There's going to be some slug fests this year!

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in ESPN's 2024 College Football Season Preview episode, Kirk Herbstreit does "Herbie Awards" which are superlatives for teams/players (best transfer QB, best crowd atmosphere, etc.). One category was "Under the Radar" and he selected Kyle Monangai. He had some positive things to say about both Kyle and Rutgers. I"m paraphrasing but he says "he embodies the entire attitude that Schiano has instilled - more physicality, toughness, run the ball, gritty"

The segment is here, it should be timestamped but starts at 1:34:10 in case not.
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/a03a9ff6-f20b-4f6f-b488-38d87d82fbf1?t=5650

I know that we all expect RU to blow out Howard, but NW got a scare last year. Here are the highlights.

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After the latest round of realignment, I made the following observation in the form of a trivia question.
What is the only conference to have all 4 teams from a previous final four? What year and schools made that final four?

Did he do enough to get into the Rutgers sports hall of fame ?

The athletic department is in a way better place now from when he took over.
He was really good for mens hoops. Brought schiano back (although this was forced on him). He hired ash (although this was forced on him).
By comparison, Julie and Pernetti are not getting in our hall of fame .
Mulchahy and Grunniger are hall of famers.
I think Hobbs has the resume to get in

When COVID hit and we were all quarantined, I started doing some research on my family tree. I didn't know much about my family past my grandparents and thought it would be neat to learn a little more about where I came from and who my ancestors were. I've been working on this for a long time and have probably hit a dead end finally, so I thought it'd be neat to ask the board if anyone else has created one for themselves and found anything interesting?

I was able to trace my lineage on my dad's mother's side all the way back to 990 AD. This was the result of absolute insane luck being that she came from a long line of English nobility with pretty extensive records. It actually became pretty easy to trace back on her side. I learned that my ancestry contains several members of parliament going back hundreds of years. One of my XXXX-grandfathers was close to the king and was the keeper of the crown jewels. A few of my other direct ancestors were born in lived in Castle Compton in Devon. Along that same line were a few "governors" of Devon and close friends of the kings and queens.

The most interesting direct descendant was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an important explorer in the 16th century who was originally tasked with setting up a colony in the new world for the crown. His half-brothers were Walter Raleigh and Richard Grenville.

One other interesting thing I learned was that my ancestors on my mother's side emigrated from Corsica to Puerto Rico and brought the coffee trade with them, which I thought was pretty neat. My mother is Puerto Rican and my Grandmother on her side always used to claim she was French (which I thought was a lie). Turns out she was kind of correct (depending on how you classify Corsica).

Anyone have any cool stories from their trees?

I know there is usually a preseason thread for game by game predictions. I haven’t seen one as of yet, so I will offer my opinion. I’m realistically optimistic:

Howard W
Akron W
@ VT. W
Wash. W
@Neb. L
Wisc. L
UCLA. W
@USC. L
Minn. W
@ MD L
Illinois. W
@MSU. W

8-4. Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Texas Tech