It's Almost The Hunter's Moon, Right?

 On a mixed weather day, I spent a portion of my Saturday at High Points Solutions Stadium. Rutgers defied the odds but lacked the firepower to match Northwestern, losing 18-15 before friends, family and U.S. women’s soccer star Carli Lloyd, who was finally being inducted into the Rutgers Athletic Hall of Fame on this Homecoming Weekend. RU fought hard and led the game into the fourth quarter. However, the Wildcats mustered just enough of a ground game to subdue the Scarlet Knights’ defense, which looked fairly good at times in pass defense, and actually recorded a sack in the end zone for a safety as well as recovered a Northwestern fumble.

      Rutgers’ special teams are not very good. On the opening kickoff, the RU returner signaled for a fair catch at the one yard line, in order to place the ball at the 25 for the first offensive possession. Instead, he muffed the kickoff and retrieved the ball at the one yard line. I thought the punter was inconsistent; he had a 79 yard punt, but he also punted a couple of balls out of bounds. The placekicker missed a fairly long field goal—he does not appear to be a tremendous kicker despite being 6 for 7 this season. And the punt coverage teams downed some punts too early, not allowing them to roll and place Northwestern further back.

     The RU running game was okay, but in the fourth quarter the Wildcats shut it down. As for the passing game, Artur Sitkowski showed some good instincts, but his receiving corps dropped some catchable balls. His signal calling was a marked improvement over the disaster at Maryland last weekend.

     There was a sequence which RU was called for a personal foul when the NU QB slid to ground after a moderate run and an RU defender hit him. The crowd booed and Head Coach Chris Ash adamantly disagreed, getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

     Rutgers needs to cut down the mistakes and penalties if they are to be competitive. As for Northwestern, their jubilation should be tempered with a sigh of relief to have left Piscataway with a win. Highly-touted QB Clifford Thorson went only 17-34 for 150 yards. He did complete a pass for a two point conversion.

     Meanwhile, the drive to fire Chris Ash has begun in earnest. The anti-Ash faction is willing to spend $10 million to buy out Ash’s contract. Of course, the hue and cry is for a return by Greg Schiano, who catapulted RU into the national discussion. AD Patrick Hobbs will have some serious decisions to make.

     The season ticket holder who invited me to the game was doing something fairy unique for a Rutgers fan. That’s because he went to Northwestern as undergraduate and then attended the Rutgers-Newark School of Law. He came festooned in a Rutgers jacket, with a Northwestern cap. But it was clear that he believed the Wildcats would triumph, because he wore a Northwestern t-shirt beneath his RU jacket.

     That t-shirt was picked up last Saturday in Evanston, where he returned for his 50^th homecoming. Nebraska gave the Wildcats a match. Just like RU, and was a precursor to this Saturday’s contest, Head Coach and NU alum Pat Fitzgerald’s team prevailed on that afternoon.

     Northwestern traveled in a group of about 3.000 fans in the North end zone. There were scattered clusters of purple clad supporters throughout the rest of High Points Solutions Stadium. Probably a number of them also were at the Nebraska game. But I am willing to be that there was nary a person besides my friend who attended both and who had RU season tickets.

     In other news, F&M defeated Dickinson on the road to retain the Conestoga Wagon Trophy for another year.  The trophy is symbolic, a replica of the vehicles used to transport the teams between Lancaster and Carlisle when the series began in the late 1800’s. Dickinson-F&M is the oldest rivalry in the Centennial Conference. The 35-14 final score stopped a two game Diplomats slide and gave them a 5-2 record. Remaining games against Moravian, Ursinus and Gettysburg are winnable. 8-2 is a nice record and will probably land F&M another bowl opportunity against the Middle Atlantic Conference as a number 2 seed behind Muhlenberg or Johns Hopkins. Undefeated Muhlenberg travels to Baltimore on Saturday to establish conference supremacy and the likely NCAA berth.

     The World Series is set after the Los Angeles Dodgers punched their ticket to the big dance, fueled by homers by Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig and clutch pitching by Kenley Jansen plus a ninth inning close out by future Game 1 starter, Clayton Kershaw. That first game is Tuesday in Boston, where the team who won 108 games in the regular season awaits the Dodgers.

     The Red Sox have defeated the Yankees and the defending champion Houston Astros, two teams with at least 100 regular season wins by utilizing strong starting pitching; clutch relief outings by an underrated relief corps aided by appearances by starters; timely hitting; and strong defense. Moreover, rookie manager Alex Cora has demonstrated a calming presence and he has made key decisions which have directly resulted in Boston making it to the World Series.

     The managers of the teams who made it into the playoffs are the new breed of manager. Joe Maddon became an innovator in Tampa, which has carried over to his present stint with the Cubs. Bob Melvin of Oakland took the lowest payroll in MLB and maneuvered them through a second half surge and into the A.L, Wild Card game. Aaron Boone, while outdueled by Cora, did an admirable job guiding the Yankees in his first season. Craig Counsel looked as if he had this thoughtful intensity; he utilized his starting pitchers and reliever Josh Hader in long relief, outside their comfort zones.  Alas, the Brewers fell one game short of the World Series. Dave Roberts showed a fiery persona, emblematic of the way his Dodgers team played this post-season. A.J. Hinch of Houston continues to show how he handles a group of stars, molding them into a feared group. 

     The dynamic changes in the game through the use of analytics, shifting infielders, pitching changes and personnel moves has made the game into a real chess match. Being a dinosaur and relying on old methods is passé. Thoughtful preparation, as evidenced by the binders seen inside of dugouts is the norm. I believe that this makes baseball exciting and different, predictably unpredictable.

     Speaking of predictions, I see Boston claiming the 2018 World Series title. The pitching, hitting ad defense I alluded to will carry them to a victory over a game Dodgers team who simply is unable to match up well with this Red Sox squad.

     Briefly back to college football. #2 Ohio State, a vastly overrated team, was demolished at Purdue. The Boilermakers opened the season with 3 losses by a total of 7 combined points, so they were far more competitive than the Las Vegas odds makers thought (Then again, Northwestern was a 20 ½ point favorite over Rutgers—not a good job by those resident geniuses). This makes the Big 10 a wide open affair among Michigan, winners at Michigan State, and Ohio State in the East and a quartet of Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue in the West.

     Although quite competitive among themselves, the Big 10 teams may not even make it to the College Football Playoffs. Barring upsets, Alabama and Clemson are the two outstanding teams. Notre Dame remains undefeated, but I do not see them staying that way. The most dangerous team in my mind is LSU, who will be hosting the Crimson Tide in a couple of weeks. In the SEC Championship game, one of the trio of Georgia, Kentucky and Florida will survive to represent the East; they will not be able to handle Alabama, especially if the Tide defeats LSU and hated in-state rival Auburn. I am dismissive of the Pac 12 and Big 12 teams—they do not measure up to Alabama or Clemson. Then there is UCF, who is rolling through its lesser competition once more—will they get the chance to play in the big leagues?

     I don’t know if the NFL will provide the electricity that was offered last week in the two prime time games on Sunday and Monday nights—game-winning drives orchestrated by two great quarterbacks. With all of the hype about the new guns in the NFL, the spotlight shined brightest upon Tom Brady of New England and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Kudos to Patrick Mahomes, Jr. of Kansas City, who once more showed us how good he is, even if the Chiefs lost their first game of the season to the Patriots and Brady, and Drew Brees, the all-time leading yardage producing QB in NFL history.

    For New York fans, will the Eli Manning free fall continue against the enigmatic Atlanta Falcons on Monday night in Georgia and can Sam Darnold lead the Jets to a third win in a row by beating a solid Minnesota Vikings team in the Meadowlands? I can answer the latter question—NO!! Ragged, inconsistent plays, a lot of dropped passes on a windy day and a bunch of key injuries doomed New York. Darnold may have tossed a number of interceptions, but at least two were bounced off the hands of back up receivers. Minnesota played better and deserved to win. The Jets made a game of it at times, but the separation between teams was apparent.

     Lebron and the Lakers are 0-2 to start the season. How long will it take before he becomes totally frustrated? The Warriors are 2-0, with a win over a depleted Oklahoma City team and a lucky win in Utah. They will need some time to jell with the younger players taking a more prominent role. And the Knicks have shown some spunk in their first three contests—the two losses each coming by two points. Imagine how improved New York might be with a healthy Kristap Porzingis? Note to Toronto Raptors fans: Kawahi Leonard cannot be anointed M.V.P. after two games—even he recognized that your well-meaning chants were “premature.”

     I won’t delve too much into the mess at USA Gymnastics since the onset of the Larry Masser scandal. The management of this sport, ridiculed through the eyes of Simone Biles and Aly Reisman, two prominent Olympians, rivals the debacle in the Miss America pageant.

     Lastly, looking ahead, Lafayette won on the road at Bucknell to take their record to 2-5, while Lehigh lost to Georgetown, giving the Mountain Hawks an uncharacteristic 1-6 mark thus far. It is easily possible that each team will be 2-9 heading into the end of season matchup in Easton on November 17^th.      

     I hope that the weather is not too cold at Fisher Field; I am having trouble adapting to the relatively sudden drop in temperature this week. That is why I am so glad we are traveling to Hawaii tomorrow. I am in desperate need of some tropical sun and warmth--where I can watch three games of the World Series in the late afternoon.