While I have no idea how many more games, if any, Coach Greg Schiano's Rutgers Scarlet Knights will win in Year One/Iteration Two, Hollywood could not have scripted a more perfect beginning to Coach's return to his home "on the banks".
Saturday afternoon in East Lansing, Michigan, Rutgers broke its twenty-one-game Big Ten losing streak by taking the homestanding Spartans out behind the woodshed, 38-27. Neither Coach Schiano nor his kids apparently took to heart the memo that listed them as two-touchdown underdogs. Instead, the Rutgers defense forced seven turnovers as the Scarlet Knights scored the game's first two touchdowns within the first ten minutes of the first quarter and never let the Spartans get closer than seven points thereafter.
Irrespective of how the rest of 2020 plays out for Coach Schiano and his kids (the Big Ten East being slightly more difficult than either the AFC East or the NFC East this season, RU plays four of its next six games against opponents that are presently nationally-ranked), I have little doubt that the Scarlet Knights will have their share of days that resemble this season's opening game. Having been an enormous Greg Schiano fan during his first tour of duty as RU's Head Coach, I applauded mightily when they worked out the deal to bring him back.
Whether any football coach can win consistently at Rutgers, given its membership in what might be the most brutal division in college football, I know not. I do know, however, if any coach can, it is the man who is doing the job right now.
Welcome back, Coach...
Welcome back.
-AK
No comments:
Post a Comment