Big things were expected of Rutgers. All five starting members of the offensive line were back from a team that won its final seven games in 2008, including a 29-23 victory over North Carolina State in the Pizza Bowl.
Although the Scarlet Knights are 2-1, the victories were against lightweights Florida International and Division I-AA Howard. The game fans can't forget is the home opener against Big East rival Cincinnati. Rutgers was demolished, 47-15, a loss that sent coach Greg Schiano's stock to new lows.
Schiano, in his ninth season, has coached 100 games at Rutgers. Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger wonders if Schiano can elevate the program to a higher level.
He writes: "Rutgers is still waiting, and for the first time, patience is running low. It isn't just the diehards who are frustrated, but the casual fans who just hopped on the bandwagon. This team was picked by many to win the league; instead, another 8-4 record and a minor bowl looks more likely.
"People expected better, and Schiano failed to deliver. Soon they’ll demand it. And then? They’ll stop caring.
"Out of his 100 games, one is truly a transcendent win, the thriller against Louisville in 2006, and maybe three or four others are legitimately big. More are like the Cincinnati game, or North Carolina and Fresno State a year ago, or Villanova and New Hampshire from the early days of his tenure."
Politi closes with this: "Schiano, the program builder, needed 100 games to get Rutgers to this point. It won't take nearly as many games to know if Schiano, the football coach, can take this program any farther."
Calling that bowl the Pizza Bowl is going to get confusing with the Little Caesars Pizza Pizza bowl coming soon.
Posted by: formerlyanonymous | September 22, 2009 at 05:06 AM
Seriously, you are Rutgers, that's as far as you go. 8-4 and Pizza bowl
Posted by: PT | September 22, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Rutgers gets off to a slow start every year... Schiano runs 'em too hard in training camp, and the players don't recover until a few weeks into the season. Recipe for a bad record every year (yes, 8-4 is BAD. Anything less than regular 10-win seasons and a permanent place in the top-15 is unacceptable. Anyone who disagrees is expecting way too little from this man).
Posted by: Jimmy B | September 22, 2009 at 02:09 PM
Ah, how I pine for the days of 0-11, 1-11, 1-10, 2-9 and 3-8 records. And who can forget those glorious defeats of 62-0, 61-0, 55-0, 50-0, 49-0, 48-0, 42-0, 40-0, 50-3, 31-3, 30-5, 64-6, 80-7, 49-7, 47-7, 38-7, 36-7, 34-7, 42-13, 37-13, 70-14, 48-14, 45-14, 44-14, 41-14, 62-16, 53-17, 45-17, 59-19, 58-20, 56-21 and 54-21. Good times! Let's get rid of Schiano so that we can return to those wonderful days.
Posted by: DJSpanky | September 25, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Thank God someone put it in perspective. I, too, shall happily take consistent 8-5 records and regular flirtations with the Top Twenty-Five, along with an occasional national championship run (as in 2006), over the laughingstock RU was for much of the last few decades. In the last three years, the Scarlet Knights have beaten not one but a pair of Top Five teams, had seven and nine-game winning streaks, put more than a dozen kids in the NFL and made the program respected nationally, despite occasional setbacks like the Cincinnati debacle (which I attended). You want a collection of gridiron gods? Root for USC, Texas or Florida. If, on the other hand, you'd like to share in the ups and downs, the triumphs and tragedies, of a real football team—one on a journey towards greatness—stick with Greg Schiano and Rutgers.
Posted by: JM | October 08, 2009 at 03:41 AM