No. 10: Rutgers

A Rutgers team without fullback Brian Leonard or tight end Clark Harris might seem a bit unfamiliar to most fans, but 2006 National Coach of the Year Greg Schiano has the Scarlet Knights in a position where they can plug replacements into the lineup seamlessly.

Mike Teel returns at quarterback after starting all 13 games last year. He threw for 2,135 yards and 12 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also completed just over 55 percent and put up 13 interceptions. But in the last three games of the season he was 45-of-69 for 692 yards (better than 10 yards per attempt), five touchdowns and no interceptions. So at least he’s on the right trajectory.

If Teel can keep his handoff mechanics up to code he’ll keep his job regardless, since All-American Ray Rice is back. Rice ran over, around and through Rutgers opponents to the tune of 1,794 yards and 20 touchdowns last fall and now is only 86 yards shy of 3,000 for his career. With another year like last, Rice will be on hand for the 2007 Heisman presentation, if not the guest of honor.

The top two pass catchers from last year — Leonard and Harris — are gone, but the top five wide receivers are back. Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood were the most productive of the bunch, but Tim Brown is the most dangerous. The fastest player on the team, Brown averaged 25.2 yards per reception, and three of his eight catches went for touchdowns. Three starters return in the offensive line, anchored by All-America tackle Jeremy Zuttah.

Six starters return from a Rutgers defense that was the Big East’s stingiest in 2006. Eric Foster is back at tackle after picking up first-team All-America honors last year. End Jamaal Westerman also returns after pacing the 2006 Scarlet Knights in both tackles for a loss and sacks. Courtney Greene and Ron Girault form the league’s best safety tandem with 151 tackles and seven interceptions between them last year.

The Scarlet Knights’ chance at revenge for last year’s 30–11 loss to Cincinnati comes in New Brunswick on Oct. 6. West Virginia also must visit Rutgers Stadium, on Oct. 27. The season finale is at Louisville on Thursday, Nov. 29.

Notes:
» The Scarlet Knights’ 2006 offensive line allowed only eight sacks, fewest in the nation.

» Rutgers has been playing football since… well, Rutgers (and Princeton) invented football in 1869. Yet the Scarlet Knights recorded 11 victories last season for only the second time in those 137 years.

» Rutgers won a bowl game for the first time in its history with a 37–10 vanquishing of Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.

2007 Schedule
A. 30 Buffalo
S. 7 Navy
S. 15 Norfolk State
S. 29 Maryland
O. 6 Cincinnati
O. 13 at Syracuse
O. 18 South Florida
O. 27 West Virginia
N. 3 at Connecticut
N. 9 at Army
N. 17 Pittsburgh
N. 29 at Louisville

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-foot...e-big-east

It's nice being in a conference with football program regularly ranked among the elite! And not just one but multiple teams. I said that the mark of an elite conference is to have a team ranked in the Top 5 or 10, another team or team ranked in the Top 15 to 25 and to have a team or two in the "Others receiving votes". The Big East is there! I would still like to have a 9th team. It helps with scheduling and, quite frankly, it seems like it's more fun and lively in the bigger conferences because there are so many teams.

i guess it isnt easy for rutgers to get quality OOC games. its dissapointng to see that OOC schedule though.

i wont give too much grief for maryland and navy...however, army, buffalo, and norfolk state arent gonna help your BCS at-large chances if you dont win the conference.

I agree. If possible, Rutgers is better off getting games against teams like Vanderbilt, Maryland and NC State and continuing their series against Illinois and North Carolina.

aTxTIGER Wrote:i guess it isnt easy for rutgers to get quality OOC games. its dissapointng to see that OOC schedule though.

i wont give too much grief for maryland and navy...however, army, buffalo, and norfolk state arent gonna help your BCS at-large chances if you dont win the conference.

-- Rutgers has a long terms series with Notre Dame coming in a few yrs. I'm sure the charm of Army and Navy is that: A) They are games where RU fans can travel too B) Eastern tradition of playing the academies

Jackson

I'd complain more about Buffalo/Norfolk than Army. Army is not nearly as bad a schedule.

i understand the "charm" factor. im sure that is great for the rutgers fans. a geographically close institution with such tradition in class. i was speaking more of BCS at-large hopes. army will not help them in that regard.

army, on its own, is not a bad game. however, when you already have 2 100+ rated teams on the schedule, adding another thats gonna be in the 90+ range isnt the way to go. of course, im assuming there arent a lot of higher rated teams itching to play Rutgers these days.

aTxTIGER Wrote:i understand the "charm" factor. im sure that is great for the rutgers fans. a geographically close institution with such tradition in class. i was speaking more of BCS at-large hopes. army will not help them in that regard.

army, on its own, is not a bad game. however, when you already have 2 100+ rated teams on the schedule, adding another thats gonna be in the 90+ range isnt the way to go. of course, im assuming there arent a lot of higher rated teams itching to play Rutgers these days.

Part of the problem is the old OOC schedules are mostly set years in advance so we were scheduling for wins at the time. Now we can schedule a higher class of teams for those wins. We still have to go down to Maryland in a return game, and have 2 home and 1 away left against UNC. What I'd like to see happen in the future OOC assuming the Big East stays at 8 is the following:
Notre Dame, Army, Navy
1 ACC/Big Ten Mid-Level Game - UNC/Maryland
1 Pac-Ten/Big 12 Mid-Level Game or another game against the above