Rutgers football Gameday!

As the calendar moves deeper into November the feeling at the Rutgers football building can't be lobbying for which bowl game you want to make sure you qualify for and impress the committee. It's more a "can the coach save his job and who is playing for a starting job next year, who has quit and how will this impact recruiting" feeling.

First, can Kyle Flood save his job? Our guess is no and we'll pile on unnecessarily and say he shouldn't even if they win out. He's regressed slightly from the Greg Schiano years hasn't he? For every close loss to an MSU there are horrid blow out losses, either way, losses. His suspension didn't help matters and his actions to get that suspension would have been enough for Johnny to show him the door.

Who is playing for a starting job next year? Everyone not a senior. Easy. Nobody should think they have a lock on anything. Who has quit? We'll see and coaches will sure see when they break down game film.

Will this have an impact on recruiting? Oh yeah. After a promising first season in the B1G in which Rutgers represented well, kids now look at a program in disarray, an inconsistent AD, and lacking facilities. If everyone got on the same side and all rowed together and they raised money for a new stadium and got a first class coach it'd STILL be an 5-7 year turnaround to really compete with Michigan State, Ohio State and newly refurbished Michigan. Iowa is a great story but could well be one-year wonders.

Speaking of Michigan. Remember when Rutgers "upset" Michigan last year in Piscataway? Johnny is going to bet the Michigan players remember it well. Today RU plays in the Big Quiet House in Ann Arbor (Anne Arbor is a slut) and things don't look good barring a true upset. Michigan's defense should well handle anything the Scarlet Knights can throw at them and the members of the skunk family will be remembering their last two games, a last-second brain fart loss to Sparty and a last-second brain fart win over Minnesota and will (WARNING--Midwestern colloquialism ahead) try and put the hay in the barn early. The Rutgers defense is going to have to be darned near perfect to keep this one from getting out of hand early, something BYU and Northwestern did a poor job of. No penalties keeping Michigan drives alive. No missed fumble recoveries or dropped interceptions. Play as hard as you can for as long as you can and hope the offense can somehow get two touchdowns. Johnny thinks RU will get those two TD's but that's about all.

Fearless Forecast
Michigan 38
Rutgers 17