It's R Time

It's time to dedicate an entry to my alma mater with a recap of the year and a small preview of tomorrow's bowl game. As they get ready to play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, my Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4) get set to play Iowa State (6-6). Being a Rutgers fan was a nice surprise this year, as we were picked to finish last in the pre-season polls and finished a win away from a share of the Big East Championship and a potential Orange Bowl bid. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Knights lost their final regular season game at UConn due to awful rushing and bad defense. It wasn't a horrible year though, as we had two overtime wins against conference opponents, a good win against Pitt who at the time had the nation's leading rusher in Graham.

The loss against West Virginia was a sloppy one, a game played on October 29, 2012. I remember it as part of Halloween weekend, and it was to date the only day it snowed in the year. I would say we got around 6 inches, and it made for very sloppy playing conditions. This game was the big return of paralyzed Rutgers player Eric Legrand, accompanied by his teammates, out of the tunnel which was an awesome moment. The grounds crew had to plow the end zones after every drive. During one punt you had like 5 players falling just because the field was so slippery. The best win though came at our final home game. I went with some friends and the feel was electric, the fans came out on November 19 in full force, pom poms at hand, cheering on the Scarlet Knights. The 20-3 win over Cincy had us at the cusp of a championship. The MVP of the team, without a doubt, and today was named the Maxwell Club Tri-State Player of the Year, WR #6 Mohammed Sanu. This guy's been awfully impressive all year long, and will no doubt be at the NFL level soon.

Looking over at Iowa's 6-6 record, they had a decent record the the schedule they faced. With the final polls,  you see that Iowa faced 7 ranked teams, it's the kind of thing that happens when you play in the Big 12. Started out 3-0, so things looked promising. Then a loss to the Longhorns at home, and a loss to the would be Heisman winning QB in Griffin III and the Baylor Bears. The worst loss was a 52-17 blowout by the Mizz Tigers, but the best win was arguably the biggest upset of the year, a thrilling 2OT against Oklahoma State, a win that probably kept us from watching LSU vs. OKS at the National Championship game. Not very impressive numbers for either team, so this game should be close at least for most of the game. Rutgers is technically playing at home and has one of the nation's best defenses, while Iowa really only has the running game to their advantage. I think Rutgers takes this game, and gives coach Schiano a 5-1 bowl record, with a final of Rutgers 28, Iowa 17.RU RAH RAH!