1/3/2008 - Bowling with the Knights
So, are you bowled over, yet? Are you sick of listening to Chris Rose and Jimmy Johnson babble on during Fox’s pre-game and halftime shows? I sure am and I love college football.
But there is one bowl game left that should pique the interest of football fans in Sussex County and it isn’t the BCS Championship game between LSU and Ohio State. That’s right, the vaunted International Bowl in Toronto, Canada, and all the pageantry that comes with it. Nothing says college football more than a bowl game played outside the United States in a city more known for hockey, beer and comedians.
It may not be sexy, but for Rutgers’ football team, it better be a win. The Scarlet Knights (7-5, 3-4 Big East) will take on the Ball State Cardinals (7-5, 5-2 MAC) Saturday at noon at the Rogers Centre. And although there isn’t a championship on the line, the direction of the Scarlet Knights’ program could be at stake.
A win keeps the good vibe coach Greg Schiano has built up over the last three years in getting the Scarlet Knights into a bowl game, something no other coach in school history has done. A loss might sap all the good will Schiano has earned and set the program back a couple of years, which it can’t afford with all that has been invested by the school.
There are two ways of looking at the Knights’ bid to a lower-tier bowl game. One way is to view it as progress and that fans who were starved for a winner for so many years should sit back and enjoy the ride. A few years back when West Virginia was hanging 80 points up on Rutgers, the International Bowl would have looked pretty darned good.
But is Schiano a victim of his own success and the ensuing media hype? I have heard some Rutgers fans turn their nose down at the bowl and see it as a failure. For some short-sighted fans, that could be the case. But considering where Rutgers was before Schiano took over, it is a modern-day miracle that the Knights have a gained a bowl bid in three straight seasons.
However, after last season’s magical run in which the Knights shocked Louisville on ESPN and went onto to crush Kansas State in Texas Bowl, expectations for the Knights this season were way too high, in my opinion. I thought coming into the season, that even with a favorable schedule with eight home games, it was a real possibility that Rutgers could go 8-4. They just lost too much on defense and you couldn’t replace what Brian Leonard brought to the team, no matter how great a player Ray Rice is.
But who is at fault for all the hype? Sure, New Jersey is smack dab in the middle of the largest media market in the world, but Rutgers and Schiano fed the monster in a desperate attempt to make the school relevant in a pro-sports dominated area.
I attended the very first Media Day in the Schiano Era and he looked at all of us media types and with a straight face said Rutgers could win a national championship. We all had a good laugh after he left the room, but to his credit, he has never lost that focus.
So with a stadium expansion plan on the brink and Schiano being named for every open job in America, Saturday’s game should be interesting, more for what the consequences it will bring, than the actual play on the field.
But if you need another reason to watch, there is a real good one. You will get a chance to root on former Sussex County Interscholastic League star Chris Rudanovic. The well-traveled 6-foot-5, 260-pound blocking tight end will be playing in his first bowl game. The Indiana transfer was always a good kid when I dealt with him at High Point and is easy to root for. And how many times does a local kid play in a bowl? Not many. To my knowledge, only one other SCIL star is playing in a bowl game and that is Virginia Tech reserve fullback Devin Perez.
Perez and the Hokies faced Kansas Thursday night in the Orange Bowl. Perez was an absolute terror on both sides of the ball for Pope John back in the day. At only 5-8, he was close to 285 pounds in high school, but he has since sculpted his body into a sturdy 248 pounds. Perez was one of the best defensive lineman I have ever seen in all my years of watching, playing and covering SCIL football.
So if you have it in you, check out the Rutgers game Saturday and root on the Scarlet Knights, if for nothing else, to see a local guy do well.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Just a little update on the ongoing battle between the public and non-public schools in the state. The NNJIL, which has led the charge to blow up all the conferences in the state and separate the publics and non-publics, held a league meeting Thursday to discuss the possibility of several of the public schools dropping out.
According to The Record of Hackensack, the schools will not look to leave at this point and are waiting for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association to formalize the committee charged with exploring the possibility of realigning all the conferences in the state.
It is a good move by the NNJIL. Although it took the state way too long to react, it is doing something about it now, so patience is a virtue. But at this rate, it doesn’t look like there will be any major changes for the 2008-2009 school year, unless something drastic happens soon. It looks like any changes would come the following school year.
Well, it is that time again. Yes, for all of you wrestling fans, D-day is here in the SCIL. Kittatinny will host High Point Friday night at 7 p.m. in what will be a jammed-pack, emotion-filled gym. The winner will most likely win the SCIL title, something it seems like the two schools have done the last 15 years.
It will be fascinating to see how High Point’s lineup of youngsters responds to the heat. The Wildcats absolutely dismantled a very good Camden Catholic team last week, but it was at a neutral site at Lenape Valley and on a Saturday between holidays, so it just wasn’t the same hostile atmosphere they will see Friday night. I can’t wait.
There will be a couple of big SCIL hoops showdowns on Saturday. Sparta’s girls basketball team is sitting at 1-4 for the first time in a long time and is 1-2 in SCIL play. But it doesn’t get any easier for Fred Geffken and his gang as they will travel to face High Point at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats (3-0 SCIL, 4-2 overall) have one of the premier players in the SCIL in Jessie Lain, who is a one-person press. High Point has just too much speed, and should be able to fend off the Spartans. This could be the first of four clashes this season between the schools. The teams did it last year, playing twice in the regular season, once in the SCIL Festival final, which High Point won, and in the North 1, Group 3 sectional tournament, where Sparta gained its revenge.
On the boys side, Jefferson, which faced a very tough Newton squad Thursday, will do battle with Pope John Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Pope. The Falcons will have a tough task in handling Sam Mushman, but wiry-strong Derek Hall can be an effective nuisance in the low blocks do to his hustle and positioning. Plus, both teams have plenty of experience. This should be a good one.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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