Talk about it in The Round Table

Another sign of the Rutgers media blitz...driving into work this morning ESPN Radio 1050 was replaying the Schiano radio interview as a promo.

And did Kirk Herbstreit really say Rutgers was his team? Does this mean he acknowledges that schools other than Ohio State play football?

I loved the "The Block R" response from Schiano on Cold Pizza when asked how he was going to make Rutgers more like "The U." (Miami) You can see why recruits love this guy.

You know things are good when even Wojo is singing RU's praises and Doug Graber can have a warm welcome at Homecoming. Doug if you had only have won that game at Cincinnati in 1992 - who knows what would have happened. It would've meant 8-3 and a bowl game 13 years earlier for RU. It's all forgiven now.

Wait a minute - I thought the Star Ledger and the rest of the media was evil and out to undermine Rutgers sports? Or so that was the opinion of an awful lot of message board posts not too long ago. I imagine the "media conspiracy" will start again come basketball season.

Did you miss Ray Rice on ESPN News? Watch it at ScarletKnights.com. Great comments by Ray and plenty of highlights for the national audience.

If you're out of the MSG viewing area you can still catch this weekend's Rutgers Football game nationally on ESPN Gameplan.

If you haven't read the RU's feature article on Clark Harris yet, what are you waiting for?

The RU running game has Ohio worried and probably most of our future opponents. The offensive line should get an enormous amount of credit for creating a massive strength where Rutgers has traditionally been quite weak.

Manny being Manny is a good thing on The Banks. He's become a leader and playmaker on defense.

The undersized defensive line still has me concerned when we face the likes of Pitt, L'Ville, and WVU. But stories like this one about Giacobbe's work ethic make me feel a little better.

Ohio finished last season 4-7, but did manage to beat fellow BIG EAST member Pitt. This season they've started 2-0 for the first time in nine years including a win over a pretty good Northern Illinois squad.

The Ohio offense can move the ball and score. Senior QB Austen Everson had a career game last week with 322 yards and 3 TDs and junior RB Kalvin McRae had 106 yards rushing and 2 TDs. Those are not typos - Austen and Kalvin.

You can watch some video on the Ohio U. athletic website.

So what am I looking for this weekend?

1. A quick start. Put this game out of reach early just like last week. Don't let Ohio be one of those pesky teams that makes RU fans sweat out what should be an easy Homecoming win. And don't follow this recent media blitz with a loss to a MAC team.

2. A repeat defensive performance. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ohio be a better offensive threat than Illinois but that's not saying much. The fact is this Ohio team is a middle of the road MAC squad and RU has to be able to shut them down right from the start.

3. A glimpse of the passing attack. This game should be won early on the ground. RU's offensive line has looked excellent and they should pound the ball all day. But I do want to see some aggressive passing mixed in. Time to start warming up Teel's arm and the WRs legs. RU will start playing the big boys soon and they need to shake the rust off the air attack.

4. Pressure on the QB. The RU defensive line is undersized but quick. If they can't get to Ohio's Austen Everson then I'll worry how they will fare against BIG EAST lines.

5. Jabu Lovelace, Kordell Young, Tim Brown, Shamar Graves, etc. If RU does its job then we should get another look at the promising youngsters.

The BIG EAST Conference sure looks weak this season. Did you see WVU struggle against Maryland last night? Those naysayers that predicted the end of the conference are awfully hard to find these days. This weekend is another chance for the conference to make a statement.

Junior QB Stephen Shimko of Ewing is getting RU's attention. And the Scarlet Knight's recent play has gotten the attention of Lakeland OL Craig Parmenter and Teaneck's Randy Martinez.

If you have ESPN Insider - great article on future Scarlet Knight TE Fabian Ruiz.

Maybe Ilinois' top rated QB Teddy Schell was upset at the way RU manhandled the Illini or else he saw Jabu Lovelace and realized he wouldn't be playing for three years. He's going to Indiana.

The Rutgers Men's Soccer team hosts BIG EAST opponents Seton Hall and Georgetown this weekend. The Women's squad will open on the road vs. Seton Hall but will actually be playing at NJIT because of construction to SHU's field.

Men's Tennis opens its season at the Brown Invitational and the Women's team opens at the PrincetonInvitational.

Meanwhile, Rutgers Field Hockey team hosts a couple squads from upstate New York this weekend.

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