The Knights Watchman

Homecoming was exactly what it needed to be. It was a beautiful day that I enjoyed with my wife and daughter. It also having been the first game that my daughter has attended. She looked so cute in her RU cheerleader's uniform. What else would she be wearing? At first I was a bit concerned with the attendance. At kickoff the stadium was only about half filled. I figured that a lot of the students and alumni wear waiting it out in the parking lot to see if the game was going to be a close one before deciding whether to make the trek inside. With a great party going on in seemingly every parking lot, I can't say I blame them. In most cases a close game is a good game, although this one was frustrating at points. From my vantage point it seemed that RU should have gotten credit for at least one of the two safeties that weren't called. Yet I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before they got one. With the exception of the big-play reception for the touchdown, the RU ...

Tom Luicci of The Star Ledger has written an insightful article/interview featuring Tiquan Underwood. It's nice to see Underwood be some realistic about the sad-sack season he and the Rutgers offense are having. He's a team player saying all the right things. Sure, he's missed some opportunities, but the fact is that the ball is simply not coming his way the way it was last year. A big part of that is simply that that the team isn't running enough plays for everyone to have success. Hopefully Underwood will grab a few balls over the last half-dozen weeks and have a strong finish to his career. What concerns me more than Underwood not being a featured part of the offense is the inability of the defense and special teams to force any turnovers. If you think about it, just one turnover could have been the difference between winning and losing each of the Navy, WVU , and Cincinnati games. One turnover instead of an opponents score and one score for RU on the resulting po...

Another hard-fought loss. That really sums up the Cincinnati game. Losing by 3 on the road to a good team is nothing to be ashamed of. But the losses, whether the games are close or not, are starting to pile up. The offense is still sputtering. The return of Kordell Young was welcome. But he had perhaps the toughest 78 yards I've seen in a long time. Actually, considering that RU had 2 yards rushing in the first half, Young finishing with 78 yards is quite impressive. The sad fact is that the reshuffling of the offensive line bore little fruit. Regardless of whether it was Young or Brooks running the ball, neither seemed to be able to break through the swarming Cincy D-line. Perhaps it was the lack of a running game, but Mike Teel had another mediocre day behind center. He made some good throws but couldn't hit his open receivers with any consistency. Tiquan Underwood finishing the game without a catch is a travesty. You can't tell that he was taken out of the game on e...

Certainly, it's a tough season. Much tougher than anyone expected. But I want to assure everyone that my lack of recent posting has nothing to do with my disappointment in the season. I'm not jumping off the bandwagon when things are going rough. It's like I told a colleague of mine: I rooted for them for fifteen years when they weren't any good and I'm not going to stop now. Other things have kept me from posting: family-related obligations, an illness I've had difficulty shaking, and a recent surge in activity for the band that I'm a part of. Yet I'm hoping that this post will get me back on the horse so to speak. Since my last post the UNC game, the Navy game, Morgan State, and yesterday WVU have came and went. I'll keep my posts about the first three of those games very brief. UNC : RU's rushing defense was great in the first half. Offense stunk. Special teams pretty bad with the exception of the kicking game. Teel played the worst game I...