Sports editor Steven Miller and sports editor emeritus Matthew Stein sat down with Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti last Thursday as April 1, his one-year anniversary on the job, approaches. The Rutgers alumnus discussed a wide range of topics, including transparency within the athletic department, head men’s basketball coach Fred Hill Jr. and dealing with the impending budget restraints, among other subjects.
HARTFORD, Conn. — Everyone expected the Rutgers women’s basketball team to pack their defense with them for the trip to the Big East Tournament.
But after Saturday’s 70-44 victory over Cincinnati, it looks like the Scarlet Knights left a little room in their luggage for offense.
With the entire Rutgers assistant coaching staff scouting from the sidelines, the Cincinnati women’s basketball team eliminated South Florida to advance to the second round of the Big East Tournament — to play the Scarlet Knights.
The Bearcats dropped USF, 63-51, by forcing 20 turnovers against the Bulls behind 36 combined points from guards Kahla Roudebush and Shareese Ulis.
Sophomore forward becomes sixth contributor to leave during Hill tenure
Coming on the heels of dropping two straight games to open the Big East slate, the Rutgers men’s basketball team learned of more devastating news Friday.
The program announce sophomore forward Gregory Echenique, out for the season with an eye injury, will seek to transfer.
Scarlet Knights upend Central Florida 45-24 in St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Going into the St. Petersburg Bowl, all of the momentum was right in Central Florida’s crosshairs.
The Scarlet Knights didn’t have enough time to get ready. They didn’t get the bid they wanted. Their star receiver wasn’t healthy. UCF’s rush defense was too tough. They wouldn’t be ready to play.
But Mohamed Sanu was ready. And the rest of the Rutgers football team followed suit.
The multi-talented true freshman wide receiver from South Brunswick shone in the Florida sun with three total touchdowns, 144 total yards and a Most Outstanding Player in his trophy case in Rutgers’ 45-24 win over UCF.
McCourty stung by injury in final game as Scarlet Knight
ST PETERSBURG, Fla. – Devin McCourty was Mr. Everything for the Rutgers football team.
So when McCourty was escorted to the hospital with 3:41 remaining in the first quarter Saturday, unable to return and play in his final game for Rutgers before embarking on an NFL career, it stung.
Badly.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — All season long, quarterbacks kept the ball away from Devin McCourty.
But when the senior shutdown cornerback left the St. Petersburg Bowl with an eye injury in the first quarter, Central Florida went right after his replacement in the Rutgers football team’s secondary — Billy Anderson.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
It was the cleanest, best-executed and most offensively dominant game the Scarlet Knights played all season.
The St. Petersburg Bowl had everything the Rutgers football team could ask for. The freshman duo of Mohamed Sanu and Tom Savage ignited for career games, the defense was lights-out after early struggles and the Scarlet Knights cruised to their fourth consecutive Bowl victory.
Aside from the well-documented Sanu/Savage explosion and defensive dominance in the second half, let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest factors that played a part in Rutgers’ 45-24 win in the Sunshine State.
Fully Franko
Ten games into its season, the Rutgers men’s basketball team is 8-2; albeit those eight wins came against opponents with a combined 32-56 record.
But 8-2 is still 8-2 and if the schedule plays out the way you would expect — a win at home over St. Peter’s and a loss at North Carolina — the Scarlet Knights would enter Big East play at 9-3.
N'Diaye's big day helps Knights cruise past in-state foes
Although only a handful of people can corroborate it, the Rutgers men’s basketball team did play Saturday afternoon.
Those few — the announced crowd was 4,102 but it wasn’t half that — that did brave a blistering cold and snowstorm got to see the Scarlet Knights cruise past NJIT 71-62 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
Sophomore center Gregory Echenique will undergo eye surgery today for a preexisting condition and will be out for about a month.
15th loss to West Virginia keeps Rutgers out of Meineke Car Care Bowl
Make it 15.
With dozens of recruits in the new lounge, the emotions of Senior Day, a bid in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and a ninth win of the season on the line, the Rutgers football team failed to dig itself out of an 18-point hole and fell 24-21 to West Virginia Saturday at a snowy Rutgers Stadium.
The Rutgers football team is headed to its fifth straight Bowl game, but the season still ends early for the Scarlet Knights.
RU accepted an invitation to the St. Petersburg Bowl, a Dec. 19 matchup with Central Florida and the second game of the college football Bowl season.
With just two weeks off between games, the Knights are left scrambling.
Mind of Stein
You have to feel for George Johnson.
With a third-down stop, the Rutgers football team would get the ball back deep in its own territory for a chance to drive down the field and win or tie the game.
Trailing by three with 1:46 to go, the Rutgers front contained West Virginia power back Ryan Clarke on first and second down. Mountaineers head coach Bill Stewart called for a bootleg to the left side, and Johnson found himself manned up with quarterback Jarrett Brown in the open field.
The Rutgers football team showed the Wild Knight is here to stay.
After seven Wildcat snaps that yielded 12 yards in the first half, it would be easy to abandon the trick formation.
The Scarlet Knights did not.
Maybe the boos that serenaded the Rutgers men’s basketball team at halftime provided the wakeup call it needed.
The Scarlet Knights trailed winless Colgate by five at intermission but rallied for a 76-67 victory yesterday afternoon at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in front of an announced crowd of 4,226 that appeared to be much less.
PRINCETON — If the Rutgers women’s basketball team’s 60-50 victory over Princeton Saturday was a joke, no one was laughing.
The Scarlet Knights blew the hapless Tigers out of the water by nearly 50 points last season, but Saturday’s turnover-filled affair at Jadwin Gymnasium was really anyone’s game from start to finish.
Rutgers lost to West Virginia for 15th straight time after failing to make most of opportunities
With dozens of recruits in the new lounge, the emotions of Senior Day, a bid in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and a ninth win on the line, the Rutgers football team failed to dig itself out of an 18-point hole and fell 24-21 to West Virginia Saturday at a snowy Rutgers Stadium.
Knight Notebook
The Rutgers football team showed the Wildcat is here to stay.
After seven Wildcat snaps that yielded 12 yards in the first half, it would be easy to abandon the trick formation.
The Scarlet Knights did not.
Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti announced Monday that men's soccer head coach Bob Reasso resigned and will not return for his 30th season.
With several old faces departing and six new ones arriving it was easy to look past Mike Coburn.
Yet the junior guard earned the start at point guard in the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s first three games.
Former Rutgers men's soccer midfielder Dilly Duka signed a Generation Adidas contract with Major League Soccer today.
Duka is eligible for the 2010 MLS Superdraft.
Scarlet Knights manage just 130 yards of total offense in trouncing at Carrier Dome
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Head coach Greg Schiano said during the week that he didn’t talk to his team about falling behind Syracuse the last two times the Orange played the Rutgers football team.
Maybe he should have, because for the Syracuse Orange, the third time was the charm.
Knight Notebook
The Orange changed quarterbacks 21 times, but — whether it was senior Greg Paulus or sophomore Ryan Nassib — they kept a rhythm to total 424 yards. They ran more options and reverses than usual and made the Knights look unprepared
Head coach Greg Schiano took the blame for the performance, but his players disputed that.
Mind of Stein
If “catastrophe” is too harsh of a word, then “letdown” is far too light of one.
Yet as with the Rutgers football team’s season to date, there is no happy medium.
After willing itself to a victory Friday night against Drexel, it seemed like the Rutgers men’s basketball team started to take a step in the right direction.
But then there was yesterday, and it was back to same old Rutgers.
The Rutgers men’s basketball team free throw shooting this weekend looked like that of two different teams.
Against Drexel Friday night, the Scarlet Knights took 35 foul shots, but made just 16. They missed 16 of their last 20 attempts, failing to ice the game when sent to the line.
On the road against No. 16 Georgia, the Rutgers women’s basketball team needed a big performance to stay close in Athens. While they got the showing they needed, the Scarlet Knights came a hair short of the upset, falling to the Bulldogs 49-48.
Savage matures into leadership role as statistics make him most successful freshman quarterback
Tom Savage, the starting quarterback for the Rutgers football team, leads all true freshmen in the nation with his .857 winning percentage (6-1 as a starter), passer rating (134.82) and touchdowns per interceptions ratio (5:1).
With an offense that oftentimes struggles to find the end zone, the Knights are able to do one thing consistently well: protect the football — something they look to continue tomorrow at Syracuse.
The Scarlet Knights’ 38-14 win over Syracuse at the Carrier Dome was not much more than a notch in the left column for an eventual 8-5 football team, but juniors Jonathan Freeny and Joe Lefeged have personal ties to the Knights’ fourth win of the season.
It was how they first made their marks on the RU defense.
For those who thinks that size matters, try convincing the Rutgers women’s basketball team and its 55-defense.
Head coach C. Vivian Stringer’s patented full-court press nullified the size advantage of Boston College’s 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6 starters last night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center and propelled the Scarlet Knights to a 59-53 victory.
Knight Notebook
When the Rutgers women’s basketball team needed a kick-start in its 59-53 win last night over Boston College, one of its biggest sparks didn’t come from an upperclassman.
Freshman forward Monique Oliver made another big impact on the court, finishing with nine points, four rebounds and two steals in only 14 minutes of play.
Senior runner finalist for prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
Throughout high school, Simon Gordonov heard stories about fellow Hightstown graduate Randal Pinkett and his prestigious award — the Rhodes Scholarship.
Each year, the scholarship provides American students with the opportunity to study his or her subject of choice at Oxford for at least one year.
Still smoldering from an implosion against Rutgers, South Florida once again needs to figure out how to salvage a rollercoaster of a season.
Still alive after its first conference victory in a matchup between the Big East’s two worst teams, Louisville looks to garner some sort of attention from the higher ups in taking down a limping Bulls team.
Everybody knows Mike Rosario and Gregory Echenique. They were the highly recruited players tasked last season with returning the Rutgers men’s basketball program back to respectability.
But in a rugged conference where the Scarlet Knights have not won more than three games under head coach Fred Hill Jr. they need help.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Quite a few positive things happened in Thursday’s 31-0 South Florida beatdown.
Greg Schiano evened his Rutgers head coaching record at .500, the Scarlet Knights became Bowl eligible for the fifth straight season and despite no BCS computer or coaches poll ranking, the Associated Press put Rutgers at 25 in its latest poll.
The Rutgers wrestling team went into Saturday’s Brockport Gold Tournament wanting to prove that the Scarlet Knights could compete against some of the best in the nation.
They did just that, and when their bus pulled out of Brockport, N.Y., they also had a new tournament champion among them.
McCourty does it all yet again with blocked punt, forced fumble, nine tackles
In his post-game press conference, head coach Greg Schiano compared freshman wideout Mohamed Sanu to former Knight Kenny Britt. He previously said that sophomore tailback Joe Martinek has the workhorse ability of Ray Rice.
But the greatest comparison was with senior cornerback Devin McCourty.
Entering yesterday’s season-opener against No. 2 Stanford, a slew of questions surrounded the Rutgers women’s basketball team.
Who would be the go-to scorer this year? How would the team’s new-look offense and defense stack up against some of the top competition in the nation?
While the No. 25 Scarlet Knights provided a quick glimpse of the future in their 81-66 loss to the Cardinal, they’re still looking for the right answers.
Rutgers women’s basketball head coach C. Vivian Stringer always said she would like to see some renovations at the Louis Brown Athletic Center, and she sort of got her wish yesterday before the 81-66 loss to No. 2 Stanford.
Prior to the game, Rutgers honored Stringer for her recent induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, unveiling a Hall of Fame banner in the rafters alongside the team’s 23 various IAW and NCAA banners for postseason berths.
Nobody was talking about Patrick Jackson before the start of this season. So it was a bit surprising when Jackson earned his first career start Saturday against Marist in the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s season opener.
But whatever the sophomore forward did in the offseason to improve his game must have worked because he played an important role, scoring 15 points in the Scarlet Knights’ 74-67 victory at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
Knight Notebook
College basketball games last two halves, but Saturday a quarter could have decided who started for the Rutgers men’s basketball team.
Junior point guard Mike Coburn got the nod over junior college transfer James Beatty to start for the Scarlet Knights, although the two remain neck-and-neck in their position battle.
Mass. product gives letter of intent for 2010-11 season
Rutgers men's basketball head coach Fred Hill Jr. announced Friday that Austin Carroll has signed a letter of intent to play for the school beginning in the 2010-11 season.
Knights stifle Daniels, clinch Bowl eligibility with beatdown of South Florida
With two freshman quarterbacks facing off under the Thursday night lights, one played like it was his first year under center.
It wasn’t Tom Savage.
Savage, the Rutgers football team’s true freshman quarterback, stood tall all night in the pocket, despite a tough South Florida pass rush, and led the Scarlet Knights to Bowl eligibility for the fifth straight year last night by beating No. 23 USF 31-0 at Rutgers Stadium.
Last night’s victory marked a milestone for Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano.
After coaching his 100th game for the Knights earlier in the season, Schiano now has a .500 record for the first time since the second game of his tenure.
“This wasn’t your normal take over job,” Schiano said. “People say ‘Oh it’s just like when you took over at Rutgers,’ but they don’t quite understand where Rutgers was. So the first three years I don’t count. I go from year four on, and we’re getting better.”
Rutgers to write another chapter in Thursday night history
Andrew DePaola knows it. Alex Silvestro feels it, too.
The two have been at Rutgers long enough to understand that tonight’s game against South Florida is exciting for more than just the implications of the game itself.
The game against the Bulls marks Thursday night football at RU, something the Scarlet Knights live for.
When former Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp went down with an injury, he never got the chance to return because his replacement was the legendary Lou Gehrig.
Though South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe will not return to the team after his torn ACL, his replacement, like Gehrig, may be better, said Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano.
All eyes on trench war between RU's Davis, USF's Selvie
In his career, South Florida standout defensive end George Selvie has 214 tackles, 67 tackles for loss and 28.5 sacks.
In three games against the Rutgers football team, however, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound man-beast destined for the first round of the NFL Draft has nine tackles.
That’s it.
Eight games into the Rutgers football team’s season, there are times when the rushing attack looks dominant, breaking for 100 yards in the final quarter alone.
But against Big East opponents, the run game is as effective as the New BrunsQuick Shuttle — neither really goes anywhere.
It’s now 11 weeks into the football season and neither Notre Dame nor Oklahoma are even ranked, two of the nation’s top-six teams are from non-BCS conferences and Duke is somehow relevant again.
The BCS standings look nothing like they did at the start of the season with nine original top-25 teams fading into oblivion and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Houston all coming out of nowhere to breach the top-15 with a total of two losses so far.
NCAA Football '10 Simulation
The Rutgers defense simply could not contain South Florida’s B.J. Daniels in this week’s NCAA Football 2010 simulation as the freshman quarterback put the Bulls on his back in a 31-25 overtime win.
It has been nearly three months since Corey Chandler was unceremoniously dismissed from the Rutgers men’s basketball team for a violation of athletic department policy.
A host of new players arrived at Rutgers in the time since to replace Chandler and four other Scarlet Knights that moved on, but the memory of a departed teammate still lingers.
Epiphanny Prince single-handedly won games last year, scoring nearly 20 points per game and representing 30 percent of the team’s scoring.
Kia Vaughn’s heart and post presence carried the Rutgers women’s basketball team to its 2007 NCAA Championship Game appearance. Forward Heather Zurich’s shooting touch was always good for a boost and forward Brooklyn Pope’s spark off the bench brought a different kind of energy to the court.
And now it’s all gone.
Fully Franko
Welcome to the pressure cooker, Fred Hill Jr.
Hill, now in his fourth year at the helm of the Rutgers men’s basketball program, has to win and has to do it this year.
Bottom line. Plain and simple.
Hell's Kitchen
This year is going to be a strange one.
The expectations are nowhere near as high as they usually are. There is no star power — yet. And two of the greatest players in Rutgers women’s basketball history, Epiphanny Prince and Kia Vaughn, are elsewhere.
There’s just a RU team that clearly wants to play basketball — and a Hall of Fame head coach.
It is tough to say a team with only one senior has experience.
But to some extent, the Rutgers men’s basketball team has it.
Sophomores Mike Rosario and Greg Echenique started nearly every game in their campaign as true freshmen and their development is essential to the Scarlet Knights’ success. But junior forward and transfer from Florida Jonathan Mitchell brings the most valuable experience — one no other RU player has — in the form of postseason play.
For someone who admittedly looks forward to a challenge, the upcoming season for the Rutgers women’s basketball team should not disappoint head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
One of the most prolific scorers in the country, a four-year starting center and a versatile perimeter shooter are gone.
Make no mistake, without the big name players that it has been used to over the past several years, the team does not anticipate success simply falling into its lap.
Busy summers help Rosario, Echenique forget dissapointing rookie campaign as year two approaches
By the conclusion of the 2008-09 season, Mike Rosario had more losses in one year than in his entire life.
“It was hard for me because I didn’t really understand losing,” Rosario said in reference to the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s 11-21 flop last season. “To go through a drought of losing games has put me in a position where I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’ve come a long way since high school to college and I was never losing how I was.’ It’s at a point where it’s like, ‘Wow, what’s going on?’”
But this is year two.
With Prince gone Rushdan has to shoulder the load as a scoring guard
Khadijah Rushdan knows how to score — just ask anyone in the state of Delaware.
When the McDonald’s All-American graduated high school and joined the Rutgers women’s basketball team, Rushdan was the all-time leading scorer in the entire state with 2,414 points in four years.
The Rutgers men’s basketball team has not reached game one, and the injury bug has already bit them.
Senior center Hamady N’Diaye hyper-extended his knee in the Scarlet Knights’ first scrimmage and has been limited in his participation since.
Football notebook
For sophomore Art Forst, moving to left guard is like learning to drive in England. It’s the same fundamentals, just the wrong side of the road.
Forst played right guard since he became a starter last season, but shifted to the left midway through the season to make room for sophomore Desmond Wynn on the right side.
It is really hard to transition to an up-tempo offense without a point guard that can effectively run it.
The Rutgers men’s basketball team ran into that problem last year. Without a true pass-first, open-floor point guard — Anthony Farmer was better suited for the halfcourt set — the Scarlet Knights floundered between halfcourt ball screens and sloppy transition play that often led to turnovers.
Football Practice Notebook
Take away a series of blunders in the Pittsburgh game and junior safety Joe Lefeged is having an impressive season as a kick returner for the Rutgers football team.Lefeged had about the worst possible game returning kicks against the Panthers. He bobbled two kickoffs, forcing him to take a knee on one and get a slow start on another.
Brittany Ray is without her partner.
Like Mulder without Scully or Luke without Obi-Wan, the senior guard’s life completely changed when Epiphanny Prince opted to go pro instead of return for her senior season.
Ray is now the sole senior with significant experience on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, a demanding role for a group with perennial NCAA Tournament expectations.
Brown's 81-yard explosion lifts Knights over Huskies 28-24 at Rentschler
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Fallen Husky cornerback Jasper Howard would have been proud of what he saw Saturday at Rentschler Field. With the Scarlet Knights trailing 24-21 after squandering an 11-point lead, Tim Brown, Howard’s childhood friend, made the play of his career when he snared a bullet from quarterback Tom Savage with only 34 seconds left and blew past the entire UConn secondary for a 28-24 win.
Mind of Stein
Rutgers had no business beating Connecticut on Saturday. When the defense couldn’t stop the Huskies on fourth-and-goal in the waning seconds, it all came down to the man hailed as the future, the savior, the prodigy or whatever you want to call him. Thirty-four seconds left, 81 yards to go. Tom Savage. Tim Brown. Touchdown.
Knight Notebook
Senior captain Devin McCourty returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown against Connecticut Saturday. It was the first score on a kick return for the Rutgers football team since Sept. 10, 2005. Former Scarlet Knight Willie Foster returned a kick 93 yards against Villanova, and took back a punt twenty days later. Since then, not a single Rutgers return reached the end zone.
Emotions aside, game goes on as Scarlet Knights visit UConn
Somewhere between the tears, eulogies and the outpouring of love at Jasper Howard’s funeral Monday, there was a scarlet No. 2.
Howard, Connecticut’s fallen 20-year-old cornerback, and Rutgers senior wideout Tim Brown grew up next door to each other in Miami. On the day friends, family and teammates laid Howard to rest, the best friends were 1,300 miles apart.
Martinek earning rep as closer for chewing up opponents in the fourth quarter
It might take him a while to get going, but once sophomore Joe Martinek gets on track, he’s nearly impossible to derail.
As the defense wears down throughout the game, Martinek starts to hit his stride with his ability to close out games for the Rutgers football team.
Mind of Stein
Taking a look at the big picture once again, the only thing that changed is the degree of difficulty of the Rutgers football team’s remaining schedule.
Six victories typically makes a team Bowl eligible while seven guarantees a postseason berth, but since the Scarlet Knights took on Texas Southern, their second Football Championship Subdivision foe this season, that game is completely meaningless towards their eligibility. With a shot at the Big East title all but out of reach, RU needs seven total victories to have a shot at being picked up and eight to assure a game over winter break.
NCAA 10 Simulation
If The Daily Targum’s weekly NCAA Football 2010 simulation has anything to say about it, true freshman quarterback Tom Savage picks up the Rutgers football team’s first Big East win in style. In his first conference road start, Savage completed 15 of 28 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 20-10 win.
Though the season has not yet begun for the Rutgers women’s basketball team, the Scarlet Knights’ 2009 squad already did something that no other team did before.
Every single player passed head coach C. Vivian Stringer’s grueling strength and conditioning test already. The test, administered at the beginning of every season, is a strenuous measure of the athletes’ physical condition. Often, players who do not pass the test are unable to play.
With left tackle Anthony Davis benched for disciplinary reasons at the start of the Army game, freshman quarterback Tom Savage’s blindside seemed ripe for the taking by the Black Knights’ pass rush.
But that wasn’t the case.
Football Practice Notebook
D.C. Jefferson is 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, but his focus is on the little things.
About two months ago, the redshirt freshman switched from quarterback to tight end. Having no experience at the position, everything was brand new.
But seven games into the season, things are starting to slow down for Jefferson.
If one thing is different for the Rutgers men’s basketball team this season, it is the offensive tempo.
Head coach Fred Hill Jr. and players stressed the team’s emphasis on running the floor in a fast-paced, transition offense yesterday at the Scarlet Knights’ media day.
Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was the play of the offensive and defensive lines.
Maybe it was just a return to common sense.
Whatever it was that sparked the change, the Rutgers football team returned to doing what it does best: running the football and applying the pressure from the other side.
Good, Bad and Ugly
Leave it to Rutgers to disappoint in what should be a big event on campus that builds excitement for the upcoming men’s basketball season.
The “Scarlet Tip-off” itself was fine and enjoyable. It was done the right way, from the barbeque to the practice drills, to the scrimmage to throwing T-shirts to the crowd.
When the Rutgers wrestling team hits the mat for the 2009-10 year, it faces much tougher opponents than those it faced last season, a campaign that resulted in 20 wins.
A harder schedule might translate to fewer wins, but according to third-year head coach Scott Goodale, the experience of wrestling some of the best squads in the nation is far more valuable than any record.
All of the lingering questions hanging over the Rutgers women’s soccer team heading into last weekend were resolved when Kelsey Dumont netted an overtime game-winner Friday night against Cincinnati.
Earlier that night, Georgetown lost to DePaul, meaning the No. 9 Scarlet Knights’ 1-0 win over the Bearcats secured a second place overall finish in the Big East, giving them home field advantage in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.
Football Practice Notebook
Before sophomore Desmond Stapleton went down with an ankle injury, he impressed head coach Greg Schiano with his ability to handle right tackle against Army.
Stapleton stepped in for senior Kevin Haslam as the senior moved to left tackle for the penalized Anthony Davis.
Rutgers rebounds from disappointing loss to Pittsburgh by beating Army in Savage's first road win
WEST POINT, N.Y. — The conditions could not get much worse for Tom Savage in his first road start as a Scarlet Knight.
With the rain pouring down, temperatures in the 40s and his starting left tackle benched for the start of the game, the true freshman quarterback had his work cut out for him against Army.
A 32-yard strike to freshman wide receiver Mark Harrison quickly changed that as Savage led the Rutgers football team down the field for an early go-ahead touchdown and a lead that the Scarlet Knights never relinquished.
The search will continue, but the Rutgers football team might be closer to finding its third wide receiver.
After earning the most playing time of his young career against Pittsburgh last week, freshman wideout Mark Harrison made his first catch Friday night against Army.
Rutgers hosts annual Scarlet Tip-Off
The Rutgers men’s basketball team hosted its annual Scarlet Tip-Off last night in front of a few hundred fans at the College Avenue Gym.
The Scarlet Knights ran through several practice drills before breaking down into a scrimmage.
Thirteen postseason berths in 2009, two teams in the NCAA National Championship and a squad that went a perfect 39-0 last season en route to its fifth national title in the past decade.
Welcome to women’s basketball in the Big East Conference.
After last year’s perfect campaign, Connecticut was unanimously selected by the coaches to repeat as conference champion this season. The Huskies’ junior All-American Maya Moore was also named Preseason Player of the Year.
The Daily Targum’s associate sports editor and former women’s basketball beat writer Sam Hellman takes you inside Big East Media Day with a look at what the best of the conference thinks about the league and the Scarlet Knights’ 2009-10 season.
Though Army runs the triple option offense, the Rutgers football team has just one option if it wants to go bowling for a fourth straight season — victory.
With two Big East losses in the first half of the season, the Scarlet Knights need a win against the Black Knights to get within two games of Bowl eligibility before the toughest part of the schedule begins Oct. 31 in the form of Connecticut.
Mohamed Sanu stands isolated in the end zone with a punt and an entire football team heading towards him.
It is a pregame ritual for the Rutgers football team, as the Scarlet Knights gather around the freshman punt returner before heading into the locker room every game.
But take one glance at the RU kick and punt return stats and it looks like the return men are tasked with evading entire teams during the game as well.
NCAA Simulation
With the Rutgers football team reeling after its second Big East loss of the season, NCAA Football 2010 predicts for the Scarlet Knights to bounce back tonight with a two-touchdown win over Army. Behind a monster 186-yard, three-touchdown day for sophomore tailback Joe Martinek, RU took down the Black Knights 31-17.
Fully Franko
NEW YORK — It’s almost November, and that means college basketball is back.
There’s no better conference in the country than the Big East. Villanova and Connecticut both advanced to the Final Four while Louisville and Pittsburgh made Elite Eight runs.
The Wildcats and Panthers produced one of the tournament’s best games that ended with Scottie Reynolds’ end-to-end, buzzer-beating floater.
Football Practice Notebook
Since he went down in the Rutgers football team’s first game against Cincinnati, sophomore Pat Kivlehan saw a pair of players fill in for him successfully at the safety position.
Now that Kivlehan is within sight of his return to the field, safety is one of the deepest positions for the Scarlet Knights.
In 2006, Rutgers tailback Kordell Young provided the turning point in the most meaningful game in Scarlet Knights’ football history. In a battle of unbeaten teams, the Knights trailed Louisville 24-7 late in the second quarter. They were on the verge of being routed in front of a record-breaking home crowd and making a quick return trip to national obscurity.
Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano worries about Devin McCourty.
It’s not a lack of confidence in McCourty’s pass coverage or special teams play, it’s just that the fifth-year senior — whose roles include captain, cornerback, kick returner, gunner and punt return team member — does too much.
Football Practice Notebook
Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano said that junior Antonio Lowery’s success at linebacker is based on how hard he works in practice.
Lowery showed what he could do defensively in the 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh by making a career-high 12 tackles and being one of the few players that didn’t struggle in bringing down Panther running back Dion Lewis.
Big East Midweek Report
Pittsburgh looks to continue its undefeated streak and hold its first place ranking in the Big East Saturday against a wounded South Florida.
Panthers RB Lewis runs for 180 yards as Scarlet Knights can't ride aerial attack to victory
With the Rutgers football team dangling on the brink of extinction two separate times in the second half, the Pittsburgh special teams unit gave the Scarlet Knights two breaths of life.
And they promptly wasted them.
Leading 24-17 with three minutes left, Pittsburgh blew its chance to ice the game and gave the Knights a golden opportunity to force overtime by missing a 30-yard field goal.
But a lost fumble by freshman wide receiver Mohamed Sanu at midfield was all it took for the Panthers to hold on 24-17 Friday night at Rutgers Stadium.
Jonathan Baldwin was a cause for concern all week, but Pittsburgh freshman tailback Dion Lewis tore the Rutgers football team apart in the 24-17 Panther victory.
Mind of Stein
This is why you don’t leave football games early.
A missed field goal by Pittsburgh with just over two minutes remaining gave the Rutgers football team a chance to tie the game.
Too bad half the fans that even bothered to show up to Rutgers Stadium Friday night in the first place didn’t get to see what could have been true freshman quarterback Tom Savage’s defining moment as a Scarlet Knight.
Pittsburgh's pass rush faces a much maligned Rutgers offensive line
It all starts in the trenches.
Pressure begets indecision, indecision begets turnovers and turnovers beget scores.
By drubbing Texas Southern 42-0 last Saturday, the Scarlet Knights reached the 600-win plateau. While the Rutgers football team has a ways to go to catch up with all-time wins leader Michigan (876), we take a look back at the 10 biggest games in Rutgers football history to commemorate the milestone.
Safety Greene squares off against brother in Big East tilt
Khaseem Greene plays for a Rutgers football team that preaches family.
He wears a wristband that reads, “F.A.M.I.L.Y.,” he studies in a team meeting room where the walls are adorned with the word “F.A.M.I.L.Y.,” and when entering and leaving the practice field, he walks under a sign that says, “F.A.M.I.L.Y.”
The numbers say it all.
The Rutgers football team ranks last in the Big East in sacks allowed, while the Pittsburgh defense leads the conference in sacks.
The Panthers are third in the nation in sacks per game, while the Scarlet Knights rank 100th out of 120 teams in sacks allowed per game.
NCAA Simulation
The Pittsburgh defensive line continued its dominant play, sacking quarterback Tom Savage five times, but in our weekly NCAA Football 2010 simulation, the Rutgers defense was up for the challenge and shut down Pittsburgh in a 28-10 win.
Targum’s Sports Editor Matthew Stein chats with the junior defensive end about fighting crime as a shelled reptile, items on the dollar menu and road tripping to Jamaica ...
Greg Schiano called him the best receiver in the Big East. Devin McCourty says he could be the next Kenny Britt, only bigger. His starting quarterback, Bill Stull, doesn’t have enough good things to say about him.
The consensus, no matter whom you ask, is that Pittsburgh wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin is going to be a major concern for the Rutgers football team tonight against the Panthers.
Mind of Stein
Over the last four years — the only ones under head coach Greg Schiano that the Rutgers football team has had a winning record — three Big East series stand out.
Pittsburgh, South Florida and West Virginia.
In a match being played in down-pouring rain, in temperatures teetering around freezing, the Rutgers women’s soccer team knew one goal might be all they needed.
Senior forward Karla Schacher got that job done in the 59th minute, and freshman forward April Price’s insurance goal in the 78th minute sent the Scarlet Knights cruising to a 2-0 win over Big East rival Syracuse.
Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti suspended Glenn Crooks yesterday for tonight’s women’s soccer matchup against Syracuse at Yurcak Field.
Pernetti cited a violation of athletic department policy as the reason for the 10th-year head coach’s one-game hiatus.
Of every wide receiver on staff, Quron Pratt was as unlikely as anyone to find playing time this season.
Pratt, a converted true freshman cornerback from Palmyra High School, began the season behind approximately 12 other wide receivers in the pecking order.
Don’t look now, but the Rocket is responsible for 24 percent of the Rutgers football team’s rushing yardage, and the true freshman running back has played in fewer than four quarters this season.
Through just over one quarter of play against Texas Southern and 14 carries against Howard, De’Antwan “Rocket” Williams has 221 rushing yards, a 6.7 yard per carry clip and a 44-yard touchdown run under his belt.
Targum’s volleyball beat writer Bill Domke chats with the junior outside hitter about the existence of Kalamazoo, the return of Woody and Buzz, and the effectiveness of spiritual preparation before matches…
Tom Savage and the wideouts might not realize it, but they are in a tight competition with the Rutgers football team’s defense.
Five games into the season, the defense scored as many points as the offense created through the passing game.
David Rowe’s only regret from the 42-0 shutout of Texas Southern is that his mother wasn’t there to see it.
That is why Rowe is so excited about Friday night’s matchup against Pittsburgh — his mother is making the trip north from Cocoa, Fla., to see him play for only the second time this season — and Rowe wants it to be a memorable visit.
“Just win the [expletive] game.”
With tears streaming down her face, while lying on the ground, immobile because of a shattered right leg, those were the words spoken by Ashley Jones when she looked up at her head coach.
That was her message to the Scarlet Knights before being taken off the field on a gurney in the 23rd minute of Sunday’s match with DePaul.
Take one look at Nick LaBrocca’s resume and it comes as no surprise that the former Rutgers men’s soccer midfielder is a professional player.
LaBrocca was a four-year starter, team captain and three-time All-Big East selection during his time as a Scarlet Knight from 2003-06, and following his senior season the Colorado Rapids made him the 35th pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.
Mind of Stein
One more game, same old story.
The quality of the Rutgers football team’s defensive showing this season has been mediocre in ritual, but unbelievable in opportunity.
Jones goes down with horrific leg injury two days after heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame
After nearly 30 minutes of lying on the field surrounded by paramedics, family members, coaches and teammates, Ashley Jones, in obvious excruciating pain, was taken away in an ambulance.
The Rutgers football team’s offense failed to capitalize on its field position — the Scarlet Knights started the drive inside the red zone — and sophomore kicker San San Te missed the first quarter field goal.
Even though the Knights beat Texas Southern 42-0 Saturday, the win was hardly impressive.
Middle linebacker Bergen offers verbal after Texas Southern win
Head football coach Greg Schiano just added another member to the Class of 2010 recruiting class in middle linebacker Sam Bergen, according to reports on Rivals.com.
It was a hard fought, physical and emotionally driven match. It was everything it was advertised to be. And it was one the No. 10 Rutgers women’s soccer team controlled for most of the game’s 90 minutes.
But with 6:05 left in the second half, No. 8 Notre Dame caught the Scarlet Knights on their heels. And in that one moment they stole a 1-0 victory, extending their Big East unbeaten streak to 58 games.
It came on what seemed like the perfect opportunity, the perfect night for the tenth-ranked Rutgers women’s soccer team to snap the hex the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish has not only over it, but the entire Big East.
But Notre Dame did what they’ve been doing for the last 18 years in conference play — finding a way to win.
Rutgers' offensive line has disappointed this season, must regroup before Big East play resumes
Find someone who expected this:
Someone who said the five returning starters from the Rutgers football team’s 2008 offensive line would not start a game together this season. Someone who suspected a defensive lineman who played scout team last year would start at right guard.
Anthony Davis is a 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive lineman.
“Massive,” “mauling” and “NFL-bound” could all be used to describe the junior left tackle, but sophomore Art Forst refers to Davis as something else — a philosopher.
Sophomore Desmond Wynn is a newcomer to the Rutgers football team’s offensive line, but he could be the one to fix it.
Although all five starters remain from the unit that won seven straight games with the Scarlet Knights last season, the group struggled and did not remain intact.
In a game that literally means nothing in the grand scheme of things, the Rutgers football team has a lot to do before the Scarlet Knights can walk out of tomorrow’s game against Texas Southern with their heads held high.
RU is beat up on both sides of the ball, dying for production at the third wide receiver spot and trying to find a team identity before resuming Big East play in seven days against Pittsburgh.
Quarterback Tom Savage returns to the field after a concussion sidelined the true freshman
It didn’t take Tom Savage very long to get the itch. That itch you just can’t scratch.
After leaving a Sept. 19 game against Florida International with a concussion, the wait got worse and worse for the true freshman quarterback as he sat on the sidelines until doctors cleared him to practice.
Mind of Stein
In the grand scheme of things, Saturday’s game against Texas Southern bears no meaning.
Since it is the second Football Championship Subdivision opponent the Rutgers football team is facing this season, a victory will not count towards the six wins needed to qualify for a postseason Bowl game.
Dear Southeastern Conference officials: Take your yellow hankies and stick them where the sun doesn’t shine! Sincerely, Mark Richt, Georgia Bulldogs head football coach.
That should be the letter Richt sends the SEC after this past weekend when the referees handed Louisiana State University a second chance at life after an unnecessary, unsportsmanlike conduct call.
Targum's Sports Editor Matthew Stein chats with the redshirt freshman safety about touchdown celebrations, fat sandwiches, and playing his brother when RU faces Pitt...
NCAA '10 Sim
With the return of quarterback Tom Savage from a concussion, the Rutgers football team trounced Texas Southern 52-3 in our weekly simulation using NCAA Football 2010.
Scarlet Knights host Big East nemesis Fighting Irish tonight in battle of top-10 powerhouses
Jen Anzivino was in study hall when she found out.
“[Junior forward] Ashley Jones looked it up on her phone and we kind of couldn’t believe it,” Anzivino said.
It’s something the team knew it was capable of all season. As hard as it was to comprehend, it was true — the Rutgers women’s soccer team is the No. 10 team in the country.
Football Practice Notebook
After the way he played against North Carolina State in the PapaJohns.com Bowl last season, senior fullback Jack Corcoran was expected to take over as a reliable receiver out of the backfield.
His six catches for 61 yards tied a game-high with former Knight Kenny Britt.
Football Practice Notebook
Kordell Young is content to play with pain for the rest of his life. That much is clear. To the junior tailback, who has been through two knee surgeries, however, the pain is worth it.
For the Rutgers football team, the Homecoming game against Texas Southern means absolutely nothing.
Literally.
The Scarlet Knights are a near lock to win, given that RU outscored Football Championship Subdivision teams 203-7 since 2007, and that Texas Southern is 1-3 this season with a 58-0 loss to Louisiana-Monroe and a 52-18 loss to Texas State.
Good, Bad, Ugly
Streaking down the right sideline before somersaulting into the end zone, sophomore cornerback Bill Domke’s game-sealing interception closed the pizza on WRSU.
Just one year after getting thoroughly embarrassed on the football field, The Daily Targum Great Danes pulled off an upset in a game they never trailed, besting the Tusken Raiders 42-28 Saturday in a defensive struggle (last season, the score was roughly 142-50 in favor of the WRSU Battle Penguins).
Freshmen Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu shone against Cincinnati, but since then, their visibility has waned.
While Savage’s concussion kept him off the field the past two weeks, Sanu’s production dwindled after his dazzling debut.
Tom Savage cannot wait to get back on the field. After rejoining the team for practice Wednesday from a concussion, the true freshman quarterback just wants to get back in a game situation.
Hell's Kitchen
Believe it or not, but after the 34-13 win over Maryland, the Rutgers football team is a third of the way through the inaugural season of the expanded Rutgers Stadium.
Though the Scarlet Knights stand at 3-1, it’s fair to say that things have not gone as expected for head coach Greg Schiano and company, so let’s take a look at the top six surprises so far:
Imagine the adrenaline running through your body as you get the chance to play on the same field, court or rink as some of the best in the game.
Sophomore Jennifer Holzberg will feel a rush of emotions when she gets that opportunity this weekend, when the Rutgers tennis team heads to the United States Tennis Academy Invitational in Queens, N.Y.
The Rutgers swimming and diving team enters the 2009-10 season with the familiar face of Chuck Warner as its head coach, but a new face joins him on the bench for his 12th year with the Scarlet Knights.
Over the off-season, Warner added Penn State graduate Jessica Barnes as an assistant coach.
Syracuse scored two goals in a two minute span in the first half before adding a third five minutes from full-time to beat the Rutgers men’s soccer team 3-0 last night at Yurcak Field.
Ryan D’Imperio does not remember part of the Florida International game.
He knows what happened and can piece it together, but he was on a high he had not experienced since high school.
For the first time since his high school days as a running back, the senior linebacker scored a touchdown.
The Rutgers football team gets its first two-day break since the start of training camp today and tomorrow after the Scarlet Knights finished their bye-week practices.
For the players, it marks a chance for time off or time to visit family, with many leaving as soon as last night, pending class schedules.
Head coach Greg Schiano isn’t known to swear in public, but he did whip out the “the C word” yesterday at practice when discussing the health of Tom Savage.
Hell's Kitchen
Sometimes numbers speak louder than words. As a group, the Rutgers football team’s wide receivers are a great example.
It is one thing to say that they are not doing much. That is an understatement when you simply take a look at the numbers.
Behind starters Tim Brown and Mohamed Sanu, the entire wide receiving corps has just one catch through four games and zero catches in the Scarlet Knights’ last three contests.
A wide receiver turned tight end. A starter turned backup. And now an h-back fighting for the job he once had.
Senior Shamar Graves underwent as many changes to his role on the Rutgers football team as Russell Crowe’s Maximus in “Gladiator.”
Football practice notebook
Though the Rutgers football team is potentially down two starters on the defensive line for Texas Southern, Scott Vallone is not worried.
Senior right end George Johnson may be sidelined with a lower extremity injury and junior defensive tackle Charlie Noonan may be out with an undisclosed illness, but Vallone sees the line as deep enough to handle its own without two of its leaders.
Ask Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano about his team, and you will hear him say it.
“We’re getting better” — Schiano’s favorite words.
The good, the bad and the ugly
It was even the talk of the Maryland student center this weekend.
Former Rutgers guard Corey Chandler, who was kicked off the men’s basketball team for a violation of athletic department policies, expired his tenure with Binghamton just one month after enrolling there in the first place.
After 571 minutes and 4 seconds of holding opponents scoreless in the first half, the Scarlet Knights could not overcome Schuyler’s 24th minute goal and they went on to draw their Big East foe 1-1.
Mind of Stein
The Rutgers football team survived against Maryland purely on its opportunistic defense, which came up with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, including an absolutely enormous one in the Terrapin endzone.
Simply put, until the waning moments of the fourth quarter, the Rutgers offense was positively atrocious.
Maryland native Lefeged, defense force five turnovers in win
The Tom Savage-less Scarlet Knight offense did absolutely nothing against Maryland, but the defense — behind two touchdowns and five turnovers — bailed out the ailing offense in the Rutgers football team's 34-13 victory at Byrd Stadium.
RU scores two defensive touchdowns for first time under Schiano
Head coach Greg Schiano made a name for himself as a defensive-minded coach, but he never had a day like Saturday.
For the first time under Schiano, the Scarlet Knights scored two defensive touchdowns in a game.
The New York Mets claimed former Rutgers pitcher Jack Egbert off waivers yesterday from the Chicago White Sox.
Trouble in N.Y. continues as ex-Knight among five kicked off team
Just a month after enrolling at Binghamton, former Rutgers guard Corey Chandler has been dismissed from the school, along with five other players.
Seven Knights return to home state
Though the landmass lies on the fringe of New Jersey, home state of the University, the state of Maryland — from which seven members of the Rutgers football team hail — will align itself vehemently against the Scarlet Knights Saturday, when they take on the Maryland Terrapins.
Lefged, Kitchen, Greene relishing role as last line of defense
Outside of the 20-plus family members in attendance, tomorrow’s homecoming for junior safety Joe Lefeged will not be a warm welcome for the Maryland native. Two years ago, he delivered a punishing hit on Maryland quarterback Jordan Steffy, giving Steffy a concussion and drawing criticism from coach Ralph Friedgen for what he called a dirty play.
Mind of Stein
Billed before the season started as the Rutgers football team’s toughest out-of-conference test, tomorrow’s road contest against Maryland has not shaped up to be much of a blockbuster. Maryland should not be confused with a good team. After all, the Terrapins did just lose to Middle Tennessee State two years in a row.
Scarlet Pulse
There are moments in a season that define a team and games that test the true character of a team. The 2009 Rutgers football team has yet to show its true character or potential thus far. The Scarlet Knights are in an eerily similar situation to the 2004 team that got stuck in limbo.
On any play, there could be a different combination of defensive linemen for the Rutgers football team.
Freshman Givens getting look at cornerback
Head coach Greg Schiano thinks that Tom Savage will start against Maryland. Savage, a true freshman, hurt his head Saturday against FIU, but Schiano said yesterday at practice that he looks “OK.” “He’s not easily affected, but he’s a tough kid,” Schiano said.
Fully Franko
Futbol, fussball, football.
Only in America can we call a sport that requires its participants to use their feet and outlaws the use of hands by a completely different name — soccer.
Bill Domke: The most important question on my mind and probably everyone who will read this — why Rutgers? Hannah Curtis: Because I wanted to go to the East Coast and because I just wanted to get something completely different than Alaska. Being from Wasilla, it’s probably the complete opposite environment than New Brunswick.
Jacksonville's Williamson placed on IR
Just two days after former safety Courtney Greene joined the Jacksonville Jaguars’ active roster, classmate Tiquan Underwood did the same.
NCAA 2010 sim predicts 24-17 win over Maryland
If NCAA 2010 has anything to say about it, freshman quarterback Tom Savage will continue to struggle against Maryland, but the Terps shoot themselves in the foot anyway and lose 24-14 to the Knights.
Tom Savage insists he feels fine. Minus a bump on the head, he’s OK and he’s preparing to start against Maryland.
But if there is a relapse, and if he can’t go for some reason, fifth-year senior Dom Natale is ready and waiting.
While his teammates worked hard in preparation for the season, Aly Mazhar waited — and waited — and pleaded for the chance to rejoin the Rutgers men’s soccer team.
Mazhar, born in Cairo, Egypt, returned home to visit family over the summer but had issues leaving the when the military wanted him for service.
This decade, the Portuguese men’s national team grew into a perennial international contender while the women’s team floundered in mediocrity and, worse, near anonymity in the country.
But former Rutgers women’s soccer standout Kimberly Brandao is out to change all of that.
Hell's Kitchen
Start Mike Teel.
Now wait — I realize how ludicrous this statement is, but before you turn the page to whatever porn ad The Daily Targum is running today or navigate away from TargumBlog to the newest Sporcle quiz, hear me out.
Targum's volleyball beat writer Bill Domke chats with the Rutgers head coach about his newborn son, his brililant timing, and whether he will be supporting the team in its home opener this weekend...
Practice Notebook
Thought by many to be the strength of the offense entering the season, the offensive line remains a question mark for the Rutgers football team.
The latest change in head coach Greg Schiano’s search for the best unit was the insertion of sophomore Desmond Wynn into the starting lineup Saturday.
The Jacksonville Jaguars signed former Rutgers safety Courtney Greene to their 53-man active roster Monday, adding another Scarlet Knight to their team.
Press conference notebook
Just two days after a bone-crunching hit knocked him out of the Rutgers football team’s 23-15 win over Florida International, Tom Savage feels fine and expects to start against Maryland.
For six minutes and 51 seconds, Florida International moved the ball at will.
But for 53 minutes and nine seconds, the Rutgers defense did what it is known for under head coach Greg Schiano — attacking the quarterback and creating turnovers.
Five sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and a touchdown bailed out a stagnant RU offense that only found the endzone once in the 23-15 victory over FIU.
Curtis named MVP as Knights sweep Bucknell to clinch first tournament victory since 2004
After seeing this weekend’s results, the Rutgers volleyball team is a far cry from the squad head coach CJ Werneke inherited.
The Scarlet Knights return to Piscataway as the 2009 Bucknell Invitational Champions after winning all three of their matches, including two shutouts against Radford and host Bucknell. It is the first time RU has won a tournament since the 2004 Patriot Invitational.
USF quarterback tears ACL in 59-0 win over Charleston Southern
Though the Bulls slaughtered Charleston Southern 59-0, the senior tore his ACL midway through the game and is now out for the remainder of the season.
Notes from Schiano teleconference
Take a sigh of relief Rutgers fans, Tom Savage should be OK.
After getting dinged last night in the 23-15 win over Florida International, the true freshman quarterback is feeling much better, head coach Greg Schiano said on hi Sunday morning teleconference with the media.
Defense bails out downtrodden RU offense
The crowd at Rutgers Stadium saw its life flash before its eyes at the 13-minute mark of the fourth quarter Saturday when Tom Savage lay motionless on the 10-yard line.
The true freshman quarterback struggled just to get to that point, taking four sacks and completing just 11-of-28 passes for 185 yards, but a head-crunching hit on a scramble up the middle was the last straw on a hard day’s night.
Mind of Stein
One hundred games into his Rutgers football coaching career, Greg Schiano has brought a lot of changes to the Banks -- for the better -- and owns one very distinct career milestone.
Greene, Rowe highlight strong secondary performance
After the Rutgers football team allowed Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike to throw virtually uncontested in the week one rout, the Scarlet Knights emphasized putting pressure on the quarterback against a spread offense.
Michael Gilchrist, the top basketball recruit in the country for 2011 as rated by Rivals.com and ESPNU, visited Rutgers Saturday during the football team's game against Florida International.
A look at the Rutgers football team's deep running back corps
For Joe Martinek, it’s time to break out.
The sophomore running back showed glimpses of the kind of running back he could be last season but has yet to carry that success into 2009.
Through two games, Martinek has just 92 yards on 25 carries and, with the emergence of Jourdan Brooks and De’Antwan Williams last week and the potential return of junior Kordell Young, that isn’t going to cut it for Martinek.
Tim Brown always wanted to be a celebrity.
Stuck behind former Rutgers football stars Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood on the depth chart the past three years, the senior wideout had to go home to Miami, Fla., to find himself in that role.
For many teachers, seeing a student surpass them is the highest honor. It’s a way for teachers to validate their own abilities and a chance to be proud of the students they watched grow up.
Greg Schiano wouldn’t mind waiting a week to see this happen.
When Florida International comes to Piscataway tomorrow to take on the Scarlet Knights, it marks the return of two of Schiano’s former assistants and pupils.
Mind of Stein
I have to admit, I’m curious.
Curious to see what they can bring to the table. Curious to see why they were ranked so highly, touted as the best class in head coach Greg Schiano’s tenure.
Matthew Stein: What’s playing in your iPod right now?
Antonio Lowery: Lil Wayne, Ice Berg [from Miami]. That’s it.
MS: What’s one thing about you we would not know?
AL: I’m a family man. I’m not saying anything else about that.
The Scarlet Knights slipped past FIU 24-17 in our latest simulation
In this week’s edition of our NCAA Football 2010 simulation of Rutgers football, the Scarlet Knights squeaked past a hot Florida International University team 24-17 as the Tom Savage to Mohamed Sanu connection continued to thrive.
Two first quarter touchdown connections of eight and two yards from Savage to Sanu gave RU an early 14-point lead that the Knights never relinquished.
Scarlet Pulse
If Rutgers football has any chance finding its way into a Bowl Championship Series game this season, the defense and special teams to need to shape up quickly for Greg Schiano’s squad. Even after a seemingly convincing 45-7 win over Howard, the Scarlet Knights need game-changing plays to help them through the Big East conference schedule.
David Rowe has two reasons to be a little extra excited for Saturday’s matchup against Florida International.
A Florida kid, playing in New Jersey, hosts friends from a Florida school — and won’t take them out for dinner the night before the football game. “They can take me out,” Rutgers junior linebacker Antonio Lowery joked. Lowery said he is good friends with Florida International’s starting cornerback, Anthony Gaitor, and went to high school with a pair of offensive linemen, including starting left guard Mario Caraballo.
Jonathan Freeny may stand out statistically in the Rutgers football team’s first two games of the season — the junior pass rusher has two sacks and eight tackles as a backup — but he is not the least bit satisfied with his play or with the play of the defensive line.
Knight Notebook
Most Rutgers football fans remember the image of Jeremy Ito pointing up at an ESPN camera following his 2006 game-winning kick against Louisville.
Last season, San San Te, then a redshirt freshman, proved his reliability for the Scarlet Knights despite the pressure of filling Ito’s sizable shoes. This season, coming in as the incumbent starter, Te possesses improved skills and a stronger confidence level.
Tom Savage faked the handoff, turned and fired the ball downfield, then trotted toward senior receiver Tim Brown in the end zone.
No jumping, no shouting — just a simple congratulation after a 68-yard touchdown for which the freshman quarterback was equally responsible.
After his first Rutgers football career start — and second appearance — one thing is clear about Savage: the kid is cool.
“Tom’s pretty relaxed; that’s his personality,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low — that will serve him well.”
For 13 years, Ibrahim Kamara woke up each morning to the sound of gunfire and the bedlam of civil war in his native Sierra Leone.
A bloody 11-year war entrenched the small West African nation until it ended in 2002. There were an estimated 50,000 killed and another 100,000 mutilated — many of whom were children the same age as Kamara, kidnapped and taken from their homes. Those not murdered or tortured were forced to serve in child militias as part of the rebel armies. Almost half of the country’s 4.5 million population was displaced as refugees to surrounding nations due to result of the fighting.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
With the exception of the Rutgers football team’s season-opening loss to Cincinnati, the fall athletics season is off to its most successful start in the past few years.
Bringing back a recurring theme from last spring, The Daily Targum’s Sports Editor Matthew Stein runs down the things that made this weekend in Rutgers sports good, bad and ugly.
Savage's best friend gives verbal after taking in USC game
Cardinal O'Hara product Corey Brown, a top-100 running back/wide receiver prospect who happens to be best friends with Tom Savage, gave a verbal committment to Ohio State. Rutgers was said to be in Brown's final five choices, according to Rivals.com.
Rutgers rips Howard in 45-7 victory
You never would have guessed it from the way he looked Saturday, but that quarterback — the one who threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns in just over a half — is just three months removed from high school.
True freshman Tom Savage, making the first of many career starts for the Rutgers football team, looked nothing like the green, nervous cadet he was when he arrived on the Banks as the team’s No. 5 quarterback two months ago, but rather a practiced general with seasons of college experience.
there.”
The applause began before she even rose to her feet. By the time an emotional C. Vivian Stringer reached the podium, the assembled crowd in Symphony Hall was standing as well, before taking their seats in anticipation of hearing the Rutgers coach do what she does best — storytelling.
The long and winding path D.C. Jefferson took to his current role on the Rutgers football team is storied and exhausting, full of indecision and change.
In a matter of slightly under two years, Jefferson went from the 16th-overall quarterback recruit in the country on Rivals.com to making his first appearance in a Scarlet Knights uniform — catching a pass as a tight end, his new position.
Knight Notebook
The debut of freshman quarterback Tom Savage headlined the Rutgers football team’s victory Saturday over Howard, but the re-emergence of sophomore tailback Jourdan Brooks was of equal importance.
Brooks, a nonentity in last week’s Cincinnati defeat, made himself known by rushing for three touchdowns and 124 yards against the Bison.
Big East midweek report; Pitt, USF, West Virginia all win
North Carolina narrowly escaped an upset at the hands of Connecticut this weekend with a 12-10 win at Rentschler Field thanks to a last-minute safety. The safety capped the 12-point, fourth quarter swing for the Tar Heels to afford them the victory. North Carolina sophomore kicker Casey Barth started the comeback with a 22-yard field goal.
To say the Rutgers football team has a lot of room for improvement is the understatement of the century. The 47-15 drubbing by Cincinnati left the Scarlet Knights shell-shocked and truly brought new meaning to the phrase “getting off on the wrong foot.”
Mop-up duty in the Rutgers football team’s Labor Day opener saw the emergence of the Tom Savage to Mohamed Sanu combo.
Mind of Stein
The big theme during Rutgers football practice this week was improvement. Head coach Greg Schiano cited his team needs to get better in every aspect of the game. Anyone shocked by that? It’s the same song and dance from last season, the season before and the season before that — when the Scarlet Knights went 11-2, won the Texas Bowl and nearly made it to a Bowl Championship Series Bowl game.
In this week’s edition of the Dane Truxell Football 101, we take a look at the Rutgers pass rush.
NCAA Football 2010 simulation
If NCAA Football 2010 has anything to say about it, the Rutgers football team will rebound in a big way Saturday after the opening loss to Cincinnati.
In our weekly simulation of Rutgers football games, the Scarlet Knights trounced Howard (known as FCS East in the game because no I-AA teams exist) 38-6.
Scarlet Pulse
It was déjà vu all over again Monday at Rutgers Stadium when the Scarlet Knights were embarrassed 47-15 by Cincinnati. The only difference between Labor Day this year and last year was the extra 11,000 fans that were able to witness the nightmarish debacle from Greg Schiano’s team.
Junior third down back Mason Robinson is out for the season with a leg injury, head coach Greg Schiano said.
Let the Tom Savage Era begin.
Savage’s meteoric rise up the depth chart since arriving on the Banks for training camp took the final step yesterday at practice when head coach Greg Schiano named him the starter for Saturday’s game against Howard.
After taking over the quarterbacking duties from senior Dom Natale at halftime of the 47-15 loss to Cincinnati, Savage’s 15-for-23 day and general performance was enough for Schiano to give him the vote of confidence for game two.
Hell's Kitchen
If you follow the Rutgers football team’s one-game season mentality, then the Rutgers football team just had its worst, most demoralizing season under Greg Schiano — given the expectations.
But in every bad season — except for maybe the 2008 Detroit Lions — there’s still a bright spot, a “wait-till-next-year” moment or a player fans can look to for inspiration, and the Scarlet Knights had that.
It was calculated and it was methodical.
It featured dives, draws, end-arounds, quarterback sneaks and fourth down conversions.
But most importantly, the Rutgers football team’s first drive was successful.
After the Scarlet Knights allowed Cincinnati to march 81 yards in less than three minutes to start Monday’s 47-15 debacle, the offense delivered the perfect remedy.
A demoralized Greg Schiano spoke to the media yesterday in his weekly teleconference, breaking down what happened Monday in the 47-15 loss to Cincinnati. Because of the short week before Howard, Schiano will not have a weekly press conference as the team goes immediately into game mode for Saturday.
Rutgers opens expanded stadium with embarassing loss as Pike, Bearcats torch Scarlet Knights for 564
You never know what you’re going to get in a team’s first game of the season.
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano attributed that idea in the week before kickoff to a book he read by longtime college coach Bear Bryant.
But no one — not Schiano, not the Scarlet Knights, not even Bryant himself — could have predicted that so much would go wrong in the embarrassment yesterday that was Cincinnati’s 47-15 thrashing of Rutgers.
Mind of Stein
Basically, they came out and laid an egg.
It all started the right way. The student section, for once, was full-go from well before kickoff, Rutgers Stadium was rocking from the moment the Scarlet Knights emerged from the tunnel, and the Rutgers football team had what they wanted — the vaunted defense on the field to start things off on the right foot.
And then that vaunted defense allowed Tony Pike to throw all over the field, going 6-for-6 on the opening touchdown drive for 71 yards through the air. Why? There was no aggression to speak of.
For the first time in his Rutgers football career, true freshman quarterback Tom Savage received a hero’s welcome.
Trailing by 28 points at the half, the most highly touted recruit in Rutgers football history began the second half for the Scarlet Knights, giving 53,737 fans their first glimpse of the future.
Before Savage even took a snap, the ovation made it apparent that the record crowd at the newly renovated Rutgers Stadium was ready to see if the Cardinal O’Hara (Pa.) product would live up to the hype.
Rutgers transfer throws two touchdowns, runs for one
Today, in his first start, Paul-Etienne blew up and led the Rams to a 41-28 win over the Rams. Not only did he complete 13 of 19 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns, but he showed off his scrambling ability, running for 81 yards on 11 attempts including 29-yard touchdown run.
Final 300 tickets snatched for Rutgers vs. Cincinnati Monday
At the conclusion of the final team practice before Monday’s opener against Cincinnati, head coach Greg Schiano announced that Rutgers Stadium is now sold out of tickets for the Labor Day battle.
Their jerseys are not for sale throughout Rutgers Stadium.
They don’t inspire cries of “R” or “U” with touchdowns or key third-down stops.
We set the rosters and simulate the Scarlet Knights' season
In taking a poll of students around campus and even the Rutgers football team, a good majority of football fans and players sit in front of the TV and spend countless hours playing Madden and NCAA Football. So why not let the game speak for itself? The Daily Targum’s Matthew Stein and Sam Hellman will simulate each Scarlet Knights’ game after making the necessary roster updates for each week — but first, we simulated the entire season to see how it might play out.
Mind of Stein
It’s been underplayed by both Rutgers and Cincinnati all week. Neither player nor head coach wants to openly say how important this game is for either club.
Knights set to unveil newly-renovated Rutgers Stadium
When the Rutgers football team opens against Cincinnati Monday, the $102 million stadium expansion project will be complete and for the first time in Scarlet Knights history, 52,454 people will be able to say, ‘I was there.’
Nothing says experience like playing time of this magnitude, and for the 10 new members of the Cincinnati defense and select new starters across the board for the Rutgers football team, Monday’s game brings a new meaning to the term “getting your feet wet.”
Targum’s Sports Editor Matthew Stein chats with the senior linebacker about interceptions, playing Madden, starring in movie love scenes with Alicia Keys and his pregame rituals ...
When defending Big East champions Cincinnati come to Piscataway, either Rutgers or the Bearcats get a jumpstart on the conference competition.
There is not a big-six conference in the country that gets as little respect as the Big East.
Not a single team is ranked in the top 25 in the AP or USA Today polls, despite Cincinnati returning one of the more explosive offenses in the country after reaching the Orange Bowl, West Virginia bringing back a lot of the talent that ended the year ranked in the top 25 and Rutgers and Pittsburgh both finishing last year’s final poll receiving top-25 votes.
Scarlet Pulse
When the Big East added Louisville, Connecticut and South Florida to the football conference in 2005, many expected the newcomers to struggle. But so far, two out of the three teams have won at least a share of the conference title within their first four seasons of play.
Rutgers is still in search of its first Big East Championship and is the only original league member without one.
When Dom Natale transferred to the Rutgers football team from Michigan State in 2006, he knew he had a long road to travel.
Between a year on the bench via NCAA transfer regulations, a year on the bench via injury in spring camp and a year primarily on the bench watching Mike Teel turn his senior season from tragedy to triumph, it seemed that Natale would never get a meaningful college snap.
The offensive line, returning all five starters from last year’s bowl game, is the closest the Rutgers football team has to a sure thing going into Cincinnati, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to tinker.
Although sophomore Caleb Ruch started at left guard to close last season, junior Howard Barbieri saw his fair share of action and that playing time for both has carried over to a late-competition for the starting spot.
Redshirt freshman WR getting his shot
Coming into this season, the wide receiver position beyond senior Tim Brown was uncertain. The emergence of true freshman Tim Wright, among others, has solidified the position.
Despite the majority of the focus in training camp on the quarterbacks, there is another heated position battle of note. Heading into the third scrimmage, the competition between Junior Antonio Lowery and sophomore Manny Abreu at weakside linebacker is still too close to call.
Natale, Savage need to execute in final scrimmage
The depth at defensive end appeared questionable after injuries to both senior George Johnson and junior Jonathan Freeny. The latest news on Johnson is that there is no timetable for his return, and that he’s questionable for the start of the season.
Wideout discusses his transition to No. 1
Senior wide receiver Tim Brown sits down with Targum football beat writer Sam Hellman to talk about his development as a receiver as well as watching Britt and Underwood in the NFL and Jabu Lovelace's potential move to receiver.
