via @Alec Crouthamel

Channel the Rutgersal that lives inside us all. If you've been a Rutgers fan for any length of time, you know optimism is usually the hand that shoves the knife in your back. Do not be too scared to open your heart and love again.

First Rutgers football will beat Viginia Tech and possibly Washington and even possibly Nebraska. A 5-0 start would bring incredible heat to the football program. It gets very challenging from there but even at 4-1 we will be at a new peak for the Schiano Part 2 era.

On the basketball front, Ace is going to pop eyeballs out of heads. He will be the best player on the court nearly every night. To my mind his star shines so bright it diminishes Harper a bit...and obviously Harper is capable of playing at a very high level. The rafters of the RAC will melt from the heat.

We are on the dawn of an exciting new epoch for Rutgers sports.

While Athan doesn't put up gaudy numbers, he is the true catalyst to our winning. In the past, we either had QB's who would miss game changing throws or just consistently turn the ball over. Athan has thrown 1 pick all year. He's also had some bad drops by our receivers. But he's been deadly accurate. He runs smart and always gets down and doesn't take unnecessary hits. I'm not used to believing we can convert on a 3rd and 10. But

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Got an offer from Vanderbilt.
2023 was a down year for Buffalo and Cole Snyder compared to his 2022. But he has attracted interest in the portal. Vanderbilt will be a tough place to play. 2-10/0-8 this year.

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UPDATE:

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/s/President of the Cole Snyder Fan Club

It worked marvelously! Stadium, team, fans and NJ all looked great on national tv on Friday night. Love Sat games but the Rutgers football program was showcased for the entire country even with the Va Teach/Miami game going on at same time with a team RU beat the previous week.

I think RU brought in new fans last night at homes and at the stadium. Would not be surprised if game drew over 4MM eyeballs in ratings.

Let’s just keep on winning.

GO RU

X

Obviously need to see how today’s games shake out. At 4-0 where do you see us this week? I hope we sneak in to the top 25 and skip through the also receiving votes.

What are other’s thoughts?

Anyone there? How we feeling?

Folks, remember you can get $20 off all Rutgers Football and Basketball tickets on Seat Geek, courtesy of Richie. You set up a new Seat Geek account for each game. Use promo code RUTGERSRIVALS.

The Athletic ranks Rutgers 27th and projects an 8-4 season based on 100,000 computer simulations of the season , with a 5% chance of making the 12 team playoff.

Now THIS is some crazy shit right here!!!!


TEAM ENTRANCE

Yeah, I know, will not be announced. It's a light week for the B1G. Have been offered registration for a training course that is on Saturday and Sunday during the day. Any chance of our game getting a 3:30 p.m. or night slot?

Friday Nov. 8, Iowa is at UCLA. Here is the schedule for Sat. Nov. 9:

So last night was something else eh. Not exaggerating but besides the Louisville game in 2006, there has never been a day/night that had the COMPLETE FINISH THE JOB play and atmosphere of the Washington game. So many supposed "big games" in the past that never lived up to the hype. Whether it was the promise of hanging in vs Penn State at Giants Stadium in the 80s, being desperate for attention and validity in failed games vs BC and Syracuse in the 90s, the Lucy take the football away moments vs West Virginia in the 00s, the Big East championship near miss vs Louisville under Flood and finally the emergence of the big time, big light crowds against the likes of Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State in the 10s. Those games brought the peeps in. The tailgates were wild. The opening minutes of these games usually pretty hyped and insane but alas with the exception of a win vs a Michigan team that wasnt good that year, all those games had one thing in common. They gave a bit of a taste of big time, Big 10 atmosphere but never delievered. In fact some of the games were over by haltime. Whats the point of all the hype and drunken tailgates if the program has trouble staying within 35 points of any program with a pulse. Like an endless cycle, after years of trying to prove they belonged in big boy college football, Rutgers was there but the feeling was empty. Here we are but what does that even mean. Does it even matter?


Last night was a 24 hour finish the job chop from the expanded Rutgers community. From the production of the lights, the drones, the band. That takes a whole lot of work and planning to make it come together and make it work and last night was brilliance. Rutgers football was a true event last night. The type of experience that will make the next game and the next game after that a hot ticket. Contrast that to the complaints about the drab, boring, forced atmosphere in games vs Howard and Akron where it appeared as if the fans, team and staff were all sleepwalking through. Rutgers fans take a bowl The fans were a big part of last night too. Howling and screaming in all the important parts. Willing that last fg attempt to miss miserably. True not a full sellout, but that is okay. The fanbase still has room to grow. Last night helps alot. The Rutgers pregame and tailgating atmosphere is back again after years of dormancy. If we only can somehow get the students an area to tailgate and be a part of the on campus festivities things could really get wild. The student turnout was impressive last night. In their seats early, cheered and danced like mother****ers all game and stayed to the triumphant end. It all came together last night and when it does you make note of it in your memory

No doubt the Ash years were as big of a stain as the Terry Shea years. Wrong coach at the wrong time. Schiano was the right coach at the right time. As everyone is well aware I have not been shy about criticizing Schiano especially his plateau after the 2006 season. Have been more on board with him the 2nd time around while realizing the things about him that make me hit my head against the wall are the same reasons why he is so successful at pushing the right buttons for the Rutgers program. Last season was true progression. Beating BC and Va Tech were a leap forward. Unfortunately we were stuck with a poor quarterback that could not throw for a lick and it really showed as Rutgers stumbled against the better teams in the Big 10. Now with Athan, Rutgers isnt about just trying to eek out a win 10-9. Athon can actually throw. He ismt a goddamn turnover machine waiting to happen. We have a OC who can actually mix up the plays. Kyle and Sam are a potent combo. In some ways our offense has now become more of a strength. Much more versatile and unpredictable than our opponents are used to.

At the end of the day, I am at the point of quibbling about style points in wins. Box score is full of ugliness....521-299 yards. You can pull your hair out on why RU called an awful series coming out of halftime or the last series of downs just so damn predictable in not getting the first down. I do not want to hear anything about luck or Rutgers was outplayed or Washingtons lack of discipline gifted us this win. At the end of the day its a victory and its glorious period. No team is perfect and certainly Rutgers is not. I do know they are 4-0 and they now have an opportunity in their next biggest game to have another opportunity to have an even bigger opportunity at home. See how this works. It does not work if you cannot finish the job and that is all tha matters from the last 2 wins vs very very very respectable programs.

Atmospheres like last night get noticed. So today wear your Rutgers gear with pride. Brag and boast you had an incredible time at the game last night. Make your skeptical friends think they are missing out on something because they are.

We were the first...okay second people in Scarlet yesterday. Had a great tailgate blah blah blah. Once lots are packed and people are everywhere we're all playing flip cup and this dude is just staring and watching with his college aged daughter, watching us having fun talking, TVs on under the tents, catered food, our ice luge ,just taking it all in and asking how the game works that we were playing. Guy was so tall I was calling him Wilt Chamberlain. We talked him into playing with us. I had Wilt come next to me, we played a few rounds he thanked us and that was that.

I come to learn the guy donated $3M to hoops recently. Not an RU alum. He was blown away by the atmosphere how welcoming people were etc. Wants his daughter to transfer to RU.

You never know who someone is. Even if the guy was wearing a Washington jersey we would have let him play and have fun.

Don't see enough teams in the 15-25;slot losing and just a few getting high votes not getting the job done

I think we are right around the #30 mark

Wimsatt was beyond the line of scrimmage and fumbled near the goal line and it fortuitously ended up in the hands of a teammate who carried it into the end zone. I do not understand why that wasn’t cited as a forward lateral, which is illegal. The ball was untouched by a defender and the fumble never hit the ground.

Last 4-5 times I’ve been driving Rutgers has been mentioned

All good comments

Jacob Hester and EJ Manuel show have spoken about RU a few times

Luginbill this morning mentioned Friday night games

The usual tough team , Schiano building program .
Today luginbill mentioned schedule and how we can make some noise , Plank was starting to look up schedule but luginbill quickly though about replay of Techs Hail Mary

I'm just gonna start with this: holy shit is everything CHEAP down there!!! Also....a lot of this nobody is going to care about, but, oh well!!!

*** example: 2 PBR 12oz bottles, 2 (full) 2 oz shots of Jamo and a "Grail" (12oz of alcohol)....ONLY $35!!!! Easily - EASILY - $60 in Hoboken/JC. 2 eggs, 12oz bowl of grits, bacon and biscuit: $7.50!!!!


Friday

- woke up 4:45AM, was showered and in an Uber to Newark Penn by 5:02AM and caught the 5:25AM NEC to Trenton. Got picked up by my buddy and his wife and we were off the Floyd, VA about 31-miles SE of B'Burg to our AirBnB. 6 hours 20-minutes flat with 2 stops. Easy-peasy no big traffic issues whatsoever.

- hit the RU gathering at some brew pub in the hills outside of B'Burg. Freakin' BEAUTIFUL spot with outdoor seating, picturesque views and ....corn hole!

- within 5-minutes we meet The Patel Family. Or at least 3/5ths (mom, dad and one of Jai's sisters (I'm leaving names out)) of the family. Hit it off immediately with them as I asked his sister if it truly did take her 3-hours to down a single martini, at the Akron tailgate, or that she was getting refills (it was the former....). So we're all hanging out with @MrsScrew and @RUScrew85 and others and get the lowdown on everything "Patel" which was really, really cool. They're as "RU" as it gets and will be GREAT ambassadors for the program the next 2.5+ years as they already have been!

- highlights included about a dozen extra drink tickets being dumped on our table, too much crumbled blue cheese eating by this guy, a shirtless 60+ year old dude, finding out that "HIMS" truly does work (my head has HOPE again, lol...), how Jai got his name, pics of someone getting changed in the car, and possibly bathroom butt pics. Mrs Screw is now besties with Mrs Patel, I've got a new buddy in Mr Patel, and very possibly a future client or two in the realm of "home purchasing" lol!!! Oh and we got a good "R-U" chant, which was followed by a "go hokies," and then the inevitable "RU Rah-Rah" from the few dozen of so of us inside at the time. NEXT!!!!

- Off to TOTS aka "Top of The Stairs" we go! The "Rail." 2 oz each of Vodka, Rum, Gin, Triple Sec, Bourbon, Whiskey, Sours, Sprite, and Cranberry (basically an old school "Red Death" but no OJ)....guys and gals, once you're ready to do these, put the kids and pets to bed. Seriously. I was in a pretty good place until drinking a couple of these then everything just ....well....ya' know how these things go lol!!! Most of the same people from the RU party were there, plus others, as well as the VT fans and students who started pouring in shortly after we arrived. Found out there's a law in Virginia: NO DRINKS IN BATHROOMS. It's against the law!!!! Met a girl from Manasquan (student) who grew up "hating Rutgers," one fat dude who tried to start trouble "who the **** do you guys think you are coming into OUR BAR??!! Get the **** outta here!!!"....like not cool "fan banter" or "shit talking," but just being a straight-up douche. His buddies pulled him away immediately and apologized. The only 1 of 2 "douches" the entire weekend so that was a good thing. Everyone else, honestly, was cool as ****. Polite, wanted to converse all things football, RU and Jersey, etc etc etc, and our fans were just as polite in return TBH. We were back there....

Saturday

- parking/tailgating scene....there are "pay lots" almost everywhere. Being a 1-stop-shop type of campus, as opposed to RU, this is obviously A LOT easier to do BUT literally every lot turns into "game day" parking of some sort. Didn't notice any student lots/tailgating, but again campus is all-in-one, so probably no need (that being said they're in the stadium so damn early it doesn't matter....). The weird things was....I mean REALLY weird....the tailgates there are very "quiet." Like almost NO music anywhere. That's all!!!

- by 10:30AM, after facing a debacle trying to eat breakfast in town (we'll talk more about this later....), we were back at TOTS with a bunch of others waiting for it to open. Finally they did downstairs @ 11AM and we grabbed a few tables outside where, again, we ran into The Patels lol! They joined the party, the fun began all over again then we took it inside for more "Rails" and more shots!!!!

....oh yeah, after we ate, we toured what we assumed was the original military part of campus and WOW is that beautiful!!! Felt like I was at Princeton or West Point (more so because of the combination rolling hills/architecture) but had yet to see Lane Stadium. Just a stunning part of campus (which apparently wasn't the case everywhere as we noticed when walking to Lane later on....)

- off we go to Lane Stadium, finally!!!!

- First off, as is the case with most stadium that have undergone major renovation work, the "footprint" for Lane in terms of entrance gates is HUGE. We came in from the opposite corner of our seats and it took a while to get to THAT corner of the stadium. Then ramps, ramps and more ramps to get to the 200's. Now....the waits were HUGE...but me and my boy Andrew (old housemate, drove up from Ashville on game day to meet us)....BUT this was 45-minutes prior to KO so when we got to our seats, 25-minutes out with a 2/3rd's full stadium already, it wasn't that big of a deal.

- Next....PRE-GAME @ Lane Stadium was nothing short of fantastic. I'm a BIG "military band" style kind of guy and while about 1/5the size of TAMU's band this one was just as damn good with their on-field marching. GREAT job cadets!!! Then....of course....ENTER SANDMAN.....while I would have loved to have been there at night for this I'm still glad we played them during the day. That being said.....NUTS!!!! Oh and the stadium was 100% full by the time that went down. As good as it gets by the in-house production team, the bands and the fans!!! BRAVO!!!

- LANE STADIUM Love it. Absolutely love it. You are ON TOP of the field even in the far reaches of the 200's iI felt much closer than in the top corners at SHI due to the "steepness." ! Very, VERY loud and, as noted in another thread, I believe it's due to the "RAC-like" build of the place. All 4 sides are on top of the field. The 2 large grandstands are angled STEEP -probably couldn't build it that way today - and it helps capture the sound inside of all the stadium. Even when the students started fleeing in the middle of the 3rd (I'd say down to about 40% by mid-4th quarter, when their comeback began, still in the stadium) it still got VERY loud the last 10-minutes or so due to the design of the place. Regular fans started leaving, as well, and apparently this is the "norm" at Lane Stadium. They tailgate early, they enter early, but they leave early UNLESS it's a very big game/night game. Day games are "blah" to them (so I was told). Concourses are tight....concessions sucked IMHO....but it is what it is and a GREAT game day experience overall IMHO.

- THE GAME....WE WON....ON THE ROAD IN A VERY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT....LET THAT SINK IN, OKAY? Now....that being said....we should've won by 20+ and I was, arguably, THE most frustrated person in the stadium - not on the sideline - during the 2nd half. Shit, I wasn't even happy when we left point-after-point-after-point on the field in the 1st half. Probably should've been a MINIMUM of 23-7 at the half and could've been as much as 35-7. 2nd half, welp, I think @RutgersDom laid out my frustration quite well in @Degaz-RU thread lolol!!! You saw it coming...you saw the D - WHICH PLAYED INSANELY WELL THROUGH 3 QUARTERS and let's set the record straight here:

Our D gave up 143 yards in the 1st half.
Our D gave up ONLY 34 yards in the 3rd quarter.
Our D gave up ONLY 320 total yards off offense to a team aeraged 391 per game last year, returned almost its entire offense, was at home and put up 400 YPG prior to Saturday.

....why did I put this in "bold?" Because i think we all need to step back, take a breath, and relax. The D is gonna be fine moving forward. Why? Let's look at ALL THE FACTORS which played into that led to 150+ total yards of offense for VT in the 4th quarter on Saturday:

- Powell, Bailey and Dixon all started for the 1st time this season. Powell and Bailey getting their initial snaps of the season (Flip played 2nd half against Akron, IIRC). I don't think ANYBODY here - @Richie O included -expected these guys to ALL be starting AND put in the # of snaps that they did, this Saturday, just a week or so ago.

- young kids getting reps on D, who got a lot in games 1 and 2, are getting their first true taste of "big boy" college football AND a "hostile environment" all at once

- the heat. YES IT WAS A FACTOR. Anyone sitting on our side of the field can tell you it was BRUTAL for the 1st 3 quarters. Our sideline was in that same sun, even hotter on the field, and from what we could tell (and I looked at pictures) WITHOUT "cool zone" fans.

......anyone thinking that the D wasn't drained in that 4th quarter, when VT was having their way with us for those 2 TD drives, is nuts. Look at those stats again:

Our D gave up 143 yards in the 1st half
Our D gave up ONLY 34 yards in the 3rd quarter

....then after 3 quarters of being beat down by the sun we give up 152 or in a single quarter?

Com'on guys....you're all fairly smart and most of you have some common sense ....our D (and ST's giving up long punt return) didn't suddenly just start to "suck." Let's be real. That 3-quarter sun beatdown HAD to have had an affect on the guys (both sides of the ball) while VT was in the shade THE ENTIRE GAME on their sideline. IIRC we finally got shade on our side, and the team down on the field, about the middle of the 4th quarter (could be a little off there, however....). Mind you....they're getting the crowd behind them as well at this time, so....put this game at night, at SHI, and we run away with it in the 4th, DESPITE all the points left on the field earlier, IMHO.
(EDIT:
Let me add one thing about VT:

Tutten was on a mission. Playing his home state school (from Paulsboro), scoring 3 TD's, and getting to and around the edge every single time. His quickness played a HUGE role in their comeback.)

Anyway....FAMILY....this team came together, sucked it up (was out of the sun) and did what it had to do on O (Athan-to-Strong), ST's (Patel) and D (Longerbeam), after VT tied things up in the 4th and that....THAT....is ALL THAT MATTERS (along with, I believe, no new injuries or aggravating of old ones???)!!!


OUR FANS....WOW....WOW AND WOW!!!! We showed up, we showed out, and we KICKED ASS!!! WE WERE RED, WE WERE LOUD and WE WERE PROUD!!! So many new faces, so many old faces, so many I hadn't seen in a while and, YET AGAIN, major "KUDOS" go out to @RutgersRiotSquad!!!! WELL DONE GUYS and GALS!!! I'm not going to start tagging other posters because, well, don't want to insult the ones I forgot/forget/etc LOL!!! But GREAT seeing all of you at the bars, tailgates and in the stands!!!

Saturday night....welp, that was a debacle, so I'm just gonna end things here because I don't want everyone else to go through what we went through, tying to get a drink let alone eat, the next 3.5 hours. Ugh.

All-in-all a GREAT weekend with GREAT friends and a GREAT win!!!!

Good teams find ways to win even when not firing on all cylinders.

PROVE ME WRONG!!

I know some jumped ship on The Walking Dead Universe a while back, but for those interested, the Daryl ( now including Carol) second season spinoff returns tonight. Broadcast on AMC channel.They are already filming next years season. I think I read the second season of Neagan and Maggie ( which is filmed inside the Meadowlands Arena) will air early in 2025.