If Rutgers Can Do It, So Can SMU!!!

[MrMustang1965]

Maybe not this year but soon...

from the Associated Press:

No joke. Rutgers is ranked.

The Scarlet Knights, long a college football laughingstock, moved into The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 30 years on Sunday.

No. 23 Rutgers (4-0), led by tailback Ray Rice, the fourth-leading rusher in the nation, is off to its best start since 1980 after beating Howard 56-7 on Saturday.

"I'm not going to downplay it. It is significant considering where we started," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "It shows we're making progress in the right direction."

The Scarlet Knights were one of three new teams at the bottom of the new media poll, which was mostly unchanged at the top.

Ohio State is still No. 1 with 59 of a possible 65 first-place votes. No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Southern California and No. 4 West Virginia each received two first-place votes.

Auburn had 1,513 points and USC had 1,491. The Tigers lead over the Trojans grew nines points from last week.

No. 5 is Florida, followed by Michigan, Texas, Louisville, LSU and Georgia. The only change in the Top 10 was No. 9 LSU flip-flopping with No. 10 Georgia.

Throughout the 1990s, the Scarlet Knights were among the worst teams in Division I-A, routinely getting blown out by their Big East rivals.

Last year, in Schiano's fifth season at the state university of New Jersey, Rutgers had its first winning year since 1992. The Knights went 7-5 and played in the Insight Bowl, their first bowl game since 1978.

The Knights have benefited from an early weak schedule -- three I-A opponents with a combined 4-8 record and a I-AA team -- but of course it wasn't long ago Rutgers couldn't beat anybody.

The Scarlet Knights were 3-20 in Schiano's first two years. They also had a 25-game conference losing streak from 1999-2003.

Schiano, a New Jersey native, was 10 years old the last time Rutgers was ranked in 1976. Those Scarlet Knights went 11-0 and reached as high as No. 17 in the country.

"I don't think of it in a historical perspective," he said. "You need to win to get into those polls, and the Rutgers program has had some up and down times as we know. I'm glad it's happening now and hope to keep it going."

The other new teams in the poll were No. 24 Georgia Tech (3-1), which has lost only to Notre Dame in its opener, and No. 25 Missouri (4-0).

Missouri is ranked for the first time since the second week of the 2004 season.

Falling out of the rankings for the first time this season were Penn State and Arizona State. The Nittany Lions lost 28-6 to Ohio State in a game that was close into the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils lost 49-21 to California.

Boston College also dropped out after a last-second loss to North Carolina State.

In the USA Today coaches' poll, Ohio State is No. 1 with USC at No. 2 and Auburn at No. 3. West Virginia is fourth and Florida fifth.

Virginia Tech is No. 11 followed by Notre Dame, Iowa, Oregon and Tennessee. The next five were Oklahoma, TCU, Clemson, Florida State and California.

No. 20 is California with Nebraska No. 21 and Boise State at No. 22.

[RGV Pony]

anyone know the back story on Schiano? Where'd he come from?

[MrMustang1965]

anyone know the back story on Schiano? Where'd he come from?

from www.wikipedia.org

Greg Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is the head coach and defensive coordinator for the Rutgers University football team.

Schiano grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and attended Ramapo High School. He then attended Bucknell University, and graduated in 1988 with a B.S. in business administration.

In his playing career at Bucknell, he was a three-year letterman at linebacker. In his junior year, he led his team with 114 tackles and was named to the All-Conference team. In his senior year, he was named team captain, and was named to The Sporting News Preseason All-American Team.

He and his wife Christy currently have four children.

Coaching career

Schiano began his coaching career in 1988 as an assistant coach at Ramapo High School. In 1989, he served as a graduate assistant at Rutgers. In 1990, he took the same position at Penn State, and then served as the defensive backfield coach there from 1991 until 1995.

From 1996 to 1998, Schiano coached in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. For his first two seasons there, he was a defensive assistant, and then was promoted in his third and final season with the Bears to defensive backfield coach.

Schiano's next coaching stop was at the University of Miami, where he served as defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2000. In 1999, the Canes finished the year ranked 12th in the NCAA's Division I-A in points allowed per game (17.2), and in 2000 moved up to 5th (15.5 points allowed per game).

On December 1, 2000, Schiano was named to his current position as head coach at Rutgers. In the 2001 season, his first season as head coach, the Scarlet Knights posted a 2-9 record (0-7 in the BIG EAST), followed by a 1-11 mark (0-7 BIG EAST) in 2002. This was followed by a 5-7 record (2-5 BIG EAST) in 2003. In 2004, Schiano took on defensive coordinator responsibilities as well, and the team finished 4-7 (1-5 BIG EAST). Although Schiano was producing solid recruiting classes, by Rutgers standards especially, his 3-24 record in conference games and 4-17 record in road games in those first four years were a cause for concern for some fans.

But things finally started to turn around for the program in the 2005 season. That year, the team finished with a 7-4 record, including a 4-3 conference record, and a nationally-televised 37-29 upset win over Pittsburgh and their coach Dave Wannstedt, a long-time friend of Schiano's and one-time colleague in Miami and Chicago. At season's end, Schiano and the Scarlet Knights accepted a bid to play in the Insight Bowl against Arizona State University, their first bowl appearance since the 1978 Garden State Bowl (which, coincidentally, was also against Arizona State... Schiano was also at that game). During preparations for the Insight Bowl, Schiano signed a new contract, extending his contract through the 2012 season.

The list of current NFL players who once played under Schiano at Rutgers includes Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Brandon Haw, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Nate Jones and defensive lineman J'Vonne Parker, and Philadelphia Eagles tight end L.J. Smith. Additionally, in 2006, five of the program's graduating seniors signed free agent contracts with NFL teams: wide receiver Chris Baker (San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets), defensive end Val Barnaby (Detroit Lions, New York Jets), offensive lineman Sameeh McDonald (Detroit Lions), wide receiver Tres Moses (Baltimore Ravens), and defensive end Ryan Neill (Buffalo Bills).

[Corso]

Even the second-tier and third-tier talent around here is deeper (read: more of them) than whatever they can conjure up in New Jersey. Never liked much of anything in New Jersey, but you're right -- if they can do it, so can we!

BEAT TULANE!

[that's great raplh]

of course we can - rutgers is a joke

[PonySnob]

Wake Forest seems to be having a decent amount of success as well.

[KnuckleStang]

Rutgers has a sweet TV deal. I don't know how they did it, but every game they play is on the tube in the NYC area. Even when they stunk, they were always on TV locally.

[MrMustang1965]

of course we can - rutgers is a joke

Sadly, there are some people who think the same of SMU. And many of them are alumni from The Hilltop.

[Water Pony]

To be fair, Rutgers has some built in advantages:

- They are the state university of New Jersey
- The Big East is an automatic BCS Bowlqualifer and is at the trough of BCS money


TCU is the only non-BCS candidate, who has a chance to be invited to a BCS Bowl. If they lose a game or two, they are out of the top twenty. Non-BCS schools almost have to run the table to be invited to a BCS bowl.

[dcpony]

I think if Cougar High defeats the U and of course runs the table Cougar will make it to a BCS bowl.

[Mustangs35SMU]

TCU is the only non-BCS candidate, who has a chance to be invited to a BCS Bowl.

Totally agree.

[MrMustang1965]

Waitaminute. I am in no way suggesting that SMU can be a BCS buster anytime soon. I am pointing out that Rutgers is in the Top 25. And isn't this the goal of SMU AD Steve Orsini and head coach Phil Bennett? The time frame for Rutger's return to the Top 25 is about the same as SMU's.

[smu diamond m]

TCU is the only non-BCS candidate, who has a chance to be invited to a BCS Bowl.

Totally agree.

21-10

[Mustangs35SMU]

TCU is the only non-BCS candidate, who has a chance to be invited to a BCS Bowl.

Totally agree.

21-10

....Why say 21-10 to me? I was there. I was one of the many that rushed the field that night after the win.

I do, however, agree with Water Pony that if any Non-BCS team is going to break the BCS bubble this year it is no question TCU.

[MrMustang1965]

How 'bout those Scarlet Knights?????!!!!! Yeah, baby! 22-20 win over the University of South Florida on Friday night in Tampa, FL!!!

from the Associated Press:

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Rutgers' stay in the Top 25 was nearly a short one.

In the school's first game as a ranked team in three decades, the No. 23 Scarlet Knights held on for a 22-20 victory when South Florida failed to make a two-point conversion with 15 seconds remaining Friday night.

"It means a lot to this program," fullback Brian Leonard said. "I don't think a lot of people thought we should be ranked at this point. After this game, I think we proved that we should be."

Ray Rice ran for 202 yards and two touchdowns for Rutgers (5-0, 1-0 Big East), which is unbeaten through five games for the first time since 1976 -- the last season the Scarlet Knights also appeared in The Associated Press poll.

Jeremy Ito kicked field goals of 32, 40 and 53 yards but had a 42-yarder that would have clinched the game blocked, giving South Florida an opportunity to make it interesting at the end.

Matt Grothe threw a 16-yard TD pass to Ean Randolph to give USF a chance to send it into overtime, but the quarterback's pass on the conversion attempt was dropped by a wide-open Amp Hill in the left side of the end zone.

The Bulls recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the officials ruled a South Florida player touched ball before it traveled 10 yards and awarded possession to Rutgers.

"It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to win this game," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "On the road, down at the half, that's what you need to do."

Rice matched a school record with his seventh consecutive 100-yard game, boosting his season total to 806 yards and 11 touchdowns. He scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter and added a 6-yarder that gave Rutgers the lead for good early in the fourth.

Grothe completed 16 of 25 passes for 241 yards and one TD for South Florida. He also scored on runs of 1 and 22 yards, but his three second-half turnovers -- two interceptions and a fumble -- helped Rutgers overcome a 14-10 halftime deficit.

"We had too many turnovers, too many mistakes," South Florida coach Jim Leavutt said. "You can't beat a nationally ranked team if you have that many mistakes. That's the way it is."

Rutgers cracked the Top 25 this week for the first time since its 1976 perfect season, and Rice is one of the biggest reasons why.

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound sophomore entered Friday night averaging 151 yards per game rushing and carried seven times for 39 yards on the Scarlet Knights' opening 79-yard touchdown drive. Ito's first field goal gave Rutgers a 10-0 lead before Grothe rallied South Florida to its halftime lead.

Grothe turned the game around by leading two long TD drives in a 3:45 span in the second quarter. He used completions of 35 yards to Amarri Jackson and 32 yards to Taurus Johnson to set up his 1-yard scoring run, then took advantage of Trae Williams' fifth interception of the season to put the Bulls ahead 14-10 on his 22-yard TD run.

Rice ran 18 times for 82 yards in the first half and went over 100 yards for the seventh straight game on his first carry of the third quarter, a 27-yard scamper that led to Ito's 40-yard field goal that trimmed the Scarlet Knights' deficit to 14-13.

Rice's streak of 100-yard games ties the Rutgers record set by J.J. Jennings between Nov. 25, 1972, and Nov. 7, 1973. Rice has topped the plateau 10 times in 17 career games, tied for third in school history.

The 200-yard performance was his second this season and third overall.

"It was a tough win. That's all I can say," Rice said. "Forget about the rankings and all that stuff. South Florida is a great team. It was a tough game."