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Rutgers Football Preview

Rutgers 2008-2009 Spring Football Preview:
Overall:
Rutgers was recently ranked number 22 in the Athlon Preseason Magazine. Junior center Ryan Blaszcsyk was named to the Rimington Award Watch List as one of the top centers in the country. The award is given to the nation's top center each year. This is important news for a team which will rely heavily on its passing game for the upcoming season.

Three of the more significant developments out of Rutgers this off season occurred off the field. First, the Rutgers football program was awarded a number 3 ranking by the NCAA in its Academic Progress Rate. Rutgers was cited behind Stanford and Navy and tied with Duke, just ahead of Air Force. Secondly, the Rutgers Stadium expansion continues to unfold. 1,000 additional seats will be added to its capacity for the 08-09 seasons with another 10,000 seats to be added by the 09-10 season. Upon completion, Rutgers Stadium will boast a seating capacity upwards of 55,000 seats. In a final development, Rutgers pulled out of a potential home and home schedule with Notre Dame when RU declined to move its game to the Meadowlands.

Grade A

On a day in which the NCAA published its list of NCAA schools not meeting minimum graduation rates, here's the link to a recent article outlining which schools make up the TOP FIVE HIGHEST IN "ACADEMIC PROGRESS RATES" (from the link,

"The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport."

Rutgers was actually ranked third behind Stanford and Navy and tied with Duke and one ahead of Air Force. It should also be noted that Rutgers was the only state university in the top ten (in APR) with a bowl victory last year.

As an RU alumnus, I'm very proud of this accomplishment.  

For more, please go to: http://www.scarletknights.com/football/news/release.asp?prID=6596

Rutgers Spring Game

Spent a lot of today watching The Masters and flipping over to ESPN to check out their coverage of the Florida Spring Football Game from Gainesville. With that in mind, I'm sending along information regarding the RU spring game which is Sat, April 19 (next Saturday). Here's the link:

http://www.scarletknights.com/football/news/release.asp?prID=6447 

Red On Field of Blue

The Rutgers 08-09 football schedule has been finalized. I think it's a really solid schedule. They have their regular Big East matchups. But RU has a nice package of out-of-conference games. I don't want to give it away. Instead, here's the link to the RU football site, specifically schedule info.

Go to: http://www.scarletknights.com/football/news/release.asp?prID=6406 

Women's Final 411

Gonna keep the focus on the Rutgers/UCONN game tonight, which very quietly has developed into an intense rivalry. Go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/sports/ncaabasketball/01rutgers.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin 

to read a good article from today's (4/1/08) New York Times.