Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Is Rutgers For Real?
Rutgers improved its record to 7-0 with its win last Saturday against Pitt, equaling the total number of wins from last year's 7-5 team and improving from a 1-11 mark only four short years ago.
Prior to the victory over Pitt, it was hard to take the Scarlet Knights very seriously. Their first six wins came against North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Howard, South Florida, and Navy. Now, with the win over Pitt, this is an intriguing team.
Not known in recent history for its football prowess, Rutgers claims the distinction of participating in the first intercollegiate football game — a 6 goals to 4 goals victory over Princeton in 1869. Not much about that game (120 yards by 75 yards field; a round ball; and 25 players per team on the field) resembles the game played today.
The Scarlet Knights have emerged as a force in the Big East by playing dominating defense and ball control offense. Its opponents have averaged less than 9 points per game while its offense has enjoyed an average time of possession margin of more than five minutes.
Nearly half of Rutgers plays have run through sophomore running back Ray Rice. Rice has 201 carries, 1,124 yards, and 12 touchdowns. These stats are especially impressive knowing that opposing teams are keying on Rice — knowing that half the time he will be running at them.
How did Rice perform against Pitt? He carried the ball 39 times for 225 yards, including a 63-yard romp in the fourth quarter that setup his game-clinching scoring run.
This win over Pitt gives credence to Rutgers bid for BCS consideration. The Big East Conference now boasts three top-25 teams with Rutgers (19), Louisville (6), and West Virginia (4). The Scarlet Knights host Connecticut next week in a game they should win, setting up a November 9th contest at home against Louisville.
Should Rutgers prevail against Louisville, it would be heavily favored to win its next two games versus Cincinnati and Syracuse, setting up what would be a tremendous regular season ending game against West Virginia on December 2nd.
This scenario includes enough "what if" propositions to make its possible outcome a "fat chance," at best. However, an undefeated season, a top two ranking, and a bid in the championship game would breathe a little life into the whole BCS fiasco.
While, the Big East champion is awarded an automatic BCS bid, Rutgers would probably be a distant 30th or 40th choice of the money machine that is the BCS system. One can imagine the back room deals that would go down to try to keep Rutgers out of the national championship game and make sure that one of the perennial powerhouse (aka high revenue producing/television ratings) teams makes it instead.
Here's hoping we get to see some squirming on the part of the BCS!
Todd Beckstead is founder of MonsterDraft.com, a fantasy football draft resource.