Proposed B10 Rutgers Syracuse Rivalry Game: "The Line War"

Proposed B10 Rutgers Syracuse Rivalry Game:

"The Line War"

Commemorates the New York – New Jersey Line War in 1765* at the disputed border between two American colonies, the Province of New York and the Province of New Jersey.

(* Actually, a series of skirmishes and raids that took place for over half a century between 1701 and 1765.... but the one in 1765 was the most significant.)

Origin of the Dispute: From the very beginning in 1665 when NJ was chartered by the Duke of York to Sir George Carteret and John Lord Berkeley... there was an ongoing and bitter despite between the rulers/landowners/settlers of NJ and NY ( Colonel Richard Nicolls of NY essential lost the eastern half of NJ to these two guys). Anyway... it was a long bitter battle of political wrangling, deception, imprecise (or purposely wrong) cartography and surveying... on & on...

Before the American Revolution... the western and northern border of New Jersey was set to be from the point on the Delaware at its northward most branch ( at Cochecton NY or "Station Point" ) and across forming a straight line from there to the Hudson by Tappan NY (which was once "Orangetown"). Though set in 1664, this border was constantly disputed. Even though technically it had been acknowledged by both the New York and New Jersey legislatures by 1719, it was increasingly disrespected and breached by settlers from New York encroaching from Orange County. The resulting conflicts were carried out by settlers from both sides. The last fight broke out in 1765, when the Jerseyans attempted to capture the leaders of the New York faction. ... It was finally settled by Royal Commission... moving the border further south - to the line from the same spot on the hudson (Tappan), across now to the spot further south on the Delaware by Port Jervis.

Football Version:
Rutgers Vs Syracuse. Rutgers wins: They plant an "R" Flag & NJ State flag at "Station Rock" up in Cochecton. If Syracuse wins, they plant the "S" flag & NY state flag down at the The NY-NJ-PA Tri-State marker located in Port Jervis.

Trophy?: Brass Plumb Bob (antique surveyors plumb bob shown here with spool)

OK, so check this out:

"Spring Game - You Make the Call Contest

What You Win: A face-to-face meeting with offensive coordinator and the once in a lifetime opportunity to call one play in each half of the 2010 Spring Game. The lucky winner will also have an opportunity to draw up a play and submit it to the offensive coordinator. If he likes your playmaking skills, the team will run that specific play during the game.

Entry Information: To enter the You Make the Call Spring Game contest fans must begin following us on Twitter. Once you have signed up for Twitter and begun following us, send a reply or direct message. Inside that reply/direct message needs to be your argument for exactly why you should be the winner. Twitter only allows 140 characters per message, so use your words wisely and tell us why you should be the co-offensive coordinator for the 2010 Spring Game. Deadline for entry is April 12. Winner will be notified through Twitter and announced on GoUSFBulls.com on April 13.

How Do I Sign Up For Twitter: It's important to note that Twitter is a FREE service. Here is the what, why and how of Twitter and here is the help section that covers the most frequently asked questions."

Yes it say the bulls because it is the brainchild of skip holtz, not the rutgers football staff. the rutgers football staff that are the only big east team without an internet presence beyond their home page.

And yes, not to sound like a broken record... but it also prominently involves twitter. It's a way to get people excited about the game, and then keep them in the information flow, going forward over the summer and into the season.

Yes Twitter. Anthony Davis is on now. Mike Teel just started a while ago, with daily updates. D McCourty, J McCourty, C Greene, many current players too. yes the football team should make up already and start comminucating to fans and recruitis using twitter.

Link: LINK LINK

conclusion:
* skip holtz looks better and better every day as an ambassador for this program.
* i wish rutgers football did things like this. the special olympics is great, but reaching out to the common man isn't bad either.

Or check out Doug marrone, imploring fans to check out the spring game...



granted, it's like a used car commercial. but it's the COACH, reaching out and talking right to the fans and saying "get excited about this team, and come out and see the spring game!"

and yes he's on twitter too.

Link: LINK LINK LINK

even Edsall is getting in on the act, and at least speakign to the fans and tellign them that if they want a winner, they need to do things like go to the spring game.

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“If we want to make this program bigger and better, we need to have more people show up for the spring game,” Edsall said. “That’s part of building the tradition and increasing the fan base and hopefully to the point where you can increase the stadium.”

Admission and parking to the spring game are free, and the stadium is usually filled about a quarter of capacity.

Edsall wouldn’t elaborate on how many seats he’d like to see added on to Rentschler, “I don’t need any can of worms opened,” but has a target number in mind for the spring game.

“I’d just like to see more people there and get to the point where we have 10 to 20 thousand, hopefully closer to 20 thousand,” Edsall said. “Or even fill our stadium up for the spring game. When you do that, you have a chance to increase the size of the stadium. As a coach, that’s what you want. You want things getting bigger and better and keep trying to improve yourself.”

---

Link: LINKLINK

in the mean time, who is rallying the troops in New jersey to get out to the spring game, and support our team, get excited for the season, and help the children's hospital? maybe get some people interested in buying season tickets?

not our coach or football staff

not our athletic director (he gets a pass, he's busy right now)

here's what we get: second billing from the weak "rutgers day" campaign. with it's brilliant color scheme of BLUE EVERYTHING.

go ahead, look at the pamphlet. BLUE.



and of course, last year they had the spring game and the first Rutgers Fest on adjacent weekends, and that didn't work either.

they didn't want to spring for the $ for all the scarlet square stuff two weekend in a row, so we got NOTHING. that pissed me off. the sprign game should be like a festival.

i think it CAN work to have it all together. there can be real synergy, with crossover between events.

but in reality, what i'm seeing is that we have ZERO promotion of the spring game... and just weak promotion of the overall event.

that's just sad.

by the way... Edsall, continued:

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“To me, we’ve been to three straight bowl games and had guys go into the NFL,” Edsall said. “You would like to see that people really appreciate football and want to be there and want to be part of it. If I have to be the spokesperson for the program, that’s what I’ll continue to do. I want to make this as big and as good as we can possibly be.

“I don’t know what else these young people have to do. It’s just how (I) feel. I think we’ve created a buzz and an excitement, and these kids are working their tails off, and they deserve to have a lot of people there. With the schedule we have, 16 starters coming back, I’ll be disappointed if the stadium isn’t sold out before we kick it off for our home opener.”

---

again... where is the rutgers coach, staff member, or AD?

who's getting people excited about coming out?

it's not like we don't have tickets to sell!!!

Win vs Maryland still leaves uneasy feeling

i'm not down on this team, not really - cautiously optimistic. but i have to say:
if the win doesn't feel good while you're watching it... it's usually not a good win, even though you can talk yourself into it two days later.

last year was such a weird season, no really good examples.

so, back to 07:

Navy 07: i was at the game, and remember feeling like Navy hung around for too long. we had an INT in the end zone. it was closer than the box score said. still, the # 10 ranking helped smooth over our worries. reality hit against Maryland.

USF 07: an exciting win against a rival, and one i'll never forget. yet, the trick plays and the USF OL injury late in the game helped us out a lot. also the batting call (on the kickoff fumble) against USF. Louisville 06 this was not. it felt great, but you didn't come out fo that thinking - "thank god that maryland/cincy game performances are now officially behind us". it was more like: "thank god we managed to win that one". WV, who USF beat, whooped us shortly thereafter.

PITT 07: this game was almost a heart breaker, with the endzone offensive pass interference call in the final seconds, the turnovers, the 3 points in the entire second half. we couldn't put them away. the defense was doing all the heavy lifting. whatever good karma allowed us to pull out this game, was spent - and so Louisville took advantage of our not-to-lose 2nd half play calling, and came back to beat us on the road...

so, based on that, looking at the maryland 09 game:

bad things:
* the two big first half passing plays given up by the defense. against cincy-like teams, this will be killers.
* passing game cannot function without savage-to-sanu
* against a non-gassed BCS conference team in the 1st 3 quarters - O line either not opening up holes or RB's not hitting them. or both. not good.

good things:
* defense kept chopping and forced turnovers / scored points for us. it's like the safety against UCONN 08 and INT against PITT 08 all rolled into one... in that I hope hope they are both signs that the D has turned a corner and will now consistently play winning football again.
* we kept chopping with the running game, and put them away late
all in all, i don't feel THAT great about this game. it could have been different with savage and a passing game of some sort, or better running in the 1st half. but as it stands, the good and not-so-good cancel out.

On DC to TE and TS to QB #2

Thoughts:

What else could you ask for? Proof that Schiano has a one-game-season, win-now mentality.  It's all about beating Cincinnati.  There's less than 2 weeks before the cincinnati game...  and things are coming into focus:

Dom Natale started the summer at #1, and has held onto it.  Schiano has praised him when he earned it, but also has not showered him with compliments.  Schiano has made it pretty clear that it's Dom job to lose... and Dom has not lost it.  That's good enough for game #1.

Jabu is healthy physically, but just has not seized the opportunity to get reps at QB  and he was (presumably) offered and excepted the chance to be the run-gun QB and also a receiver.  Jabu is too good to sit on the bench, but isn't good enough to earn the start.  I think the coaches will find a way to use his skills, when the time comes.  Lining up a receiver is exciting- that really open up some interesting possibilities.

DC made a run at the #2 spot in the first scrimmage, but did not improve enough to earn reps in scrimmage #3.  He was offered the opportunity to play at TE and get on the field... or go to #3 on the depth chart.  He opted to go for the chance to get on the field and contribute.  This solved two problems.  1) lack of depth at TE.  2) lack of "experience" for next year's QB's.  This enables DC to earn his stripes in college-game-speed decision-making and instincts... all of which will help him in spring 2010.  I do not see this as a QB-career-ending move for DC.  this is a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone move.  Helps the team now, helps the team later. win-win.  listening to DC's media session highlights his buy-in on this move (thanks to Scarlet Scuttlebutt's audio post):

"coach said, now coming into camp i got a whole lot better... i still have a chance to compete, but i'm not ready for the first game" ... "(regarding QB in the future) in the future if it pans out, it pans out... right now i'm focused on what i'm playing now... i think i can do anything if i put my mind to it, so i'll just give it my all.  ...it's already something i can do, ... it's just working on blocking techniques, it's not too hard, but have to work on technique, footwork. ... I'm good with it, it was ultimately my decision.  I decided I can do it, it's what best for the team.. right not.  I'm already ready."

Sounds like a kid who is confident that he made progress, that he can still compete for the QB job in 2010, but 's not ready just yet.  so he's going to do what he can to help the team right now... and in can only help him going forward, to ear experience, confidence and respect - all of which will help him next year at QB or TE or wherever...

Savage is now # 2.  He didn't blow anyone away, but he has done enough to earn the # 2 spot.  i, personally, don't think (based on schiano's quotes) that he's dying to get savage in the game.  but he is motivated to get savage reps at QB #2 in the last scrimmage and practices.  yes, this does put pressure on Dom to look over his shoulder - and he should.  in scrimmage #3 he should feel savage behind him... just like he will on every drive of the cincy game.  i think Dom can handle it.  and I think Savage will not be going into the game as long as Dom is playing winning football.

but it still has to be said...  imagine: late 2nd half, for whatever reason (rutgers is winning by a lot, or maybe the offense is stalling)... and in stead of running in Jabu, Savage's number is called.  just imagine the road of the crowd.  that is going to be awesome.

Rutgers and the AP Preseason Poll

My analysis of Rutgers #30 ranking in the AP Preseason Poll

Here's how it looks at first glance: Pittsburgh #28, Rutgers #30, West Virginia #32, Cincinnati #33, and USF #45. It might seem as though a decent amount of voters think the BE deserves a team in the mid-20's range, but apparent conference "partity" means the votes were spread around the 4 big contenders, robbing the BE of that psychologically important one team in the #25. The numbers say something different, especially in Rutgers' case...

Of the 45 voters that ranked ANY big east team:

1) 14 voted for multiple BE teams (2 or 3), and Rutgers appeared on 10 of those 14 ballots. 5 of our 6 "top 20" votes were among these, always pairing us with Pitt (including on time Pitt & WV).

2) 31 voted for only one team, and rutgers appeared on only 5 of those ballots. (Cincy 5, Pitt 12, Rutgers 5, USF 1, WV 8.

conclusion: rutgers rode a mini-bubble of pro-BE voting into the top 30, and is by no means a consensus #2 BE team among AP voters.

even though we look like a close second to Pitt, and ahead of Cincy and WV... to me it seems that Rutgers got a disproportionate amount of votes from pro-BE voters, who think the conference is relatively strong (hence, ranked >1 BE team). Whereas relatively few voters that thought only one BE was deserving of top 25 thought Rutgers was that team.

Furthermore, even if Rutgers does beat Cincy, I think pulling ahead of Pitt and into the top #25 in week #2-3 looks even harder... as we won't be stealing any votes from them unless they manage to lose to Youngstown State or Buffalo...

Cincinnati vs Rutgers: margin of victory in 2008

I was recently discussing the upcoming Cincinnati vs Rutgers game, and the issue of blowouts came up. The premise was "Cincinnati doesn't get blown out". That gave me the idea of looking into the average margin of victory, or points per game differential from last year. I wanted to see who tended to get blown out, and who deal the blowouts. This is what I came up with.

You can forgive Cincinnati the Oklahoma game last year (lost 52-26), but they did also lose last year AT Connecticut, 40-16. Maybe that's not a blow out, but it's darn close. Rutgers' true blowout loss last year was to UNC, 44-12. That's , just a one TD difference... I'd say both count as blowouts.

If anything, you could say that the Bearcats didn't really blow anyone else out last year, en route to their first ever Big East crown. Even including outlier Syracuse, and their win margins in the BE are pedestrian: 3, 14, 3, 8, 7, & 20. The Scarlet Knights were: 2, 20, 18, 33, and 49. Rutgers win margin last year was twice theirs (~10 vs ~5) and we had a few more losses!

Even more noteworthy, just in the conference games, Rutgers points per game differential was +16, Cincinnati's +4 1/2.

Granted, they're both different teams now... but if we're talking about coaching style, offensive play calling, and defensive play calling style - it's clear to me that if anyone blows anyone out, it would be Rutgers pounding Cincinnati. If the Bearcats win, I believe it will be a close one.

We shall see on Labor Day...!

Why not a Big Apple Cup?

The announcements about Army's games at Yankee Stadium got me thinking about "who is new york city's team?". Of course, that's an impossible question to answer at this point. Rutgers came close in 2006 to truly capturing NYC's attention... but has not done anything to get the Big Apple to pay attention since. However... what if we just take out a map, and then look at the scoreboard?

We have three BCS teams that play in the three states that make up the tri-state area. Rutgers, UCONN, Syracuse (by distance from NYC, thanks). And, lo and behold, they all play each other every year! How convenient.

So who has won the imaginary NYC cup over the past five years that these three teams have all been in the Big East? Let's see:

2004: Syracuse 2-0
2005: Rutgers 2-0
2006: Rutgers 2-0
2007: UCONN 2-0
2008: Rutgers 2-0

How do you like them apples? (sorry)

That works out conveniently. Undisputed champs every year, no ties. So let's do it! What's that you say? College football rivalry games are only head-to-head games? Not so. There are some great historical three-way rivalries.

Source over at scarletnation.com was nice enough to furnish me with this information:

"Rutgers, Lafayette and Lehigh were considered the "Middle Three" (Princeton, Yale and Harvard were the "Big Three" and Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan the "Little Three" in college football's history) The Middle Three trophy was Rutgers "Little Brass Cannon" donated in 1940 to the three way round robin last occurring in the 1975 season."*

OK, so someone please donate something that we can all fight over, and preferably hoist into the air. A big Golden Apple Trophy? A Statue of Liberty torch or something? Rutgers, Uconn, and Syracuse can battle it out every year for TriState area bragging rights. If there ever is a tie, the last year's winner holds onto it (no silly tie-breaks for points, BE record, or whatever). And they all lack true year-in, year-out rivalry games (think Pitt-WV, Ohio State - Michigan, USC-UCLA)... so this would fill a void in each team's current football lore & tradition.

Let's do it! Anyone have a brass cannon?

* Some more research turned up this (courtesy of our University Archivist friends at Rutgers): The cannon was a gift of head football coach J. Wilder Tasker and cheerleader William Clover of the class of 1932 and presented to the university in 1931. For the next nine years it was fired following all Rutgers touchdowns (no mention if it was fired after a field goal). Then in 1940 the cannon became a trophy awarded to the winner of the Middle Three championship between Rutgers, Lafayette, and Lehigh, with Lafayette winning the cannon that first year. Rutgers finally got the cannon back in 1945. It stayed at Rutgers for several more years, except for an brief interlude in 1947 when Harvard students stole the cannon following a game in Cambridge against Rutgers. Subsequent negotiations brought the cannon back to New Brunswick. The last year of the Middle Three was in 1975, when Lehigh won it. Apparently, they still have the cannon. I wonder if we could get it back for our new three-way rivalry?