For a program that has gone to bowl games in 9 of the last 10 seasons, it seems like Rutgers is the eternal whipping boy both locally and nationally. This has nothing to do with not getting much love for beating Norfolk State, but it seems like anything that happens at Rutgers somehow gets treated differently than things that happen elsewhere. I'm not just speaking as someone local and overly influenced by local media as I live in the Midwest. See below for one example of snarkiness...this is from ESPN and they have a running tab of teams still in the national title race (basically eliminating teams after a loss or two, with a brief commentary on those still alive).
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Trending: DOWN
Can it get any worse for the Scarlet Knights? Shortly before Saturday's opener against FCS member Norfolk State, the school announced it had dismissed five players who are accused of being involved in a string of robberies. The Scarlet Knights won their opener 63-13, but the result hardly seemed to matter.
The above isn't a big deal, but it also seems like we are always the butt of jokes. Every year we are supposed to be at an Indiana, Illinois, Iowa State, Wake Forest, and Colorado level of suck-itude, but again...bowls in 9 of the last 10 years. You would think at some point we would get the benefit of the doubt. It always seems like we have to get to at least 3-0 before we even get in the 'receiving votes' category.
My working theory does actually lay a lot of the blame on nj.com. I think in a day and age where there are infinite media outlets, but not a ton of real media and journalists, that the need to fill airtime, news tickers, websites, and other things with content leads to a lot of borrowing of stories and content. To the extent someone 'credible' like nj.com/star-ledger reports something, everyone else picks up the story and goes with it. Considering their propensity to make mountains out of molehills, more 'content' comes out of them and goes nationally than is really warranted. How many other places get heat because their AD jokes that she wishes the paper went out of business...really? UNC has a massive academic scandal, yet we have a coach emailing a professor and 5 guys arrested (none of which is a good thing), but the program is now out of control and the coach must go? Really?
I don't know...the whole thing baffles me some. I know the easy answer is stay out of trouble and don't do anything stupid, but even when nothing happens, scandals get created anyway. The only good thing, I suppose, is that perhaps we are relevant in ways that some other programs aren't, but we have had more on and off the field success than most, but you would think we are bottom of the barrel all around.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Trending: DOWN
Can it get any worse for the Scarlet Knights? Shortly before Saturday's opener against FCS member Norfolk State, the school announced it had dismissed five players who are accused of being involved in a string of robberies. The Scarlet Knights won their opener 63-13, but the result hardly seemed to matter.
The above isn't a big deal, but it also seems like we are always the butt of jokes. Every year we are supposed to be at an Indiana, Illinois, Iowa State, Wake Forest, and Colorado level of suck-itude, but again...bowls in 9 of the last 10 years. You would think at some point we would get the benefit of the doubt. It always seems like we have to get to at least 3-0 before we even get in the 'receiving votes' category.
My working theory does actually lay a lot of the blame on nj.com. I think in a day and age where there are infinite media outlets, but not a ton of real media and journalists, that the need to fill airtime, news tickers, websites, and other things with content leads to a lot of borrowing of stories and content. To the extent someone 'credible' like nj.com/star-ledger reports something, everyone else picks up the story and goes with it. Considering their propensity to make mountains out of molehills, more 'content' comes out of them and goes nationally than is really warranted. How many other places get heat because their AD jokes that she wishes the paper went out of business...really? UNC has a massive academic scandal, yet we have a coach emailing a professor and 5 guys arrested (none of which is a good thing), but the program is now out of control and the coach must go? Really?
I don't know...the whole thing baffles me some. I know the easy answer is stay out of trouble and don't do anything stupid, but even when nothing happens, scandals get created anyway. The only good thing, I suppose, is that perhaps we are relevant in ways that some other programs aren't, but we have had more on and off the field success than most, but you would think we are bottom of the barrel all around.
