After Saturday’s 35-26 win at Arkansas, Rutgers is 4-0 for just the third time since 1980. The Scarlet Knights cracked the AP top 25 for the first time in three years, ranked in both major polls for the first time in five. Just don’t tell them.
Bill Parcells once said “when everybody’s feeding you the cheese, it’s hard not to eat it.” But that’s exactly what Rutgers is trying to do: Block out the praise and platitudes and spend its upcoming bye week focusing on UConn.
“I really don’t have a reaction to it. The fans will probably enjoy it, but for us it’s only four games in,’’ coach Kyle Flood said yesterday. “It’s great to be in the position we’re in right now, but the most important thing we can do is do a great job on the bye week and get ready to win another Big East game the following week.”
Rutgers is No. 23 in the AP poll and tied for No. 25 in the USA Today/Coaches poll, the first time it has been ranked in both since Sept. 30, 2007. The last time the Scarlet Knights were ranked, Nov. 15, 2009, they promptly lost to Syracuse to fall from the poll. They aim to avoid a similar fate Oct. 6 when they host UConn, which upset them 40-22 last Nov. 26 to cost them a share of the Big East title.
“We don’t forget what happened, what UConn did to us last year,’’ said quarterback Gary Nova, whose 397 passing yards and five touchdowns Saturday were the third-highest single-game totals in school history.
“We’re 4-0, but that don’t mean nothing,” linebacker Khaseem Greene said. “We’ve got an ultimate goal and that’s to win a championship. It’s as simple as that.
“This is a dangerous point for a team, to slack off and get caught up in what everybody’s telling you, how good you are and things like that. But we’re a veteran team, we’ve got some great leaders and we’re going to will it for our young guys to follow in our path and know we’ve got a lot of work to do.’’