What if Chris Partridge ended up at Rutgers

Asking the question "what if" is always a dangerous?

What if the Colts took Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning?

What if the Blazers took Jordan over Bowie?

Over the last 18 months or so the one question that has been bothering me is: What if Rutgers had hired Paramus Catholic head coach Chris Partridge?

In January 2015, Kyle Flood had talked about offering Partridge a job on the Banks. As time went by something happen, we might never know, but the offer was withdrawn. Was it a troubled past or some type of ethics issues. The decision helped set off a chain of events that will forever changed the future of the program.

Flood lost his job and one of the best classes in the history of the state headed to different locations. Partridge ended up taking a position at Michigan and bringing most of the state's top players including Rashan Gary with him.

Would the likes of Jordan Fuller, Gary, and Ron Johnson spur offers from Ohio State and Michigan to stay in state and play for Flood and Partridge on the Banks. If that happened would Flood still be here roaming the sidelines with Partridge as his DC.

If this happened then Schiano would not be at Ohio State and we would never know what the Ash Era is. I'm not saying I'm against the Ash Era but sometimes its good to look at what might have happened.

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers 2014 Football Season

Its uncharted water for the Rutgers Football program as they head to the Big 10 this season. While some think that they will not win games, I can see them going .500 and making a bowl game.

Here are my predictions:

• At Washington State: Rutgers 21, WSU 17
• Howard: Rutgers 35, Howard 10
• Penn State: Rutgers 21, PSU 28
• At Navy: Rutgers 24, Navy 20
• Tulane: Rutgers 28, Tulane 17
• Michigan: Rutgers 17, Michigan 35
• at Ohio State: Rutgers 10, Ohio State 45
• at Nebraska: Rutgers 17, Nebraska 35
• Wisconsin: Rutgers 17, Wisconsin 35
• Indiana: Rutgers 35, Indiana 28
• at Michigan State: Rutgers 10, Michigan State 35
• at Maryland: Rutgers 21, Maryland 20

Record 6-6 and a berth in the a bowl game. Now that would be the perfect start the season.

Rutgers could care less about AAC

So Rutgers can't get to the Big Ten fast enough. Even thought they are still in the AAC there are signs in the RAC that they will be on their way. A showcase is dedicated to the Big Ten. There is nothing dedicated to AAC.

Sometimes recruiting experts are wrong

In 2003, high school quarterbacks Anthony Morelli and Chad Henne where the talk of football recruiters. Fast forward a decade later and it's laughable that these two where the top of any list. Shows how many misses there are in recruiting.

Cover Story: In the Cards

 Last night Louisville beat Michigan to claim the national title here are a couple of front pages covering the story

Cover Story: Selection Sunday

Selection Sunday is one of the most stressful days for a college basketball program and this years was no different. A couple of years ago, we posted front pages from around the country detailing Selection Sunday, today we revisit that idea.

This Map Explains Everything

This map breaks down all that is good with America.

We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party

As a big tailgater, ESPN College Gameday breaks it down and does a great job.

The game that could changed everything

Last Saturday TCU beat Bosie State 36-35 albut ending the Broncos chances of qualifiying for a BCS Bowl but will the loss end up creating far reaching effects in college football. Playing in the Mountain West was supposed to increase Boise State chances of being a national title contender, but without an automatic bid a single loss all but kills their chances.Could this loss make the Broncos look hard at joining the Big East in football.where there is an automactic bid for the their conference champion.

Also what impact will the loss have coach Chris Peterson.  With high profile jobs openings at Penn State, Ohio State and UCLA could this be moment that Peterson takes his talents elsewhere. It would be similar to the situation in 2007 when West Virginia, then ranked #2 in BCS lost the Backyard Brawl to a terrible Pitt team 13-9. The loss ended up costing the Mountaineers a shot at the BCS National Title. The game ended up changing college football. Then West Virginia head coach Rich Rod ended up leaving for Michigan and destorying that program.

So one game could me a lot in the college football landscape and I have this feeling that Boise State's loss to TCU is going to be a moment we look back on and think that.

This has to be a first

So yesterday while watching the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers game, I thought to myself wow I think that I just saw history.

During the game, Panthers' QB Cam Newton was picked off by Packers' DB Charles Woodson twice and after thinking about it for a while, I thought it may have been historical. Since Woodson was the only Heisman Trophy winner to play defense and Cam Newton won the Heisman last year, was this the first time that a Heisman Trophy winner was picked off by another? I have to think it was and if it was I don't think enough has been made of it.  

Randy Shannon to Michigan?

So I was playing NCAA 2011 and led Miami to a 14-0 record and a win over Alabama in the Orange Bowl. At the end of the season the computer asked if I would like to accept an extension or take the Michigan job. Randy Shannon to replace Rich Rod at Michigan, I've heard some weird things and that might be the weirdest thing that I have heard.
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WJC guys like the outdoors

In January the United States World Junior team shocked the world and beat Canada for the title, but since then they have all gone their separate ways. Cam Fowler head back to Windsor, AJ Jenks headed Plymouth, and the college kids headed back to campus to finish their season.

But one thing strange has happened over the month since the players have been back at their teams. Five of the players that were on the team have played in a variety of outdoor games. Boston College's Chris Kreider and Boston University's David Warsofsky played in the Frozen Fenway Classic (pictured above) at Fenway Park, while the University of Wisconsin trio of Jake Gardiner, John Ramage, and Derek Stephan played in the Camp Randall Classic game against Michigan.

The NHL Winter Classic has been a huge success and many colleges with big football stadiums are doing similar games now. Next year Michigan State will play Michigan at the Big House on my birthday Dec. 11.

Would it be the right move?

The rumor wheel has been spinning in college football this week. One of the largest rumors floating around is about the Big Ten expanding to 12 teams and then being allowed to play a conference champions game in college football, which is a cash cow.

Among the schools that have been mentioned for the expansion are Missouri, Pitt, Cuse, and Rutgers. As a Rutgers season ticket holder the idea of being in the Big Ten is both exciting and scary.

Sure seeing Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State make trips to Rutgers Stadium will be exciting and a ton of fun.

But the negative is this question: Is the Rutgers football program ready to play at that level? If they go to the Big Ten fans can forget about seeing a BCS Game for a while if they stay in the Big East there is that chance in the next couple of years they could be in a BCS games. If they head to Big Ten Rutgers might be group with Minnesota and Indiana teams that struggle with the rigors of the conference.

The decision to move to the Big Ten , if the offer is made, will not be made just on football. The AD will have to look at other sports and see how they will fit in their new conference.

If the offer is made they have to take it but if that happens people can not get mad when the results are not the same for the football program. Hey, if they make the switch, there is always the dream of Rutgers in the Rose Bowl.
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The First 100 are always key

The first 100 of anything are always key, from the first 100 days of a presidency to the first 100 hits of a major league baseball career. The 100 of any thing is a mark to both savor and both grade out someones performance.

On Saturday, Greg Schiano coached his 100 game as the leader of the Scarlet Nation. At the start of his tenure, few thought that he would see this day but now that he has lets grade the leader on his performance of the last nine seasons.

A 100 games in charge, wow after his first four season, in which he won a grand total of 12 game, few people thought that he would make it. The first four years of his career at the State University of New Jersey featured some embarrassing moments including dropping games to Villanova and New Hampshire. But the administration decided to stick with him and good thing they did.

Schiano started to get his recruits in during his fifth season the when the Knights went 7-5 and went to the Insight Bowl and loss 45-40 to Arizona State. But things were starting to look up. The next three season, Knights returned to bowl games.

Aside from the success on the field, Schiano has been a success off the field. After flirting with various jobs around the country, Miami and Michigan, Schiano pushed the administration to add on to Rutgers Stadium.

In addition to the stadium, Schiano has also made Rutgers relevant on the recruiting trail. Take the recruiting of New York defensive end Dominique Easley. Sure Easley selected Penn State, but Rutgers was in it to the end with programs such as Florida and Georgia. Take a look at the top 50 high school players from the region and you will see that Rutgers has been involved with most of them till the end. Under Schiano, Rutgers has been able to make inroads in places that they have never been able to like South Carolina. In the 2010 class Rutgers signed Chas Dodd a quarterback at the famed Byrnes High School in South Carolina. Imagine back about five years, the thought of a player coming to Rutgers from South Carolina was out of the question, now it has become a reality.

While Schiano has a 48-52 record during his tenure and has been a pain to the media, he goes down as the great coach in the history of the school. As for a letter grade, OTWT would have to give him an A, if he would have taken Rutgers to BCS Bowl then he would have gotten the plus. To take a program from where he got to now deserves all of the credit in the world.

Baby Quarterbacks are taking over

Last years it was the year of the freshman wide receiver with AJ Green, Julio Jones, Michael Floyd, and DeAndrea Brown. This year its shaping up to be the year of the true freshman quarterback with programs such as USC and Michigan turning to the baby quarterbacks.

At USC, the Trojan National has pinned its hopes on the baby face of Matt Barkley. Barkley comes with one of the biggest reputation in the American and hopes to follow in the great line of USC quarterbacks.

While at the mess that is know as Michigan, Rick Rod is turning to two true freshman to run his spread offense: Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson. Last year Michigan used two quarterbacks that had little chance of running the spread offense.

Rutgers and Georgia could also be added to the list of teams that could have baby face quarterbacks under center in Tom Savage at Rutgers and Aaron Murray at Georgia.

Starting true freshman QBs can either be really good or a total mess. For every Matt Stafford there is a Kris Heavner. The chart below from Yahoo shows how some baby faced Qbs did in their first year.
While starting at true freshman can be fun to watch it also can turn into a very stressful experience.

Big Ten Coaches South Park Style

This is last years fun from the Big 10, I hope the new one comes out soon.

Buckeyes beat Michigan Again

During the last couple of years, few players in high school football have been as chased as Terrelle Pryor. During National Signing Day he decided to put off his college announcement then on Wednesday he decided to choose Ohio State.

Here is how some of the papers covered the announcement

The Columbus Dispatch

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Going Bowling

It's a day for a couch, soda and a TV. Here are some of thoughts on the days bowl games.

• Love SEC teams that dress in one color like Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl and Florida in the Outback Bowl.
• A lot of people love the Outback Bowl, but I'm a bigger fan of the Cotton Bowl.
• The new Arkansas coaching staff needs to fix the attitude in the program.
• Two run and shoot teams playing on New Years Day, no one ever thought that would happen.
• Seeing Coach Rod in a Michigan hat and shirt is going to take some getting used to.
• I think a foot race between Florida's Percy Harvin and Mizzou Jermey Macklin would be something special.
• Can ESPN Classic show the Florida/Michigan right now.
• Michigan's Ron English might have written the book on how to beat the Gators, now he is looking for a job.
• Can someone please give Mike Leach a big time job.
• Could Illinois be the worst ever team in a BCS bowl, wait that might be the Hawaii.
• USC and UGA would make a great game, thanks Rose Bowl for not allowing it.

Jersey Boy stays home

Five years ago, a coach would have never turned down Michigan and Miami to stay at the State University of New Jersey, but current head coach Greg Schiano has done that. Schiano yesterday turned down Michigan to stay on the banks.

Here is a look at the front pages from New Jersey and Detroit and how they reported it.

Home News Tribune

Detroit Free Press