Monday, October 01, 2007
No slide for Rutgers
I'm going out on a limb & predicting Rutgers will win the next three games against #20 Cincinnati, Syracuse, & #6 South Florida. I think South Florida is this year's Rutgers in the Big East, meaning they've had their upset over an overconfident, highly ranked team, West Virginia.
Rutgers is a new kid on campus in the big money brand name bowl era & has never held a national title in any era (Princeton won 7, probably beating Rutgers in every one of those seasons to do it). You have to build several college generations of winning teams. You know you're a prestige program when your failures are as newsworthy as your successes. Notre Dame & Penn State generate more sports commentary than Rutgers, & neither has won a national championship since the Eighties. But the rabid alumni of both expect to win it again, Notre Dame by firing & hiring coaches every few years & Penn State by sticking with Joe Paterno until he retires or falls down & can't get up. I enjoy college basketball a lot more as a sport, & because good teams from lower tier conferences get a chance at the end of the season to prove they really can't beat the great teams.
Rutgers is a new kid on campus in the big money brand name bowl era & has never held a national title in any era (Princeton won 7, probably beating Rutgers in every one of those seasons to do it). You have to build several college generations of winning teams. You know you're a prestige program when your failures are as newsworthy as your successes. Notre Dame & Penn State generate more sports commentary than Rutgers, & neither has won a national championship since the Eighties. But the rabid alumni of both expect to win it again, Notre Dame by firing & hiring coaches every few years & Penn State by sticking with Joe Paterno until he retires or falls down & can't get up. I enjoy college basketball a lot more as a sport, & because good teams from lower tier conferences get a chance at the end of the season to prove they really can't beat the great teams.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The regular season in college basketball is like the regular season in pro baseball, hockey or basketball: it really doesn't count for much (I know, I know, tell that to the Mets), because we all know that making the Big Dance is what counts. The downside (or maybe upside) to college football is that every week is essentially a playoff game. The screwy BCS system that has arisen will only award a national champion if a team goes undefeated. That being said, I see Rutgers defeating the Orange but having a hard time with South Florida and Cincy. If the Bulls were able to shut down WVU's Steve Slaton, they should be able to do the same against Ray Rice.
No risk to me since I'm not putting money on the games. There's a team mentally Rutgers has to learn - it's part of Schiano's long term job - about not playing as an underdog. OK, maybe it cuts down on the hysterical postgame fan celebrations, but it means a 9-3 regular season not being good enough.
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