Tag: Rutgers

Kirk Herbstreit calls Wisconsin 2024 opponent a College Football Playoff dark horse

Kirk Herbstreit calls Wisconsin 2024 opponent College Football Playoff dark horse

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit made headlines during his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday when he called the Rutgers Scarlet Knights a dark horse to make the 2024 College Football Playoff.

“Someone is going to come out of that conference that you really didn’t expect,” Herbstreit said. “Whether that’s an Iowa, who knows if [Dylan] Raiola and Nebraska…Whoever has the most manageable schedule. Rutgers has a schedule that by Big Ten standards and this new Big Ten world that we’re in, they can make a little bit of a run.”

Related: Position battles to follow as Wisconsin Badgers begin 2024 fall training camp

Herbstreit is certainly onto something. Rutgers has the easiest strength of schedule in the Big Ten this season, that while returning most of its production from a strong 7-6 2023 team and adding a potential upgrade at quarterback in Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis.

For Herbstreit’s forecast to come true, however, that would likely mean Rutgers finding wins against some of the stronger programs on its schedule — including Wisconsin.

The tougher games on Rutgers’ 2024 schedule are against Washington, Nebraska, Wisconsin and USC. The Scarlet Knights should be prohibitive underdogs in each of them, barring unforeseen injury or an early-season collapse.

A 10-2 mark with wins against two of those four teams would certainly enter the Scarlet Knights into the playoff discussion. Somehow winning three of those four could make the team a near-lock.

But most roads that include Rutgers as a playoff dark horse include it defeating Wisconsin on Oct. 12 — something the program has never done.

Rutgers on paper could look like a potential contender. This has happened in the past — a lower level program in the conference having a perfect storm of a veteran team and an easy schedule. Most of the time, the mid-level program ends up falling short against the top teams it plays.

The good news for Rutgers: those top teams are no longer named Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan. The bad news: it’s hard to see 2024 becoming the first time the Scarlet Knights ever defeat the Badgers.

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Preseason Previews

Big Ten Team Previews: Indiana Hoosiers — Purdue Boilermakers — Illinois Fighting Illini — Northwestern Wildcats — Minnesota Golden Gophers — Nebraska Cornhuskers — Iowa Hawkeyes — Rutgers Scarlet Knights — Maryland Terrapins — Michigan State Spartans — USC Trojans — UCLA Bruins — Washington Huskies — Michigan Wolverines — Penn State Nittany Lions — Ohio State Buckeyes — Oregon Ducks — Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Position Previews: Quarterbacks — Running Backs — Wide Receivers — Offensive Lines — Tight Ends — Defensive Line — Linebackers — Cornerbacks — Safeties

Wisconsin Position Previews: Quarterback — Running Back — Wide Receiver

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano discusses USC football game at Big Ten media days

Greg Schiano knows Rutgers has to be physical to beat USC.

The USC Trojans host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a Big Ten football game later this season. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano was asked about the USC game at Big Ten media days on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Schiano said the Rutgers football program has “specialists” to “help with the plan” for dealing with long-distance travel for a short week of preparation leading into a Friday game. However, he quickly added that regardless of travel and body-clock issues, what matters most is blocking and tackling. Rutgers and Schiano make no secret of their desire to play physical, hard-nosed football and win at the line of scrimmage. USC has to be physical enough to handle Rutgers. If the Trojans are able to meet the physical challenge, they have an obvious advantage in speed on the perimeter.

USC hosts Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. local (Pacific) time in Los Angeles on Fox Sports, right after Game 1 of the 2024 World Series. If the World Series game runs long, one should expect the start of USC-RU to be moved to Fox Sports 1.

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Big Ten primer — Rutgers’ greatest football moment

Rutgers won the first college football game. That’s quite a moment.

USC is joining the Big Ten and helping to create an 18-school superconference with the other West Coast schools leaving the Pac-12. The Trojans will participate in Big Ten media days next week in Indianapolis. The newness of their surroundings and the freshness of their situation will become apparent when they join a media extravaganza with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and other schools from the Midwest. As we get to know USC’s new Big Ten neighbors, let’s consider the greatest football moment in the history of Rutgers University.

It’s an old memory, literally the oldest college football memory we have.

College football began more than 150 years ago. The first recorded game was on Nov. 6, 1869. Rutgers won.

Via Rutgers Athletics:

Events leading up to the game were described by John W. Herbert, Rutgers ’72, who was one of the players: “To appreciate this game to the full you must know something of its background,” Herbert wrote in 1933. “The two colleges were, and still are, of course, about 20 miles apart. The rivalry between them was intense. For years each had striven for possession of an old Revolutionary cannon, making night forays and lugging it back and forth time and again. Not long before the first football game, the canny Princetonians had settled this competition in their own favor by ignominiously sinking the gun in several feet of concrete. In addition to this, I regret to report, Princeton had beaten Rutgers in baseball by the harrowing score of 40-2. Rutgers longed for a chance to square things.”

A challenge for the game was issued by Rutgers. Three games were to be played that year. The first played at New Brunswick and won by Rutgers. Princeton won the second game, but cries of “over-emphasis” prevented the third game in football’s first year when faculties of both institutions protested on the grounds that the games were interfering with student studies.

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Wisconsin no longer in contention for a popular class of 2025 running back

Wisconsin no longer in contention for a popular class of 2025 running back

Wisconsin football is no longer in contention for class of 2025 running back John Forster, according to a report from 247Sports’ Brian Dohn.

The Badgers had previously made his final five schools along with Illinois, West Virginia, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. That list has reportedly been trimmed to only Illinois and Rutgers.

Related: Wisconsin updated class of 2025 commitments after flipping DT Torin Pettaway

Wisconsin had an official visit scheduled with the three-star running back for the weekend of June 14. That visit is reportedly canceled, along with Forster’s planned trip to West Virginia. He had previously visited Illinois and Rutgers respectively over the last two weekends.

Forster is 247Sports’ No. 422 player in the class of 2025, No. 32 running back and No. 13 recruit from his home state of New Jersey.

He was one of Wisconsin’s top remaining running back targets in the class. The Badgers are yet to land a player at the position in the cycle. They now seem to be all-in on four-star Byron Louis, who was on campus for an official visit last weekend and is still yet to announce his commitment.

Wisconsin’s class of 2025 currently ranks No. 13 in the nation with 17 players committed. All eyes are on the impending announcements by four-star LB Mason Posa and four-star WR Eugene Hilton Jr. The Badgers are considered the favorite in each race, and could soon have a top-10 class if they land both players.

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USC football fans hope World Series Game 1 doesn’t last 18 innings

Just imagine how USC fans will react if Game 1 of the World Series goes five hours and pre-empts the Trojans.

The USC-Rutgers football game on Oct. 25 is a Friday night Big Ten special, part of Fox’s new Big Ten football rights package. The football game follows Game 1 of the 2024 World Series on Fox. USC football fans hope we won’t have a marathon Friday night World Series game this year. Los Angeles sports fans, especially Dodger fans, remember one Friday night World Series game which went on (seemingly) forever. Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox remains the longest World Series game ever played, both in terms of innings (18) and length of time (7 hours, 20 minutes). The game started just after 5 p.m. local time in Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018. It ended at 12:30 a.m. Pacific, 3:30 a.m. in Boston.

If Game 1 of the 2024 World Series lasts half as long as Game 3 of the 2018 World Series — which would be 3:40 — Fox might pre-empt or push back the USC-Rutgers game by a modest 10 minutes or so. If the World Series game lasts four and a half or five hours, the first half of USC-Rutgers might get moved to Fox Sports 1 or another alternate channel.

It was worth the wait for Dodger fans in 2018. The 7-hour, 20-minute Game 3 ended with a Dodger win on a Max Muncy walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th. USC football fans will tolerate a marathon Game 1 of the 2024 World Series only if it involves a Dodger victory.

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National Golf Invitational: Laid-back Jacksonville State freshman gets her postseason victory

Heath won the 2024 NGI women’s individual title with a playoff birdie.

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It had been a long day in the desert, and Jinger Heath probably had more golf to play. Heath was hitting a few putts, in case a playoff was on the horizon for the individual trophy at the National Golf Invitational. Her Jacksonville State teammates suggested she have a seat in the shade instead.

Heath, the freshman from Hartselle, Alabama, who is famous for needing little (if any) time to warm up, suggested they worry about head coach Robbie Fields instead. Normally she only hits a few drives on the range before going to the first tee, but, “at this one I didn’t want Robbie to freak out on me,” Heath joked.

“So I made sure to get an hour in of warming up.”

Hence her decision to roll a few putts while she waited for her chasers.

Scores: National Golf Invitational | Photos

Heath posted rounds of 70-72-71 at the National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, to reach 3 under. When she came off the golf course Sunday afternoon, Victoria Levy from North Carolina-Wilmington and Kelsey Kim from Santa Clara still had two or three holes to left, and both were hovering around 3 under, too.

Levy, a UNCW who transferred from Central Florida, had been even par through 13 holes before making three birdies and a bogey in her closing hole. Her final-round of 70 left her tied with Heath.

“After the round, Robbie was like, ‘OK, Jinger, if you’re going into a playoff, you need to be prepared,’” Heath said. “I’m like, I am prepared. What have I been doing all semester? He said you need to stay loose. I said I’ve hit 71 shots today, I think I’m loose enough.”

As Fields joked, “I think her lack of stress stressed me out more.”

Coach and player strode to the No. 18 together, the first playoff hole, where Heath drew honors off the tee. Heath aimed for a particular bunker in the background, just like she had all week, and hit the fairway. Her second shot landed a couple feet off the green and she lined up the birdie putt at the left edge.

“Every putt I get over, I tell myself to make it,” she said. “So I was like, make it.”

Remarkably, it hung on the edge before taking “one tumble” into the hole and giving Heath a postseason individual title in her first year of college golf. And in her mind, there’s no better way to win a tournament than with a playoff birdie.

Jacksonville State's Jinger Heath won the NGI individual title. (Photo by Landon Ringler)
Jacksonville State’s Jinger Heath won the NGI individual title. (Photo by Landon Ringler)

Heath proudly noted that she won the first tournament of her spring season, the North Carolina-Greensboro-hosted Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, and now the last. It’s just some of the middle that didn’t sit so well.

“I definitely didn’t play to my potential,” she said. “I wasn’t very happy.”

Heath had two other top-7 finishes in the spring, but at the Conference USA Championship, she felt like she put two good rounds together before struggling to finish it off. She finished 12th.

An NGI title will make the start of the summer much sweeter, and Heath will go on to play a full schedule of Alabama Golf Association events, a U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier, the Tennessee Women’s Open and maybe even a few more amateur events.

Heath knows she couldn’t have a better team around her, notably Fields and swing coach Colby Odom, who teaches out of Burningtree Country Club in Decatur, Alabama. When she called Odom before the playoff at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, he told her, “You’re ready, you just need to walk slow.”

As for Fields, he was walking, maybe not so slowly, right beside Heath for much of the day. He had to take a break after seven holes to bring his own stress levels down, but picked up Heath again on No. 13 and walked the rest of the way with her.

Fields spent three seasons as the women’s golf assistant at East Carolina University before taking over at Jacksonville State in the summer of 2022. He and Heath both attended Hartselle (Alabama) High School, and Heath had been playing out of the same club as a kid where Fields’ dad plays. Thus, Fields had an early scouting report on Heath.

Fields knew he wouldn’t have a spot for her at ECU, so he offered instead to help her get wherever she wanted to go. The summer before her senior year, Fields ended up watching Heath play a tournament at Pinehurst because she was right in the middle of two players he was recruiting. By that time, he had applied for the job at Jacksonville State. He had no interview, but rumors were already swirling.

“She spent about an hour after the round recruiting me,” he said. “She hadn’t committed yet, but she was recruiting hard.”

Fields was hired shortly after and Heath became his first commitment. She’s been a great one, racking up Conference USA Freshman of the Year honors and now an NGI title.

“Seeing her grow up from a little rugrat on the golf course being in everybody’s way to doing something like this and being there with her has been a little extra sentimental, I guess, for some of those reasons,” Fields said.

Heath led her Jacksonville State team to a seventh-place finish in the 10-team NGI field. At the top of the team leaderboard, Rutgers increased its one-shot second-round lead to a three-shot victory over UNCW. Rutgers, which finished the tournament at 13 over, became the second consecutive Big 10 team to win the NGI after Penn State won the inaugural tournament in 2023.

Rutgers head coach Kari Williams couldn’t think of a better way to cap a solid spring than with a postseason victory. Even better, she watched three freshmen fearlessly take the baton from three seniors who have played their last round in the block R.

“Only a couple of teams get to do that all year, get to finish with a win,” Williams said. “It’s really good for us.”

National Golf Invitational: Rutgers remembering to find the joy of postseason while chasing a title

A certain kind of magic happens when the textbooks close at the end of the spring. Suddenly the calendar is open.

A certain kind of magic happens when the textbooks close at the end of the spring. Suddenly the calendar is open. Rutgers head coach Kari Williams didn’t realize what a gamechanger that would be, the postseason experience being something of a new thing for Rutgers.

“It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t harried in any way, it was actually kind of a luxury to go to practice,” Williams said. “… It’s just been a ton of fun for two weeks.”

Rutgers is one off the lead after two rounds of the National Golf Invitational, having clearly done an effective job of bringing that relaxed vibe from the East Coast all the way to Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona. Then again, every morning at the NGI, country music blares as the 10-team field warms up. There’s ice cream at the end of the day and to Williams, this week feels a little bit like the USGA events and national-team events that her players covet  in that celebratory, no-detail-spared kind of way.

Scores: National Golf Invitational | Photos

“They are playing hard and they’re competing, but I think there’s joy in it that we don’t necessarily see in the regular season when we’re all in the grind of trying to be as ranked as high as we can and do all of those things so we can get the next-best recruit and all of that,” Williams said. “This has been more about the playing of the golf and that’s fun.”

At 8 over for 36 holes, Rutgers trails University of North Carolina-Wilmington by a shot. A few errant swings have been costly, but the Scarlet Knights have figured out how to make some birdies when they need them to make up for mistakes.

A five-shot gap separates Rutgers from Santa Clara in third place at 13 over, with Arkansas State another three shots behind that. Three players are tied for the individual lead at 2 under: Santa Clara’s Kelsey Kim, Jacksonville State’s Jinger Heath, and UNCW’s Minouche Rooijmans.

UNCW head coach Cindy Ho liked how her team performed in the lead, so it won’t be easy for Rutgers to overtake them on Sunday. Ho thinks the potential is there for good theater.

“That back and forth tomorrow, this is why I came here,” she said. “Try to give people some experience but also find a way to reward our team, see if we can win a championship.”

Williams penciled in postseason dates early in the fall – NCAA Regionals and the National Golf Invitational. Rutgers could have been at the latter last season, before a nasty strain of the flu left them severely weakened right before the postseason.

Williams wasn’t sure she would even be able to field a team for last spring’s Big 10 Championship. The Scarlet Knights competed, but Williams ended it there, declining an invitation into the inaugural NGI.

“They’d been vomiting for 10 days and they were going to miss graduation so we did not accept last year,” Williams said. “I had really wanted to, but we just couldn’t get it done.”

To be at the NGI in early May takes commitment. Three players sacrificed commencement for the chance to play one last time with the team: Lucrezia Rossettin, Leigha Devine and Rikke Nordvik (who is Rutgers’ sub this week). Williams points to Devine as one of the most gratifying success stories on the team. Devine didn’t make the lineup as a freshman but has blossomed since. She qualified for the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

The rest of Williams’ team is made up of freshmen, and there’s a joy in coaching newcomers that Williams, 53, thinks she’s only fully embraced now that she’s in the back half of her coaching career. They think they know everything while simultaneously never wanting to ask a question because they’re afraid it will be a dumb one.

“They make me laugh,” she said. “They’re hilarious.”

There’s a joy, too, in watching her players tee it up with the best in the country – notably at the Big 10 Championship – with both fight and belief in their hearts. While acknowledging that golf tournaments are three rounds, it’s at the 36-hole mark that Williams often steps back and sees most clearly what her team is made of.

“I love it when they go play against some of the top players in the world and have some success,” Williams said.

Rutgers played a loaded schedule, including Big 10- and Pac-12-heavy fields. They won their own Rutgers Invitational at the beginning of April.

“The thing about winning tournaments – it doesn’t come as often as you think it will,” Williams said.

Regardless, winning helps a lot of things, and it felt especially helpful to Williams on Saturday night that Rutgers had that feeling so fresh in their mind. Ak-Chin Southern Dunes has some scoreable holes, but some stretches that can be costly. Above all, Williams hopes for a good fight on Sunday, from the whole team.

“I hope my seniors spend the day just reveling in the chance to compete as college athletes for one last day and that my freshmen are just out there playing their guts out to try to send these seniors off with a win.”

Alabama basketball named a finalists for Rutgers transfer center Clifford Omoruyi

Will Alabama land the high-priority transfer target?

The transfer portal saga for Rutgers center [autotag]Clifford Omoruyi[/autotag] will be coming to an end this weekend. The highly-coveted big man has announced his top four along with his commitment date which is scheduled for this Sunday.

[autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] and the Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball program are among the four finalists.

Joining the Crimson Tide in Omoruyi’s top four are the Georgetown Hoyas, the Kansas State Wildcats, and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Omoruyi is a talented 6-foot-11 center who averaged 10.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game during the 2023-24 season for the Scarlet Knights and would be an impactful addition to the already-loaded Alabama basketball roster.

Joe Tipton of On3 was the first to report.

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Vineland, N.J., holds parade for Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco after Super Bowl LVIII

#Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco’s hometown of Vineland, New Jersey, held a Super Bowl LVIII parade in his honor

The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII over the San Francisco 49ers 10 weeks ago in Las Vegas. The glow and celebrations from that night haven’t slowed as players and coaches continue to be honored by their hometowns.

On Saturday, running back Isiah Pacheco was back in Vineland, New Jersey, being greeted by fans in his hometown for the second consecutive year as a Super Bowl champion.

“Every movie has a main character,” said Pacheco at the City Hall steps, according to The Press of Atlantic City. “What a good movie will show you is a main character is nothing without other people around him to shape him and support him, which y’all do.”

[gambcom-standard rankid=”5375″ ]

Pacheco’s Vineland high school football team, along with family and former Rutgers teammates, was in attendance to support. Pacheco had another solid season in 2023, appearing in 14 games and finishing with 205 carries for 935 rushing yards and seven touchdowns to go with 44 receptions for 244 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Unpacking Future Packers: No. 32, Rutgers CB Max Melton

Up next in the Unpacking Future Packers draft preview series is Rutgers CB Max Melton, the younger brother of Packers WR Bo Melton.

The Unpacking Future Packers Countdown is a countdown of 100 prospects that could be selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2024 NFL draft.

On paper, the Green Bay Packers appear to have a solid group of cornerbacks. Jaire Alexander is an all-pro caliber player. Carrington Valentine showed promise last season as a seventh-round rookie. Keisean Nixon is back to man the nickel position. If former first-round pick Eric Stokes can rediscover his rookie form the Packers could have a solid foundation in place.

There are obvious concerns with this group. Can Alexander and Stokes stay healthy? Will Valentine fall victim to a sophomore slump? With question marks surrounding the group, one would expect the Packers to add another body to bolster the cornerback room at 1265 Lombardi Avenue.

A cornerback that the Packers could target on Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft is Max Melton. The Rutgers cornerback checks in at No. 32 in the Unpacking Future Packers Countdown. 

Melton is a legacy at Rutgers. Max’s father Gary played football at Rutgers University and his mother played basketball. 

During his second season on campus, Melton recorded 1.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions and five pass deflections. In 2022, Melton recorded two tackles for loss, two interceptions and 10 pass deflections. This past season Melton recorded four tackles for loss, one sack, three interceptions and six pass deflections.

“He was a veteran leader with plenty of experience under his belt (1,418 snaps in his first three seasons in college) and was arguably their most talented defensive player,” Brian Fonseca, a Rutgers beat writer for NJ Advance Media/The Star-Ledger, said. “He struggled to show that early in the year while dealing with a hand injury, but he really came on at the end of the season. Melton oozes confidence and that does transmit to the rest of his teammates.”

Melton is an outstanding athlete, with track speed. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Melton clocked a 4.39 40-yard dash and had a 2.56 20-yard split. He shows that burst if he’s beaten off the line of scrimmage.

“His speed and athleticism, which he proved by testing out really well at the combine,” Fonseca said. “He feels comfortable in press coverage because of his physical traits, and again, he has the confidence needed to take on elite talents in that setting.”

Melton is comfortable playing press or zone. In press, he has the fluidity, velvet feet and quickness to stay attached in pattern. In off-coverage, Melton shows good instincts and excellent route recognition. He has experience playing in the slot and on the boundary. 

Melton does a good job of reading the wide receivers’ eyes and bodies them up at the catch point. The Rutgers cornerback recorded eight interceptions and 21 pass deflections. 

“His knack for anticipating, which he showed with some of the interceptions he’s made in his career,” Fonseca said. “His ability to close the gap on any receiver who beats him with his initial move.”

Melton is a physical cornerback and is a willing participant against the run. He is looking to pop the ball carrier. 

During his career at Rutgers, Melton logged 455 snaps on special teams. He returned two punts and it’s a role that he could potentially take on full-time at the next level. 

Fit with the Packers

In a perfect world, the Packers would roll out Alexander with Stokes or Valentine starting opposite him with Nixon starting on the inside. 

Given the recent injury history of Stokes and Alexander that group may not be able to stick together for an entire season. On top of that Alexander, Nixon and Valentine are the only cornerbacks on the roster that are locked up beyond this season. Taking into account those two factors, Melton could be an ideal fit with his ability to play on the boundary or in the slot.

“The history of successful defensive backs that have come out of Rutgers under Greg Schiano is why I’d target Melton,” Fonseca said. “His vast experience playing meaningful football in a top conference. His freakish athleticism, which is complemented by his willingness to learn and grow as a player.”

Melton checks the boxes with his athleticism, inside-out versatility and toughness. The Packers have four picks on Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft, and Melton could be a target with one of those picks as the Packers look to add playmakers to the secondary.