The Knights Watchman

scarletknights.com After two-weeks to work on fundamentals, get a bit healthier, and prepare for Saturday's showdown with the University of Illinois Fighting Illini , Rutgers finally gets the chance to go back to showing the improvement that we saw at the start of the season. Coach Ash said that the staff "took a hard look at all three phases." The Scarlet Knights head into the contest at Memorial Stadium in Champaign to face what appears to be the most beatable opponent on the remaining schedule. Saying the Illini are beatable and then going to their home field and doing that are two different things. Like Rutgers , the Fighting Illini have recently been embroiled in a quarterback controversy. Sophomore Jeff George, Jr., just wrested the job from junior Chayce Crouch. George gives the Illini a QB with a very strong arm who can sling the ball downfield, much like his father. However, in the small sample of his play, he's also been prone to interceptions...

Congratulations are in order for Rutgers Athletics, as many of the university's sports programs scored exceptional marks in Graduation Success Rate. Read the article on Scarletknights.com here The football team ranked third among all Big Ten schools. Great job to the student athletes and academic support staff in all of the sports!

This past Saturday was another heartbreaking loss for Rutgers as they remain winless in Big Ten action despite now having played fairly winnable games against Iowa , Illinois , Minnesota , and Indiana . Looking back at the game and the coaches' postgame comments, there was good and bad on both sides of the ball. The difference in the game was that Indiana made one more big play than Rutgers did. As Ash stated, "I like our preparation. We just need to get better in a lot of areas." Special Teams In his opening postgame remarks, head coach Chris Ash said of Rutgers, "we need to be better on special teams" later citing the missed field goal and blocked punt as things that Rutgers can't have happen. There was also plenty of good on special teams as Rutgers blocked two kicks and recovered a muffed punt. Rutgers has now blocked at least two kicks in every season since 2007. I also thought the first two returns put Rutgers in decent field position....

Although it's the off season, there seems to be plenty of Rutgers football action going on in Piscataway. About a month ago, us season ticket holders received a packet in the mail trumping the new additions to the stadium, along with the opportunity to get in on the premium seating. Unfortunately, I am not yet in the income bracket that would allow me to watch the game in those kinds of luxuries, but I'll have to say that if I did have that kind of bank it would be very tempting. A big time college football program should have big time amenities. The money the premium seats will bring in will only help to improve the program and the school in general. For the past few weeks, it seems I've been getting daily e-mails from Scout.com listing yet another stellar recruit that Schiano has waiting in the wings for 2009. Much has been made about the verbals from Tom Savage and Desmond Scott. but there isn't a player on the list so far that isn't either highly rated or has e...