Over the past few weeks I've compiled my own personal Top 25 polls based on the criteria that I outlined a few posts ago. Probably would have made a lot more sense to post it back then, but then again, better late then never. Here's this week's installment of my latest Top 25 along with some of my comments:

1. Florida (12-0)
2. Alabama (12-0)..Does it really matter though. We'll know who # 1 is around 7PM on Saturday.
3. Texas (12-0)
4. TCU (12-0)
5. Cincy (11-0)..Will jump TCU if win at Pitt. Let's hope the voters agree along with a Huskers upset.
6. Boise St (12-0)
7. Ohio St (10-2)...Best two loss team in country and playing its best football at the end of the season.
8. Oregon (10-2)
9. Georgia Tech (10-2)
10. Penn State (10-2)
11. Iowa (10-2)..Not the same team without Ricky Stanzi and thus behind PSU
12. Pitt (9-2)
13. V Tech (9-3)
14. Miami (9-3)
15. BYU (10-2)
16. Oregon St (8-3)
17. LSU (9-3)
18. Houston (10-2)
19. Cal (8-3)
20. Oklahoma St (9-3)
21. Wisconsin (9-3)...Only move up b/c of loses in front of them
22. West Virginia (8-3)
23. USC (8-3)
24. Nebraska (9-3)
25. Stanford (8-4)

Also Receiving Votes (In No Particular Order): Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Rutgers, Kentucky

Rutgers did a lot of things right to bring its season back on track, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions along the way to a 34-14 victory over Louisville at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. On the Scarlet Knights first possession, Tom Savage connected with Tim Brown on a key 20 yard pass play to set the tone as well as a one yard Joe Martinek TD plunge. One of the major contributing factors of success of both Tom Savage and Tim Brown this season is the development of a chemistry element between the two. Over the past few games, you can clearly see Savage throwing the ball into spaces based on where he anticipates the wide out to move, cut and handle coverage packages on the field. While Brown seems to becoming more opportunistic by identifying holes and gaps in tight space knowing that his QB has the ability and confidence to deliver the ball into him successfully.

A slightly different wrinkle from the offense that we saw in the first half was the use of Tom Savage in the option package which he ran on two occasions, once for a touchdown, during an impressive 87 yard 16 play drive early in the second quarter to put RU up 14-0.

Mohamed Sanu, stole the show though with a nearly complete game performance (he did fumble a punt) going 148 yards and two TD’s on 18 carries. Sanu showed the ability to bull and stiff arm his way through would be tacklers running out of the emerging wildcat set for much of the day. Sanu is a truly gifted athlete with the size, speed, cutting ability and vision required to run the Wildcat. Given that though, just about everyone in attendance yesterday knew he was going to be the ball carrier each time he lined up behind center. He just didn’t seem to be able to sell the fake reverses to D’Antwan Williams very well although he did just miss Tim Brown on one downfield throw in single coverage. With time, he will learn to run the Wildcat with the same kind of success that I’m sure Schiano had once envisioned for Jabu Lovelace running out of his own run-gun set which will truly encompass the vast spectrum of his talents.

Other News and Notes:
• Once again the Rutgers offense failed to put a complete game together. After scoring on four consecutive drives to start the game, Rutgers next six drives end in six punts and a total 20 yards before the game is put away in the fourth quarter on Sanu’s 33 yard run out of the wildcat
• Zaire Kitchen’s devastating shoulder to the helmet hit on Louiville’s Doug Beaumont in the 3rd quarter was the result of the inherent violent nature of the game rather then an unsportsmanlike helmet to helmet hit as called by the referees.
• Overall the O-line had a strong performance vs Louisville. However, Kevin Haslam was helped off the field following a 4th quarter Joe Martinek run and appeared to be heavily favoring his left leg. It was not clear what the cause of the injury was but he was replaced for the remainder of the game by Des Stapleton.
• Up Next: Well, our wishes for a WVU loss vs Pitt did not come true last night and it seems that the recharged Noel Devine along with thousands of ‘eers faithful will invade Piscataway next Saturday with a lot to play for. RU hasn’t played a regular season game of this magnitude since a certain December Saturday in 2006. Just like the Mountaineers exacted their revenge of sorts for the 2007 Backyard Brawl (And subsequent BCS title game birth), it’s time to get ours. With the exception of the visiting WVU section, each and every seat in Rutgers Stadium had better be filled with a scarlet wearing Rutgers Fan.

It seems that the growing theme over the past few weeks is the Scarlet Knights offensive ineptitude for converting game changing plays by the defense and special teams into momentum swinging points on the board. While this was masked somewhat in the 31-0 route vs USF it was clearly evident in Saturday’s 31-13 loss at Syracuse. Whether we call this a the product of stating a freshman quarterback in Savage, the atrocious play by the offensive line (particularly the right side), inability to make offensive adjustments or simply poor preparation by the coaching staff, putting the team in the frame of mind to convert these opportunities into actual points needs to be Schiano’s primary concern beginning with Friday’s match up at Louisville. Here’s a summary of the latest offensive miscues following key plays in Saturday’s loss:

Coming off of a Syracuse TD in the 1st quarter, Devin McCourty returns a Syracuse kickoff 54 yards setting the offense up deep inside Syracuse territory. On a key third down play, Savage, who got pressure from all directions the entire day, telegraphs a pass to Tim Wright with Syracuse’s linebackers read the entire time and picks off the pass killing the possession on three plays.

Following the Joe Lefeged’s safety in 2nd quarter Savage gets sacked by Syracuse’s Doug Houge (this week’s national defensive player of the week) after hanging onto the ball too long. While it’s easy to understand Savage not wanting to turn the ball over with an errant pass, he needs to recognize that when no receivers are open, he needs to either move outside of the pocket and create something or simply throw the ball away to avoid the sack. This led to another three and out as Savage gets pressure the entire possession which totaled a mere three downs.

After another McCourty partially blocked punt in the 4th quarter, Rutgers has the ball on its own 42 down 24-13 in the fourth quarter but with more then 8 minutes on the clock. Joe Martinek gets buried for a loss on second down run to the right side and the possession ends after three meaningless plays.

That’s a total of three big plays between McCourty and Lefedged that totaled zero points on Saturday. What this team needs to understand is that its being able to convert these key opportunities is what separates a team like Rutgers from teams that can consistently maintain a top 25 standing year in and year out.

I think so but the performance of other teams will decide if it will last unfortunately. Each week I do my own personal Top 25 which I factor in current results, overall record, strength of schedule, head to head results, previous week's AP poll and my Top 25 from the previous week. I use the AP because for one, its a human poll and two it takes the emotion out of me being the one deciding who should be in the Top 25 based on my personal feelings, likes and dislikes of other teams (I am a fan after all). Honestly this week there were 4-5 teams deserving of # 25 but I did put put Rutgers at # 25 because I couldn't find a reason why I should put a three loss BCS team ahead of them. UNC could easily have been there coming off of their impressive home win vs Miami. Even at 7-3, they were only one vote short of cracking the Top 25. Also right there is Nebraska who is hosting K-State this weekend and is coming off of a win at Kansas and is also at 7-3. Cal is also right there at 7-3 following their win at Arizona.

My feeling though is that even if we win convincingly at Syracuse this weekend, there are no guarantees when the new AP poll comes out on Sunday. If UNC wins at BC this weekend, they could very well pass us because voters would view their win over a 7-3 Eagle team as more impressive then a potential RU win over the 3-7 Orange. Another concern I have is Cal coming off of their win at Arizona is now facing Stanford in the annual "Big Game." If Cal wins, there is no reason why voters wouldn't put them past us in the polls. The emerging theme here is that Big East teams are at a disadvantage in that they consistently need to have one less loss then other BCS conference schools in order to be viewed on an equal basis in the minds of the voters. The bottom line is this: Rutgers right now is deserving to be in the Top 25 and, as long as they continue to win they deserve to stay there. However, whether they actually do stay there doesn't depend so much on what they do but it depends largely upon what the other teams around them do this weekend. I find it hard to imagine an 8-2 BCS conference team not ranked in the Top 25 at this stage of the season but it certainly seem like a very real possibility.

Doug Marrone has been cleaning house since he took over the Syracuse football program in December. Gone from the GRob era of Syracuse Football are 21 scholarship players (25% of the 85 maximum NCAA allotment) who either weren’t buying what Marrone was selling or simply couldn’t cut it in the new Syracuse era of accountability.

Included on the casualty list is star receiver Mike William’s who decided to hang it up following a post game visit and subsequent car accident outside of the Turning Stone Casino near Syracuse on November 1st. While I am sure that many of these departures as well as the 2-2 start (including a 37-34 win over the now 7-4 Northwestern) caused hope for the future, the injury bug over the past several games has not been kind to Marrone and the Orange. Gone for the year are nine players on both sides of the ball including All Big East DT Arthur Jones who suffered his season ending knee injury during the November 7th Pittsburgh game in which Syracuse was able to travel with just 55 healthy players.

Staring into what has now become a 3-7 record with Rutgers and UConn left on the schedule, most coaches would have resigned the season and begun preparing the team and its younger players for the future. That kind of “sacrifice now for the future” attitude just isn’t part of Marrone’s make up though.

“We're still going out there to win games, not to give people experience for next year,” Marrone said. “It's not next year until the last game is over. The way people are getting experience now on this team is through injury."

The kind of attitude Marrone is trying to instill in this team comes from what he learned as a player under Dick MacPherson during the early 1980’s.

“I've always played to win," Marrone said. "I think this team will always play to win. Coach Mac ... I don't want to speak for Coach Mac, but we always played to win. I think that's what you do here at Syracuse - you play to win."

It wasn’t too long ago that a 34 year old first time coach came into Piscataway with the same kind of rhetoric talking about winning the Big East and going to bowl games. We all thought that guy was crazy when he got up at his introductory press conference and started talking about his vision of the State of Rutgers. We all know it can happen and why can’t it happen again. After all, a good, competitive Syracuse would be a good thing for the Big East.

If Rutgers plans to show us more then just a “W” against the Black Knights on Friday, it must cure its schizophrenic offense by getting back to being a run first throw second team. That’s the same formula that worked so well during the 2006 season when Teel was a first year and unproven sophomore starter. I’m not saying that any one of four RB’s is Ray Rice but being able to collectively pound the ball inside with a sustained running game while showing a threat to break off the long run is the first step in solving this apparent identity crisis and opens up Savage to make his down field passes to Sanu, Brown and the chorus line of potential third WR options. O-line Injuries: Although the running game against Pitt produced only 38 yards on 20 carries, 29 of which came from Sanu via the wildcat, the o-line seemingly had it’s best of the year against BCS competition in terms of QB protection. Could this unit finally be coming together without the services of season opening starter Caleb Ruch and Desmond Wynn?

Will the rocket take off finally? Everyone else has pretty much beaten the drum on this one but it’s worth mentioning once again. The cover is off the Schiano’s new offensive sports car and the kid’s red shirt has been burned. Give the kid a chance against FBS competition and make him part of your running game for more then just fourth quarter mop up work.

Wildcat Offense: Whether this is just a gimmick conceived by Schiano and the OC’s or if there is a vision of having the wildcat become a strategic piece of the offense, I do not know. If it is the later, integrate it into the offense and use it consistently (the polar opposite of how it was intermittently used during the Pitt loss). Use it when you need a wrinkle play inside of the red zone but remember, run first, pass second. It’s time to end the gimmicks and regain a semblance of an identity for this offensive unit.

Penalty Mistakes: Although the penalty line from the box score of the Pitt game shows 6 penalties for 55 yards, it seemed very clear that we committed many of these penalties in key third down situations both on offense and defense that ended drives for us or extended drives for Pitt. This undisciplined play has got to stop if this team is going to go anywhere looking ahead to Connecticut, South Florida and West Virginia. The truth is we do not score a lot of points and every possession is precious.

Devin McCourty: Not enough has been said about Devin’s play on defense and special teams this year. The development of his game is one of the few positive stories that have developed this year. His line on Friday was 11 tackles, 1.0 for loss and a blocked punt. Look for # 21 all over the field at Michie Stadium on Friday.

No matter how you spin it, Fridays 24-17 loss to the Panthers seals the fate of the Scarlet Knights to a December bowl appearance assuming they are able to achieve the seven wins required to become bowl eligible (Since only one FCS win can count towards bowl eligibility). The difference between championship teams (see Florida’s 23-20 win vs Arkansas) and the “also ran’s” is that the coaching staff and players on championship teams find a way to win games like Friday night so that they don’t have to spend their offseason thinking about things that could have been. While there are still some “nice” things we can achieve this year in spite of the 0-2 Big East start, how long we as are fans can tolerate 7-5 seasons followed by the St. Petersburg Bowl remains the be seen, especially for a team that entered the season with BCS dreams but is effectively eliminated from the running by middle of October.

Expectations are a very dangerous thing, but its managing them, meeting them and exceeding them that separates top flight programs from everyone else. Right now, this team is trying to do too many things at once, constantly tinkering with personnel as it struggles to find it’s offensive identity both on and off the field. While changes surely need to be made, it seems that we are falling into the trap of mistaking these changes for actual progress and not making the kind of changes that give us the “best chance to win”. The decisions made along the sideline this year have at times left many fans wondering if 2006 was just an anomaly and whether or not it is realistic to think that we can ever get back there (or further) again. The bottom line is this….Just because we’re doing something doesn’t mean we’ve done anything. As the great John Wooden once said “don’t ever mistake activity for achievement.”

Finally, redemption is about to arrive in the form of a Big East matchup vs the Pittsburgh Panthers (5-1, 2-0). Hard to believe 46 days will have passed since the humiliating defeat against the Bearcats once the Scarlet Knights suit up on Friday night. Dave Wannstedt enters the game riding a four game losing streak vs Rutgers but guides a squad that is vastly different from the defensive focused teams that have faced the knights over the four years of his tenure.

The 2009 edition of QB Bill Stull looks nothing like the player who managed just 9 TD’s and 10 INT’s including an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Oregon St. in the Sun Bowl to close the 2008 season. Through the first six games of 2009, Stull has thrown for 1,256 yards and 13 TD’s against just 3 INT’s and has elevated his game over the past three weeks in which the Panthers have faced consecutive BCS opponents. With superior pass protection provided by the Pitt O-line, Stull currently holds the nations 4th highest passer rating trailing only Jimmy Clausen, Kellen Moore and Tim Tebow.

Leading the receiving corps is freakish sophomore Jonathan Baldwin. The 6’5” Baldwin not only towers over opposing CB’s and possesses NFL caliber physical tools, but he is also blessed with 4.4 speed that he uses to separate from coverage and gain 532 yards on just 27 receptions including 3 TD’s. The Panthers also hope to exploit several advantages at the TE position where Dorian Dickerson leads the team with 7 TD’s. "We have a great matchup with our tight ends," Stull says. "With Dorin (Dickerson) running down the middle of the field against their linebackers, we like that matchup. They play a lot of man-to-man defense. If we protect well, with their man coverages, we can have some great matchup advantages."

Freshman RB Dion Lewis enrolled at Pitt in January and quickly answered the question of who would replace LeSean McCoy. Lewis was virtually assured the starting roll following a stellar spring and hasn’t looked back since bursting out of the gate with consecutive 100 yard games on the way to 738 yards and 7 TD’s through the first half of 2009. Lewis is a classic thickly built, low center of gravity runner who bounces between would be tacklers and quickly accelerates to full speed. Joining Lewis in the running game is fellow freshman Ray Graham (step brother of Khaseem Greene) who has 176 yards on 32 carries and is more of a downhill, workhorse straight line back who provides a strong complement to the cutting, slashing style of Dion Lewis.

Notes: Other then Big East standings implications, Friday night’s game could also help sway the balance of powers in local Big Eat recruiting pecking order. Pittsburgh boasts 11 current players from New York and New Jersey but more importantly has made some significant inroads recently by receiving non binding verbal commitments from 5 players from the NY/NJ area in its 2010 class.

Sam Bergen hasn’t had it easy over the past 12 months but following Saturday’s blow out win vs TSU he finally got what was coming to him, an offer from the school he’s wanted to go to for a long time. With his offer in hand, the linebacker out of East Stroudsburg South HS (East Stroudsburg, PA) promptly pledged his non binding oral commitment to the Scarlet Knights making him the tenth projected member of the 2010 class.

Heading into his junior year the 6’0” 225 lb Bergen received plenty of interest from the likes of Uconn, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Michigan and Stanford (where his brother is a sophomore LB). However, just two games into the season Sam suffered a left ACL tear, an injury that spells recruiting death for so many high school athletes. As was expected, most schools gave up on him completely but some took a wait and see approach perhaps seeing something special in Bergen who as a sophomore recorded 89 tackles and 5 sacks while earning all area honors.

Following surgery, Bergen endured ten months of rehab, strength and conditioning but never once gave up hope that he would one day return to his prior form on the gridiron. During the summer months, Bergen followed rehab by running the camp gauntlet and attended every junior day he could. More then 12 months after his injury, the redemption bell for Sam Bergen finally rang true on Saturday with his scholarship payoff from the Scarlet Knights. You always like to see guy like Sam who overcome such improbable odds and work themselves back to the top of their game. Just like Brian Sheridan, Ryan Neill and Eric Foster before him, Sam Bergen is exactly the kind of player Schiano needs to represent the present and future of the Scarlet Knights.

Not much for the Scarlet Knights to gain from Saturday other then getting Savage back on track and getting tuned up for Friday’s match up against Pitt. The defense once again played the starring role (pitching a 42-0 shut out), allowing just 126 yards of offense and specifically minus 25 yards on the ground.

Beyond training camp very little has been said about the emergence of Tim Brown as the “go to” receiver in this group. If you didn’t think he was our guy before, you will now. In a second quarter reception over the middle, deuce put his hands out to snare a Savage pass and was immediately flipped in the air by multiple defenders. He still somehow managed to hold onto the ball as he crashed to the ground. Quietly, Timmy Brown is putting together an all Big East caliber year with 452 yards receiving including two 100 yard games.

Just how much of the underperforming running game can be attributed to uneven performances of Martinek and Brooks or poor line play is still uncertain. What I did notice on Saturday though was an o-line that just didn’t seem to have the forward surge to allows runners a few steps beyond the line of scrimmage before contact. Another point is that rather then holes it seems Martinek, Brooks and Williams have slots or cracks to run through which is much more difficult for straight line runners like Martinek and Brooks.

Tom Savage performed efficiently (14-21, 150 yds., 1TD) and once again did not commit any mistakes (turnovers). They got him throwing both from the pocket and short passes rolling right and he also threatened several times with the long ball once connecting with deuce on a 34 yard TD. I am completely satisfied with this performance, less for Tom’s 28 yard scramble in which he put his head down and barrelled directly into an oncoming linebacker for two additional yards at the end of the run. Tom you throw an absolutely great ball but you need to stop by Fred Hill Sr’s office sometime to get some tips on sliding. Please also stop watching Florida games.

Can we all agree that with Rocket’s performance against the two FCS opponents that he’s played against (31 carried for 221 yds., 1 TD) that he’s earned a call up to BCS play. His cutting, explosive running style is completely different then (and complementary to) Martinek and Brooks. Whereas Schiano likes to allocate blocks of time to these two, I think he can stick Rocket in the middle of a series as a change of pace back who can also break one off any time he touches the ball. He adds a completely different dimension to the running game. Why not make opposing teams prepare for three backs who have all eclipsed 100 yards in games this year?

A few other take aways from Saturday: Has anyone else seen the development of Devin McCourty this year into an outstanding gunner on punt coverage? He’s consistently been the first player downfield either tying up or delivering a punishing open field blow to the opposing return man. Speaking of open field tackling, on Saturday Khaseem Greene made up for some sloppy tacking by the defense on a play coming from across the field and about 10-15 yards behind the Texas Southern runner and just buried him along the sideline during a third quarter run.

In spite of having to replace 12 starters entering training camp, the Maryland Terrapins had aspirations of competing for the ACC Championship entering the season. However, the Terps have disappointed fans, following a very similar path to Rutgers thus far as seen in their opening season 52-13 blow out on the road at Cal, a game in which Maryland’s defense gave up 542 yards of total offense (Sound familiar). The following week, the Terps barely pulled out a win against FCS Top 5 James Madison winning 38-35 in OT but couldn’t repeat last week in its 32-31 home loss to Middle Tennessee State. Much like Coach Schiano, Coach Ralph Friedgen finds himself scratching his head entering this week’s match up against its first BCS opponent since the opening week. And like Schiano, Friedgen has been plagued by uninspiring play at the QB position and is looking for life signs from a defense that was victimized for 137 yards and 2 TD’s on just 10 carries from Javid Best in the opener.

The similarities end there however as Maryland’s running game, led by Junior Da’Rel Scott has been one of the few bright spots for the Terrapins this year along with better then expected play from an o-line that replaced three starters entering the year. As a sophomore, Scott out of Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS in Conshohocken, PA, earned 1st team All ACC honors rushing 1,133 yards and averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Scoring TD’s in each of his first three games, the highly versatile Scott has maintained form rushing for 275 yards on 43 carries for 6.4 yards per carry and has made his presence felt in the receiving game along with star sophomore receiver Torrey Smith (14 catches for an incendiary 274 yards thus far) where he has caught 5 passes for 42 yards through the first three contests.

While Scott will surely offer the biggest rushing challenge to date for the Scarlet Knights defense, a unit that is ranked 106 nationally in total defense through the first three weeks, a shut down of the Terps running game is not out of the question following the solid performance vs FIU and would certainly be another step in the right direction for a defense who entered training camp as one of the top returning units in the Big East.

Nonchalant (Adjective, French Origin, Pronunciation non-shuh-lant) - Coolly unconcerned, indifferent, unexcited; casual. This is the nicest word that can be used to describe the Rutgers offense yesterday. Better choices would be uncaring, worthless, terrible, disgusting, awful, or pathetic. The Knights narrowly avoided a fourth quarter meltdown, defeating one of the worst FBS teams, in the form of Florida International, 23-15.

The Scarlet Knights entered the day as 14 point favorites vs. its opponent from the Sun Belt Conference and would have lost the game were it not for a revitalized Rutgers defense that returned two interceptions for touchdowns, which, sadly enough, is twice as many as the offense put on the board. The defense, until yesterday, hasn't been doing its part either. After the game, senior defense end George Johnson stated, "We still got a big chip on our shoulders, though. We're going to carry it all season, to play the way we have to."

Whether or not the criticisms that the defense had received after the first two weeks was the jump start the the unit needed, or they were just woefully unprepared for the first two weeks is of no importance. The bigger issue is whether or not yesterday's performance (5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 42 yds rushing allowed, 2TDs scored) can be replicated for the remainder of the season. If Rutgers has any hope of salvaging the season, it will have to be the defense that carries the team.

The fact that a Rutgers defense is the strongest part of the team is nothing new, but the fact that this year's offense is so woefully anemic is a pain point for most fans. Another sub-par rushing performance (160 yards on 41 attempts) is not the least bit surprising after the first two games. Through three games, the Knights have amassed just 455 yards on the ground on 118 attempts, for a paltry 3.85 yds/carry. This from an offensive line that returned all five starters. Does anyone expect a line that can't muster 200 yards on the ground vs. Florida International (and barely did so vs. Howard, needing a late burst from true freshman De'Antwan Williams in garbage time) to suddenly turn it around vs. Pitt in a few weeks? Coach Schiano, who is still tinkering with the offensive line in week three, admitted after the game that, "we're trying to find the best five." Where are we looking? Didn't we have the best five after last year's seven game winning streak to close the season? How about this spring? Were we still looking at training camp in August? Is this a result of Kyle Flood's promotion? It's time for the coaching staff to go back to square one and teach basic blocking.

Rutgers has been fortunate enough to open the season with a very weak schedule (save for Cincinnati) or this season could be a lot worse. The next two games are at Maryland, which lost to Sun Bowl conference member Middle Tennessee State yesterday, next Saturday and vs. FCS Texas Southern at home on October 10th. Time is running out on the this team to turn it around. The defense appeared to have remedied its issues yesterday, but it's still only one game. They won't be able to keep it up if the line doesn't come together and regain the ability to sustain drives, burn clock and keep the defense off the field.

Irrelevant. That's another word that can be used to describe the Rutgers offense right now. Let's hope the offense can right the ship and this word won't be used to describe the Rutgers 2009 football season.

While it didn’t produce anything near the kind of offensive numbers we had all hoped, for 54 minutes on Saturday the Rutgers defense played lights out. It was the kind of play that echoed back to the days of Ramel Meekins, Quintero Frierson and Devraun Thompson. The days when quarterbacks were hunted like an extraterrestrial life form picking off members of an elite military team in Central America one by one. Totaling five sacks and limiting the running game to a mere 10 yards on 20 carries to proverbial Predator had seemingly arrived to Piscataway for 54 minutes on Saturday afternoon.

Heading into Saturday’s matchup the Rutgers defense seemed anything but, ranked last in the Big East and a virtual no show for the first two games against Cincinnati and Howard. During the week defensive end George Johnson vented his frustration of hearing how this veteran laden defense was "underachieving" and "not good enough." On Saturday, the Rutgers defense carried out their frustration limiting the Golden Panthers to 42 yards on 23 carries and 218 yards through the air, much of which took place in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter.

"That’s what our plan was," the defensive end said following the Rutgers 23-15 win that was more lopsided then the score indicated. "We still got a big chip on our shoulders, though. We’re going to carry it all season, to play the way we have to."

"I thought we got better," coach Greg Schiano said. "We put pressure on the quarterback. I don’t know how many sacks we had, but it seemed like we hit him a lot. We needed to have an outing like that. In the end, we gave up 15 points, but we are getting better. And that is the key. We made some big improvements since Cincinnati. We just need to keep going in that direction."

Perhaps the convincing performance by the Rutgers defense on Saturday is a turning point of sorts for the 2009 season. Similar to October 18th 2008 as a last second field goal dinged off the cross bar to a hushed crowd and Rutgers escaped 12-10 against the Huskies beginning what would end up being a seven game winning streak to close the season. Like Tom Luicci tried to get Coach Schiano to admit to so many times last year. This defense is finally playing “winning football”.

Scarlet Knight fans can breathe easy again this week as the Florida International Golden Panthers come to town for what should be a snooze fest. The biggest question heading into the game has to be "Will the highly touted Rutgers offensive line, anchored by junior/early first round draft pick Anthony Davis dominate the Panthers defensive front seven or will they get man-handled by the Golden Panthers defensive line worse than Liberace walking the streets of Greenwich Village in New York?" Unfortunately, the Knights did their best impression of the latter in parts of the first two games.

Rutgers will and cover (they are 14 point favorites) the spread but need to do a lot more than that. FIU made the jump to FBS in 2005 lost their opener at Alabama 40-14. Second year head coach Mario Cristobal (and former Schiano assistant) will make this team respectable in the coming years, but he's not there yet.

The Knights need to make a statement with their running game. They were shut down by Cincy and racked up 245 vs. Howard but needed a late burst from De'Antwan Williams to do so. It would be nice to see one back get into a rhythm early and have 150 yards by halftime. The running game needs to be perceived as a serious threat before the schedule picks up when conference play resumes.

The teacher vs. student story line will be interesting as will the Tim Brown - Anthony Gaitor story line. Gaitor will line up at corner back across the line of scrimmage from Brown. The two were high school teammates at Miami Northwestern High School.

This is also a big stage for the Rutgers defense (currently ranked last in the Big East), especially the lineman, who have been inconsistent at best when it comes to putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Sometimes defenses have swarming pass rushes and lack in coverage of the wide receivers. Other times, the coverage is great but pass rush is weak. First year co-defensive coordinators Ed Pinkham and Bob Fraser have implemented a strategy thus far where 11 players take the field and just stand around. It seems that defenders have been told not to make contact with opponents until they have gained at least 8 yards.

Let's hope the Knights are firing on all cylinders tomorrow and bring some confidence on the road to Maryland next week.

Week 3 of the college football season is underway tonight with the Georgia Tech - Miami game. All eight Big East teams are in action this Saturday. There are only three losses to non-conference opponents through the first two weeks, two of which belong to Syracuse. The other was UConn's heartbreaking loss to North Carolina in the final seconds last Saturday. Without further ado, let's take a look at this week's matchups:

South Florida (No Line) over Charleston Southern (Saturday, 7PM)

USF fans have probably been bored to tears with games so far vs. Wofford (a 40-7 win) and Western Kentucky (a 35-13 win). If that isn't bad enough, they'll want to slit their wrists after another mindless sleeper this weekend vs. Charleston Southern. The Bulls have one more game to work out any kinks before travelling to Tallahassee to take on Florida State next weekend, followed by the beginning of conference play next week at Syracuse.

Navy (+9) over Pitt (Saturday, 6PM)

This is supposed to be Pitt's year to win the Big East, but, as stated in this space previously, bad things tend to happen when Dave Wannestedt is roaming the sidelines. Pitt hasn't been tested this year with wins over Youngstown State and Buffalo, but will be when second year head coach Ken Niumatalolo brings his Midshipmen to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Navy is coming off of a win Louisiana Tech, but more importantly, a 31-27 loss to Ohio State in Columbus two weeks ago. The Mids almost erased a 15 point 4th quarter deficit scoring two touchdowns in four minutes before having the game tying two point conversion attempt intercepted and returned. The most amazing story of this game is that 6 of Navy's 18 first downs in this game came via passes. That's 33 per cent! If Navy's passing game is at least decent enough to keep opponents guessing, they'll be very successful this year. Pitt will have its hands full trying to win this game, let alone cover.
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Syracuse (+3) over Northwestern

Syracuse wraps up its Big 10 portion of the schedule this week with Northwestern at home. I'm picking Syracuse to not only cover, but also win the game outright. Follow the logic. They lost to Minnesota in OT, then lost at Penn State but did not get humiliated. This is the weakest of the three teams, it's a home game, and Syracuse has had two weeks to gel. Coach Marrone will get his first of what Orange fans hope to be many Gatorade showers on Saturday night.

UConn (+10.5) over Baylor

The Bears received votes in the AP Poll and senior linebacker Joe Pawelek was named Big 12 defensive player of the week on the heels of Baylor's 24-21 victory at Wake Forest. Although it was a road win against a BCS conference team, it is in no way, shape or form worth of 10.5 points this week vs. UConn. Let's not forget the Huskies' battle with another ACC foe last week. The 12-10 loss to then # 19 North Carolina is far more impressive than what Baylor did, in spite of that fact that the Huskies came up short.

Kentucky (-10.5) over Louisville

Sorry Cardinals fans, but time have changed. Football in the state of Kentucky now belongs to the Wildcats, at least for now. The silver lining is that this Saturday's loss will only accelerate the long overdue firing of Steve Kragthorpe, at one point the healing process can truly begin.

Auburn (-4) over West Virginia

The Big East desperately needs a win here as this is one of two huge statements games this weekend vs. other BCS schools, but it probably won't happen. The Mountaineers defense has allowed a combine 40 points vs. Liberty and East Carolina and will likely be without junior defensive end Scooter Berry who injured his shoulder vs. East Carolina. Auburn is at home and has scored 86 combined points in its first two games.

Cincinnati (-2.5) over Oregon State

This would be the other statement game that Big East desperately needs to win. The Bearcats can climb the rankings and position themselves for a potential national title run with a win over a Pac 10 opponent. Oregon State beat Portland State in Week 1 and struggled to beat UNLV last week. Tony Pike and company put on a clinic vs. what was supposed to be a solid Rutgers defense in week 1.

Florida International vs. Rutgers

Coming tomorrow ... Stay Tuned

The teacher versus the pupil. ....It doesn't quite have the ring of an Eric Mangini vs Bill Belichick matchup, but Saturday's bout against the Golden Panthers is Schiano's first against his current coaching tree of one. Here's a few thoughts headed into Saturday's game.

Sanu: What are the odds that he's going to make it three out of three on the year? I wonder what unsuspecting d-back will experience the latest round of Hines Ward style devastation from the newly minted 20 year old.

FIU Wideout T.Y. Hilton: This guy is explosive....Archie P of the Rutgers Fan Blog on nj.com might even venture to say that this guy is a human WMD and that we need to call in the IAEA. 12 TD's in 2008 scored in almost every way possible: seven receiving, two rushing, one on a punt return, one on a kick off and one passing. Only problem is he's a sophomore so it's pretty safe to assume that there's some true freshman on FIU's bench who hasn't played a single down of college football but should be starting over him and who also is a guaranteed first round NFL pick.

Davis & Co.: Using 11 linemen in Saturday's game against Howard shows a loss of confidence of sorts in the front fives ability to protect Savage and open holes for the running game. They have been a virtual no show in the first two game and we are all here waiting for the unit that started the second half of 2008 to finally start showing up. We can't put all of the blame on the slow development of the running game on Martinek, Brooks and Co.

It happened on Saturday with about 6 minutes and 30 seconds left in the first half. Howard was making its furthest drive of the game to Rutgers 40 yard line. Down 32-0 and facing a key conversion situation the Bison stepped to the line of scrimmage in mass confusion. It was right then that as the play clock wound down to two seconds that Schiano mysteriously called a time out. Most of us including myself didn’t have a clue what was going on. My friend, who’s also a high school football referee, saw the whole thing from a different perspective then most of us fans. He saw what Schiano saw. That Howard, having used all of its timeouts had 12 men on the field as the play clock was about to expire. Schiano could have done nothing and benefitted from it. But rather then watching the Bison be charged with a delay of game penalty or having too many players on the field, he decided to call a time out. It was a different side of coaching that we don’t see much because it is so often hard to find. It was sportsmanship. While we can talk all day long about how it was also Schiano’s call that allowed Howard to score on the next play, it was one coach showing mercy on another coach and a team in a game that had long been decided.

Yet another sign of the Big East's renewed commitment to significantly improve the conference's bowl picture....According to the New York Times, the Big East and the Big 12 are close to an agreement with the New York Yankees to play a bowl game at Yankee Stadium beginning in 2010. The "Yankee Bowl" would place the Big East's 3rd or 4th place finisher against the 7th place team from the Big 12 and would take place during the week between Christmas and New Years. The most interesting point that I took away from the story is that the Big East has not committed to which team (either the 3rd or 4th) they will slot for the match up against the Big 12. This may have some implications on another ongoing negotiation between the Big East and the Music City Bowl in Nashville that would seemingly leave the Big East open to place its 3rd place team in a match up against the SEC.

Twenty seven minutes and thirty seconds. That's how long it took Rutgers to fall behind by three possessions in the opener vs. Cincinnati and subsequently have the wheels fall off of what was once a promising season. Rex Ryan spends more time planning his post game meal. Yesterday, the Knights obliterated the Howard Bison, who were a mere 1-10 in FCS play last year, 45-7. There was time when the Rutgers faithful would have been ecstatic with a 1-1 record heading into week 3. There was also a time when Americans paid top dollar to attend a Brittany Spears concert and decided that George W. Bush was the best man to lead this nation (not once, but twice!).

Things have changed at Rutgers and Coach Schiano deserves all the credit. He turned first recruits, and eventually fans into believers. Bowl games and Rutgers used to go together like Hatfields and McCoys, however four straight bowl games and three straight bowl victories have left the fans wanting more. Opening day 2009 was special. This was the day that the program was really going to go to the next level. The stadium addition was complete, the weather was perfect, the RU defense was arguably the best in the conference and the offensive line arguably in the top ten nationally. The stadium was filled with 53,737 Rutgers fans. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. Shortly after kickoff, Tony Pike did what Tony Pike does and the bubble was burst. Fans filed out of the stadium muttering "Same old Rutgers," which became an unofficial school motto during the Doug Graber and Terry Shea years.

Rutgers fans have shared the heartache and agony of Chicago Cubs fans for years. The Scarlet Knights, like Chicago's North Siders have been awful for a long time - but then something happened. Knights fans got their first taste of post-season football with an Insight Bowl berth in 2005. From there, there was the miracle run in 2006, followed by two more bowl berths in 2007 and 2008. Rutgers fans no longer share a common bond with Cubs fans, but suffer a far worse fate. Rutgers fans now know a pain far worse, they suffer from the same ailment that has consumed San Francisco Giants fans for over 50 years. The Giants have not won a World Series since the franchise moved to the west coast, but used to hold the record for consecutive second place finishes (ironically enough the record now belongs to the Boston Red Sox, who certainly have no right to complain about anything anymore) and also blew the largest lead in a World Series clinching game during Game 6 of 2002 World Series vs. the Angels. This is what Rutgers fans now experience. They, like Giants fans, have tasted success and have come so close - painfully close - to finally bringing it to the next level, only to have their hearts ripped out time and time again.

Success breeds expectations, and when expectations are not met, die hard fans fall as hard as the team does. I'm not saying that it's better the other way. I'd much rather have my dreams crushed than not have any dreams at all, but it stings a lot more. Most Rutgers fans were still sick to their stomachs after the Labor Day massacre and its effects could still be seen on Saturday vs. Howard. The parking lots were half full and the fans were not really into the game. The attendance was 43,722, which would have been stellar in previous years and exceeds capacity prior to the expansion. The Knights dominated an inferior opponent and now take on Florida International (barely FBS), Maryland (which needed overtime to beat FCS James Madison yesterday) and Texas Southern (FCS) before conference play starts back up again vs. Pittsburgh on October 16th. It will be another nationally televised game on a Friday night, and the whole country will be watching. Will Rutgers be prepared this time and earn a season saving victory? Will they finally get back on track and set themselves up for a possible run at the Conference Championship and a BCS berth, or will fans start filing out of the stadium at halftime muttering, "Same old Rutgers?"

Success breeds great expectations. Great teams are built by meeting them.

It's hard to believe following Monday's shellacking that we're here: a mere two days away from a date with the FCS Bison of Howard University. Here are a few things we can look for: Howard: Fresh off of a 1-10 season and the loss of "nearly 20 players following and in-house compliance issue" (Phil Steele's words), the Bison are clearly in a rebuilding mode and are picked (by Phil Steele) to finish last in the MEAC in '09. Saturday's match up also represents their season opener.

Savage: The next two games offer a tremendous opportunity for # 7 to build on his solid performance against the Bearcats. He doesn't need to jump in there and play at an all Big East level. He just needs to get a little bit better each game, build confidence in himself, build some confidence in his line, manage the offense, minimize mistakes and let the immense talent that he is surrounded by just make some plays. Once he's got his confidence, then we can all start talking about how to use his immense talents to help this team.

Defense: I read that the Cincinnati beat writers were saying in the press box on Monday that Tony Pike should now be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman. Why shouldn't he be? Would it be too much to ask for this defense to put up the same kind of performance they did last year against Morgan State in their 38-0 win? I don't care about numbers. I just want to see a convincing, fundamentally sound performance that somehow persuades all of us that some other defense showed up on Monday and that the 2009 Rutgers defense started playing its season on Saturday.

Coaching: This week we need to take a step back, take a deep breathe and reset this team. These kids need to look like they are prepared to play every game no matter who the opponent is. The first step was announcing a starter, the next step is getting everyone in the right frame of mind to play. We can't be a step behind, we can't miss tackles and we need to execute. All of the things we didn't do against Cincinnati need to be corrected starting Saturday.