Rutgers vs Army info / weather/ a few articles.

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Here is what service has so far guys:

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RUTGERS Injuries

OL
Desmond Wynn
shoulder
Probable
*
3:06am
is upgraded to probable Friday vs Army.
10/19
LB
Ryan D'Imperio
stinger
Probable
*
3:02am
is upgraded to probable Friday vs Army.
Players listed as "?"
10/21
DB
Patrick Kivlehan
ankle
"?"
*
3:05am
is "?" Friday vs Army.
Players listed as OUT
09/10
RB
Mason Robinson
knee
OUT
*
2:38pm
is out for the season.

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ARMY Injuries

RB
George Fletcher
leg
"?"
*
5:22pm
missed last game, is "?" Friday vs Rutgers.

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CLOUDY, LIGHT SHOWERS THEN 70% CHANCE RAIN. EAST WIND 6-11.KICKOFF TEMP 49

ESPN 2 @ 8 EST

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Army-Rutgers: A real rivalry?

All-Knights affair needs more balance
By Sal Interdonato


Times Herald-Record
October 23, 2009
WEST POINT — Texas-Oklahoma.

Ohio State-Michigan.

Army-Rutgers?

Can the only two Division I-A New York metropolitan-area teams become a big-time rivalry?

"We are definitely looking for another rivalry," said Army defensive tackle Mike Gann. "They are a good school and a good institution. I would love for it to be a rivalry. I consider it one, even though some people might not."

Two things have to happen for a rivalry to be born. First, regional appeal has to be established. As of early this week, only 23,000 tickets were sold for Friday night's game at Michie Stadium.

Second, the games have to be competitive. Rutgers (4-2) has won the last five meetings and the last two by a combined score of 71-9.

"Sooner or later, it's something that will be a rivalry," said Rutgers senior linebacker Ryan D'Imperio. "That's something that has to work itself out."

Army coach Rich Ellerson was a little more blunt.

"You can't be 0-for and say that's a rivalry," Ellerson said.

Rutgers is the type of program Army (3-4) aspires to be. Ellerson hopes to lead Army's rise like Greg Schiano did at Rutgers.

"They've made a great move in Greg's tenure there," Ellerson said. "They made a tremendous step forward. Obviously, we would like to match that and see if we can get our hat in that" conversation.

Rutgers' road to four consecutive bowl games didn't happen overnight. Schiano won six games in his first three years at Rutgers (2000-02).

If Army can have a quicker fix, the venues are in place to bring the games to more of a national stage.

Army and Rutgers are expected to play in the new Giants Stadium next season and will play at Yankee Stadium in 2011.

Schiano said another game at Rutgers Stadium is scheduled. The teams may play up until 2016, but there's a gap in between games.

"It's just a great game for the area," said Schiano, who is 4-0 against Army. "I think that's a game that should be an every-year game. But I'll leave that to the athletic directors to see if they can't get that worked out."

All is not lost, Army athletic director Kevin Anderson said.

"I believe it has all the potential to be a great rivalry," Anderson said. "When they made the transition of athletic directors, we had to move on and schedule other games. Unfortunately, we had to fill some slots later on in the years. We'd love to talk to them about looking farther on down the road just making it continually happen."

On Friday, the teams will meet for the second time in three years under the lights at West Point. Gann hasn't forgotten the 2007 game, when Rutgers smacked Army 41-6.

"I know the last time, they got us pretty good here," Gann said. "I was pretty embarrassed on national television and I don't want that to happen again."

An Army upset win could be just the jump-start the would-be rivalry needs.

sinterdonato@th-record.com

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Army looks to break losing streak to Rutgers

By John Kekis - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 22, 2009 9:26:42 EDT

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Rutgers coach Greg Schiano has seen it before. He just doesn’t want his Scarlet Knights to get hoodwinked by Army’s tricky triple option.

The teams meet Friday night at Michie Stadium, with Army (3-4) seeking to break a five-game losing streak against its metropolitan New York rival.

“You can’t get ready for this in one week,” Schiano said. “You hope you can get ready. They do it every week, they can do it in their sleep. We do it one week a year. We are behind in that. We just need to hope that we don’t do too much. You have to hunker down and do your best at defending it and just try and play.

“If I didn’t have to defend this, I enjoy watching it,” Schiano said. “It is definitely a science.”

If Rutgers (4-2) continues to defend the run as well as it has this season, Army will face a difficult task. The Scarlet Knights rank 11th nationally in rushing defense, allowing just 91.5 yards per game, and have held three of their last four opponents under 50 yards rushing.

The Black Knights relish the challenge.

“I like the opportunity we have to come back and play on Friday, in front of a large crowd on national television,” Army defensive tackle Mike Gann said. “It’s a phenomenal opportunity for us.”

Both teams are coming off losses. Pittsburgh beat Rutgers last Friday night on the Scarlet Knights’ home turf and Army lost at Temple. Rutgers is 4-0 outside the Big East this season.

“They are a good football team and they play good people, but we have played good people,” Army coach Rich Ellerson said. “We have been out there with good folks and we have expectations. We are trying somehow, someway, to steal a win here. That’s the plan. We expect to get it done.”

The Army offense will have to step it up for that to happen. The Black Knights have not scored more than one offensive touchdown in four consecutive games. In the past four weeks, they are 11 of 14 inside their opponent’s 20-yard line but have scored just four TDs.

“We are playing a little bit faster each week,” Ellerson said. “We are looking a bit more athletic each time up because guys are a little more comfortable with what they are being asked to do. We’re getting closer to finishing some of those plays where you say, ‘My goodness, there are more yards there.’ It’s such a slim margin between not much and a bunch.”

The game will feature two freshman quarterbacks — Army’s Trent Steelman and Tom Savage of Rutgers. Steelman has been Army’s leading rusher the past three games and leads the team with 407 yards on 117 carries. Savage was 23 of 39 for 248 yards and one touchdown against Pitt.

Savage will be making his first start on the road, seeking to become just the second freshman quarterback in school history to win a road game. Ryan Cubit won his first road game at Buffalo in 2001 in his first career start. It was Schiano’s first game as head coach at Rutgers.

Savage is well aware of what he’ll be up against.

Army’s swarming defense is led by defensive end Josh McNary, who had an academy-record four sacks against Temple, giving him 9 1/2 for the season and 15 in his career. He ranks third in the nation with 1.36 sacks per game.

“They’ve just got a strong defensive line, they’re all disciplined, their d-backs are good in press coverages and jamming,” Savage said. “It’s going to be a tough opponent.”

“It will be a real challenge for him (McNary), and they certainly will have some things for him,” Ellerson said. “But I don’t think they are going to change their offense because Josh is out there. He’ll have opportunities, but he’s going to have to whup somebody to make a play.”

The teams last played at Michie Stadium two years ago on a rainy Friday night, and the Scarlet Knights dominated behind tailback Ray Rice, scoring 34 straight points en route to a 41-6 victory. Rice set a single-game school record with 243 yards on 34 carries and scored twice.

This time, the Black Knights will be looking to put Rutgers on its heels early.

“We’ve come out of the locker room and we’ve played so well so early consistently through the year,” Ellerson said. “The only exception has been in the start of the third quarter, where we have been a little bit of a yard sale in some weeks.

“What we’re going to try and do is a little bit of a cut and paste. If we could take that third quarter and this first quarter and put a couple of those together we have a great chance.”

Army looks to break losing streak to Rutgers - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

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Greg Schiano wants Rutgers to reduce its 'unforced errors'
By Tom Luicci/The Star-Ledger
October 21, 2009, 8:42PM

The improvement that Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is looking for from his team Friday night at Army can’t be measured in statistics. But it can be shown in numbers.

As in, the number of self-inflicted busted plays the Knights were guilty of in the 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh last week – blown assignments that he felt the Panthers had little influence on.

“It gets too technical to talk about publicly,” Schiano said following practice Wednesday. “But there are eight plays in the game the other night I didn’t think were induced by the performance of the other team. We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do.

“I’d like to see those plays limited. I don’t think you’re ever going to get rid of them totally. Maybe on a really good night you do.”

Those eight plays Schiano referred to no doubt played a role in the Scarlet Knights being 4-2 instead of 5-1 as they head to West Point, N.Y.

“You really want to limit them, so maybe if you have one (that’s good),” Schiano said. “I guess in tennis they call it an unforced error or something. I don’t watch a lot of tennis.”

One week after making his first career start against a BCS opponent, true freshman quarterback Tom Savage tackles another first tomorrow: His first start on the road.

Twelve years ago, Rutgers had another true freshman quarterback make his first career road start at Army. Mike McMahon threw for 386 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 37-35 Rutgers loss in 1997.

“We’ve had the (piped in crowd) noise out here for that reason,” Schiano said of practice this week. “Our offense is kind of built for that anyway. Tommy is a cool customer.”

The Army-Rutgers game will actually feature two of the six true freshmen who are considered starting quarterbacks for their teams. The Black Knights have plebe Trent Steelman running their offense.

Tailback Kordell Young may be ready mentally to take on a heavier workload but the fourth-year junior isn’t sure is surgically-ravaged knees are yet.

“I don’t think it’s a point of proving my health,” said Young, who missed the first two games from the lingering effects of knee surgery. “I think it’s a process I have to go through because of the surgery and all my knee has been through – and all of the setbacks I’ve had in the past rushing it too fast.”

Young, who has settled almost exclusive into a role as a third-down back, isn’t sure his knees will ever as good as they were prior to the operations.

“So do I feel I’m completely confident I’m 100 percent?” he said. “I don’t know that. Hopefully, I can keep getting better and better.”

True freshman Abdul Smith was mistakenly listed on the participation chart from the Pittsburgh game – and was even credited with a fourth quarter tackle. Except it never happened.

When Schiano was alerted to Smith’s named being listed among those who have played, he said it was an error and had someone review the game tape. For some reason Smith, who is No. 36 and is being redshirted this year, was mistaken for Zaire Kitchen, No. 29, on the one play.

That one play would have ended the plans to redshirt Smith under NCAA rules.

“I think it’s the naked eye and they just look at people and they see a number,” Schiano said.

Schiano said the mistake is a fairly common occurrence. It requires filing a revised boxscore with the Big East and the NCAA.

Nine true freshmen have played already this season, though Schiano wouldn’t say definitively say if any more will the rest of the season.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure,” he said. “Maybe. That (the nine) might be it. You never know, we could go and get some guys bumped.”

The nine true freshmen to play so far are LB Steve Beauharnais, LB Ka’Lial Glaud, DB Duron Harmon, WR Mark Harrison, WR Quron Pratt, WR Mohamed Sanu, Savage, TE Tony Trahan and TB De’Antwan Williams.

Greg Schiano wants Rutgers to reduce its 'unforced errors' | Rutgers University Football - - Rutgers University Football - NJ.com