LeGrand has support from all over

Support for injured Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand is coming from all over. While cover the Lacey Central football game last night, two banners saying "Believe" were hung on both the home and visitors stands. Central players also wore decals with LeGrand's number, 52, on them.
Its great to see the state coming out to support LeGrand, his family, and the Rutgers football program.
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Its almost here

I was looking at the preseason USA Today men's basketball and I saw that the season tips off in a little less then three weeks and for one I can not wait. Here are my thoughts on the USA Today Preseason Top 25:

• I never thought that I would see Kansas State above Kansas in the preseason rankings. Will the Big 12 be colored purple this year, maybe.
• Two teams outside of the preseason Top 25 that are going to make noise are: San Diego State Minnesota.
• With Hummel gone to another knee injury there is no way Purdue is going to be a top 10 team.
• Texas forward Thirstan Thompson will be this season breakout player. He is too skilled not to be a star. 
• With one of the top recruiting classes in America, Memphis is going to be a fun to watch. Can a Josh Pastner lead his tiger cubs back to the NCAA Tournament.  

I might have changed my mind

On Saturday, I was leaving the New Meadowlands Stadium after Rutgers come from behind win over Army, talking to rest of the OTWT Tailgating crew about what is going to happen at Rutgers and if Greg Schiano's time as the leader of the Knights has past. Fast forward an hour and we are heading home in the car, listening to Schiano's post game presser and my thoughts totally changed.

Maybe being a football coach is not about winning and lossing but about handling situations that others have never had to deal with. I have always been as supporter of Schiano and his ability to build Rutgers from a program that was nothing to a bowl team every year, but this year that changed with the disasterous start that the Knights had. But my views all changed.

Listening to Schiano talk about Eric LeGrand and his situation made me realize that Schiano strenght might not be his game planning or his recruiting, but rather his relationship with his players. While speaking about  LeGrand, Schiano showed the passion and compassion that any parent would like to see from their sons coach.

An hour before his post game presser, I was talking about how Mike Leach and Glen Mason would be a good fit to take over for Rutgers and then an hour later that tone had changed and now I could not be happier with Schiano and the way he has acted over the last couple of days.

Professional Tailgating: Flashback Style

I year ago today the OTWT Tailgating crew saw what might have been the worst game in the history of the National Football League between the Bills and Jets. The Bills beat the Jets 16-13 in OT, long before the Jets were considered the greatest team in the history of the football. To relive the greatness of the game click here.

Savage vs Dodd = Rutgers version of Applewhite vs. Simms

While driving into work today, I was listening to Rivals Radio and host Bill King made a great comment on the ongoing quarterback battle at Rutgers between Tom Savage and Chas Dodd. King said it reminded him of the QB war that broke out at the University of Texas between Chris Simms and Major Applewhite (pictured below during happier times).  The more I thought of it, during my hour long drive into the office, the more I thought it was correct.

Savage is like Simms in the a lot of ways. Both of them pass the eye test, both are NFL sized quarterbacks with perfect mechanics and have been groomed for this moment for a bunch of years. Simms was a huge recruit out of the New Jersey and showed that Texas had reaching power outside of their own state. While Savages was a national top 10 QB recruit for Rutgers out of Philly and showed that Scarlet Knights could go head to head with big time programs like Penn State, Miami, Michigan for top ranked players.  

Dodd is just like Applewhite. Both are listed at six foot or a little over but don't look like it. Both don't pass the eye test, if you saw them get off the bus for a game you would think that they are team managers as opposed to the starting quarterback. Both have that special it factor that is so hard to measure. During his two starts so far, Dodd has engineered come from behind wins against Army and UConn.

Texas head coach Mack Brown decided that Applewhite was the perfect fit for Texas about 12 years ago and I have feeling that Schiano is going to decide that Dodd is the right fit for this Rutgers team, but the one thing that Schiano has to do is make a decision and stick to it, if not things could get out of hand like they did at Texas a bunch years ago.

Professional Tailgating: The Legend of Chas Dodd Continues to Grow

Last time out Chas Dodd led Rutgers to a come back win over UConn and on Saturday that was no different as Dodd led Rutgers to a come from behind win over Army at the New Meadowlands.

This might be the last time we see ads for Rutgers with Tom Savage on them

 Never thought I would see an old school Expos jacket at a Rutgers game, it was good to see

 In a huge stadium, Chas Dodd still very very small

 The Army Cadets blended into the New Meadowlands gray seats. If you look hard enough you might see them

In a serious moment, OTWT would like to send their thoughts and prayers to Eric LaGrand and his family after he suffered a serious neck injury during the game.