.  These things will happen.  Late start.  Lotsa alcohol.  Every fan base has their black sheep.  People say things.  People throw bags of urine.  Whatever.  But at the very heart of the matter, I understand your pain.  You thought this was YOUR YEAR.  Penn State is perhaps at it's worst because of the residual of the sanctions.  I saw this in the eyes of Temple fans two years ago when they came to Beaver Stadium in 2012 to face a struggling 1-2 Lion team led by new head coach Bill O'Brien.  You (the opposition) have one of your better teams.  It looks like the stars are aligning.  Then it blasts apart in a super-gary-nova of interceptions and blown opportunities.  And at the end of the knight, you are no closer to that Holy Grail than you ever were before.  Oh well.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From the GoPSUsports site:


Team Statistics (Final)

Team Totals	PSU	RU
FIRST DOWNS	19	15
Rushing	4	7
Passing	13	8
Penalty	2	0
NET YARDS RUSHING	64	102
Rushing Attempts	33	31
Average Per Rush	1.9	3.3
Rushing Touchdowns	1	1
Yards Gained Rushing	91	126
Yards Lost Rushing	27	24
NET YARDS PASSING	309	192
Completions-Attempts-Int	25-44-1	15-31-5
Average Per Attempt	7.0	6.2
Average Per Completion	12.4	12.8
Passing Touchdowns	0	0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	373	294
Total offense plays	77	62
Average Gain Per Play	4.8	4.7
Fumbles: Number-Lost	1-0	1-0
Penalties: Number-Yards	5-40	9-75
PUNTS-YARDS	8-217	7-272
Average Yards Per Punt	27.1	38.9
Net Yards Per Punt	27.1	36.0
Inside 20	3	1
50+ Yards	0	1
Touchbacks	0	1
Fair catch	2	4
KICKOFFS-YARDS	4-246	3-173
Average Yards Per Kickoff	61.5	57.7
Net Yards Per Kickoff	38.5	45.7
Touchbacks	2	0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	1-0-0	0-0-0
Average Per Return	0.0	0.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	2-36-0	2-42-0
Average Per Return	18.0	21.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	5-3-0	1-26-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	33:23	26:37
1st Quarter	9:17	5:43
2nd Quarter	5:37	9:23
3rd Quarter	9:28	5:32
4th Quarter	9:01	5:59
Third-Down Conversions	9 of 20	5 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 0	0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	3-4	2-2
Touchdowns	1-4	1-2
Field goals	2-4	1-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards	3-19	5-17
PAT Kicks	1-1	1-1
Field Goals	2-3	1-1
Points off turnovers	6	0

Our third down conversions rate was about 50%, compared to about 33% for RU.  The turn-overs are, without a doubt the key.  Poor QB?  Better D?  I lean to the latter.  Rutgers fans might disagree.

Another interesting number--  1:13.  UCF scored their go-ahead touchdown with 1:13 left on the clock.  They ultimately lost.  Penn State scored leaving 1:13 on the clock.  Rutgers ultimately lost.  Nothing special happened in the Akron game at 1:13.  Penn State ran out the clock and ultimately won.


INTANGIBLES:

Rutgers won the toss and deferred.

Is that you, Octavius?

Rutgers filled their stadium--53,744.

Franklin is the first Penn State coach to go 3-0 in his first season since 1930.

Penn State leads the all-time rivalry 23-2.  PSU has never lost to Rutgers in New Jersey.

THE BIG (10) PICTURE:

THE LOSERS:

Purdue lost to Notre Dame 30-14.
Indiana lost to Bowling Green 45-42.
Maryland lost on a last second, 47 yard field goal to West-By-God-Virginia, 40-37.
Iowa lost their requisite non-com game to Iowa State 20-17.
Minnesota was horn-frogged by TCU, 30-7.
Washington embarrassed Illinois 44-19.  Not really that hard to shame them, though.

THE NON-LOSERS:

Urban Meyer made himself feel better by rolling up the score on Kent State, 66-0.  He overcompensated his teams weakness by taking advantage of a team with greater weaknesses!  Brilliant!

THEM beat Miami(OH) 34-10.

Nebraska bull-dozed the Fresno Bulldogs 55-19.

Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Michigan State were off this week.  I heard Northwestern still lost.  And oh look, Gary Nova just threw another interception!

2014-15 Football Standings

EAST DIVISION
	Overall		Conference		Division
	W-L	%	W-L	%	W-L	%
Penn State	3-0	1.000	1-0	1.000	1-0	1.000
Maryland	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Michigan	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Ohio State	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Indiana	1-1	.500	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Michigan State	1-1	.500	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Rutgers	2-1	.667	0-1	.000	0-1	.000
WEST DIVISION
	Overall		Conference		Division
	W-L	%	W-L	%	W-L	%
Nebraska	3-0	1.000	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Illinois	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Iowa	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Minnesota	2-1	.667	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Wisconsin	1-1	.500	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Purdue	1-2	.333	0-0	.000	0-0	.000
Northwestern	0-2	.000	0-0	.000	0-0	.000

Through all games of September 13.

Penn State and Nebraska are the only undefeated teams in the conference!

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Georgia--is there ever a more over-rated SEC team year in and year out?
2.  USC--lost to BC 37-31.
3.  Hokies--after beating the Buckeyes, they fall to unranked East Carolina 28-21.

4.  MD--last second loss on a long field goal.
5.  Texas--lost to UCLA 20-17.  They apparently screwed up the coin toss, giving UCLA opening possession in BOTH halves.

LOOKING AHEAD:

Penn State returns to Beaver Stadium next week to face the UMass Minutemen with a 4 PM kick-off.  Coverage will be the Big Ten Network (BTN.)

The Minutemen are 0-3 coming off a loss to Vanderbilt, who scored 14 in the final quarter to pull out the win.

The season to date:

L  30-7 vs. Boston College
L  41-38  vs.  Colorado
L  34-31 vs. Vanderbilt

Priorities:  WIN!  Work on the running game.  Some reps for the back-up QB.

GO STATE!  BEAT MINUTEMEN!

Foe Pause: Knightly News Edition

With the lifting of the major NCAA sanctions this week, the fan excite-o-meter has gone from BLUE to SCARLET!

Penn State will be footloose and sanction free for the first time since 2011.

The betting line is 3 points, with the Lions favored to out-joust the Knights.

Penn State leads the all-time series 22-2, with the last meeting being the infamous 59-34 win at Giant Stadium where Mike McQueary audibled late in the game and threw a TD pass that made then head coach Doug Graber feel like Joe was running the score up on him.  The Scarlet Knights only wins came in 1988, a 21-16 game during Joe Paterno's first losing season of his career, and 1918 when Rutgers won 26-3.  Hugo Bezdek was the coach and Penn State played 4 games that season, going 1-2-1.

This is not the history of a rivalry.

Rutgers is 2-0 with a 41-38 win on the road over Washington State and a 38-25 victory over Howard.

So what else do we know about this school in New Jersey?

Ray Rice graduated from Rutgers.  Just throwing that out there.  Not Rutgers' fault.

Louis Freeh is a graduate of Rutgers.  Not Rutgers' fault.

Rutgers was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766, making it the eighth oldest college in the United States.  The school was renamed Rutgers in 1825 when Colonel Henry Blake Rutgers donated enough money to get the school named after himself.

Rutgers is considered the Birthplace of College Football, as the first intercollegiate "football" game was won 6-4 by Rutgers over Princeton in 1869.  It was also the first game telegraphed.  It reportedly lasted six weeks,  when horseback riders were sent out carrying advertisements to the citizens of New Jersey during time outs.  This was the birth of the 30-hour time out.

This is their first year in the Big Ten conference.

I look to see a more focused Penn State team take the field against the Knights.  Franklin appears to be a very goal oriented individual, and the Lions now have something to play for.  And while a Final Four appearance is highly unlikely, a run at a Big Ten Title could be achievable.

Of course, that starts with a W Saturday night in prime time.

Unless Rutgers was sandbagging it against WSU and Howard, they do not appear to be defensively capable of holding the Hack Attack at bay.  But they are averaging 39.5 points per game themselves.  On paper, this could be a high scoring affair, but I suspect the Penn State Defense is the best defense they will face to date.

Prediction:  Penn State wins . . . 31-17.

GO STATE! BEAT KNIGHTS!

Big 10-4 Good Buddy

That's a BIG 10-4 , Good Buddy!

Rumors were circulating last week that Maryland and Rutgers were headed to the Big Ten, bringing the number-challenged misnomer to 14 teams.

That's a Ten-Four, in CB language.  Nebraska heads the convoy.

According to ESPN:

The University of Maryland's Board of Regents voted Monday to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten and begin competition in the conference in the 2014-15 academic year.

Meanwhile, Big East Conference sources told ESPN that Rutgers will be announced as the 14th member of the Big Ten on Tuesday.

"Today is a watershed moment for the University of Maryland," said university president Wallace D. Loh in a release. "Membership in the Big Ten Conference is in the strategic interest of the University of Maryland."
 

Apparently playing second fiddle to Ohio State and THEM along with piss poor refereeing is in the strategeric interests of these fine eastern academic institutions.  I wonder if the welcoming package includes a case of K-Y Jelly?

No seriously.  The Big Ten is wonderful.  Who needs to be bothered with pesky holding calls or chop blocks anyway?  It's all about the money.  Rutgers . . . Maryland . . . come on down!

Maryland probably sees this as a way to maybe keep all the good recruits from going to Penn State.  Good luck with that.

And now we get to play Rutgers every year!  It just keeps getting better and better!

"Looks like we got us a CONVOY!"

Y Not Rutgers?

The talk of the of the off-season (STEP program notwithstanding for PSU fans) is about conference expansion in the Big Ten.  Do they add one team?  Three teams?  Five teams?  Among the many candidates bandied about are Notre Dame, Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers.

You can spend countless hours reading about possible scenarios and financial considerations at Frank the Tank's Blog.  Despite Internet rumors galore, Adam Rittenberg reports that conference commish Delaney denies extending any invitations at this time.

But why worry about media footprints, TV contracts, subscriber cost and all those other so-called factors?  Does it even matter if the school wants to join the Big Ten?  I think we need to take a practical look at this issue, step back from the confusing rumors, and ask ourselves some serious questions.

Missouri?  Do we really need another M in the conference?  Seriously.  There's one too many already if you ask me.

Syracuse?  We've got orange in Illinois and a Spartan S in East Lansing.  It's like the spawn of some incestuous mating.  What good is a hybrid of that going to add to the conference?

Pitt?  Seriously.  While there are a few old school alums that would love to see the Pitt-Penn State rivalry renewed for reasons that are beyond obscure, what could Pitt possibly bring to our table besides a guaranteed loss in the mid-rounds of March Madness?  We already have Purdue with a P, and you can't spell Paterno State University without a P either.  Let's just Pass on Pitt.

Nebraska?  OK--I'll admit it.  I'd love to see Nebraska join the conference, particularly if we would get to play them on a regular basis.  But, alas we already have an N.  A big purple N.  Like a bruise, or Barney the Dinosaur.  Of course if push came to shove, we could ask Northwestern to leave.  (I'm just kidding Wildcats.  No hate mail please!)  We have a couple of I's, why not a pair of N's?  Can't spell Penn State without TWO N's!



How about Vanderbilt?  We could use a V.  (For Victory!)  Xavier.  Yeah for the X factor!  Texas brings a nice burnt orange T to the table and who doesn't like a good cup of T to go with the Joe that we already have? 

But above all this, we have Rutgers.  Although I personally think we have way to much red and scarlet in this conference already--enough to get me seeing red--Rutgers brings something intangible to the alphabet soup besides a big red R, which you have to admit is stupid pretty impressive.  We could all become best buddies and email pals with RutgersAl!  Imagine the possibilities.



I hope Rutgers includes this with their application.

Do You Know RutgersAl?

I first came across this name on a Penn State messageboard with his official Top 6 Programs:
1. Florida
2. USC
3. Rutgers
4. Texas
5. Oklahoma
6. Penn State

Good Lord, two have lost already. But before the season, he was very optimistic:

I can see a BCS Bowl trophy in our trophy case. Its all a matter of perspective. We are so deep this year, that a player like Darryl Givens might redshirt, though there is a chance he might see time on special teams. We have second stringers that would be competitive with those teams first stringers. I'd bet my bottom dollar that Mark Harrison is better than any receiver on Florida's roster. I would put our top 66 players up against any other team in the nation.The only thing that might hold us back is qb play, due to the inexperience at the position. Other than that, I like our chances to run the ball, stop the run, and play great defense. As long as we play to our potential, I don't think we can be beaten.

I think the problem is that he was overly impressed with Rutger's stadium renovations:

As if the video were not hilarious enough itself, you should check out the comments section.

" Simply marvelous " ? Its a freaking stadium entrance Al. Yeah that block R is really striking and impressive.

Riviting shots of the stair cases too. I could hardly contain my
excitement.

Next college football superpower?

What was the score of today's game?

That is all.

More Monkey Theory

I already posted a rather worthless diatribe about Paterno being selfish. (A roomful of monkeys typing for infinity would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare--for blogs, it appears they would not need so much time.)

Uncle Mike (a monkey's uncle!) put together his list of most hated opponents--non-players. Number One on this Rutger's fan list?

Joe Paterno.

1. Joe Paterno, Pennsylvania State University football. Ol' Ratface spent the better part of 30 years picking on the teams now in the Big East Conference, then went to the Big Ten. Penn State fans whine about how, with undefeated teams in 1969, 1970, 1973 and 1994, the Nittany Lions were not awarded the National Championship. Maybe it's karma for Paterno running up the score on weaker Eastern opponents, thus inflating their records. And also for and poaching players from other territories. Two of his best players -- Franco Harris of Mount Holly and Rancocas Valley High, and Kenny Jackson of South River -- were among the many he has poached from New Jersey, and whose first choice could have been Rutgers. He's taken New Yorkers away from Syracuse, New Englanders away from Boston College, and Cheseapeake Valley players away from Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

The last time Penn State played Rutgers, at Giants Stadium in 1995, Penn State was leading 52-34, and Paterno had his quarterback pass with an 18-point lead near the end of the game. Touchdown, 59-34. When it was over, Rutgers coach Doug Graber -- whose job was in jeopardy and was indeed fired after the season, though he has returned to RU as a radio broadcaster -- did not shake Paterno's hand afterward, instead telling him what a classless SOB he is. Well, that may not have been Graber's
exact phrase, but it might as well have been. And this great patriotic conservative Christian known as "Saint Joseph" among his fans, he cursed right back. Later, he apologized to the press for his profanity -- but not for his classless coaching, saying, "I should not have to apologize for (my quarterback) doing what he has been coached to do." (I won't name that quarterback here: He's a henchman, not the villain.)

Now that Rutgers is a consistent winner, that cowardly old bastard won't play us. Come on, Ratface, you deserve one last lesson in manners before you head off to that great press box in the... core of the Earth.

Among Rutgers’ football opponents, there is no Number 2. Princeton? The last time Princeton football mattered at what we would now call the Division I-A level, I wasn’t born yet, and besides, how can I hate Princeton? I can’t. Syracuse? Nah, aside from their uniforms there’s nothing truly offensive about them. Pitt? Well, Jackie Sherrill… nah, didn’t piss me off enough. UConn? In football? Forget it. Probably the closest is Bobby Petrino from his Louisville days, but that was a brief interlude.

Paterno is eternal. When he finally dies, the Shittany Lions will probably mummify him and turn the Beaver Stadium press box into their own version of Lenin’s Tomb. They already call the stadium “Saint Joe Paterno Cathedral.”For longevity, for amount of defeats, for size of defeats, for style of defeats, for arrogance, and, yes, for ugliness (he really does look like a rat), Joe Paterno tops the list. Congratulations, Penn State: You are Number 1. You dirty bastards.

WooHoo! We're, um, number one.

Now that is some good old fashioned hatred right there. And to think I have been accused of spewing venom! It's amazing how a handful of good seasons makes Rutger's fans think they are equals in the football world with the likes of Penn State. The player poaching theory is just ludicrous. If those players weren't recruited by Penn State, they would have been recruited by Ohio State or Florida State, or some other state. The blogger seems to think they would have gone to Rutgers if it weren't for Joe, as though Rutgers was their only other choice!

Many Penn State fans now view Ohio State and/or THEM as our new rivals, even though we know that these games don't have the tradition and puke factor that other rivalries in the Big Ten carry. (For the sake of argument, we shall assume that there are other rivalries of note besides Ohio State- THEM, even though it is clear that that is THE only GAME that counts in the conference.)

But Pitt and Rutgers still cling to the rivalries of the past. And I doubt many Penn Staters ever thought of Rutgers as a rival. Of course, that was because they didn't win consistently.

Has anyone ever heard Beaver Stadium called St. Joe Paterno Cathedral? That's a first for me. The House that Joe Built--yes. Cathedral? Not so much.

But Uncle Mike's entitled to his opinion and I have no inclination to add a comment on his site nor email Aunt Mike to let her know that he's using nasty language.