BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Did Rutgers coach Kyle Flood say what we think he just said?
āTo be very honest with you, there were other SEC teams that wouldnāt play us,ā he told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.
Thatās right. Flood pretty much called out at least a handful of teams from the big, bad SECāthe conference with seven consecutive BCS national titlesāfor not playing his Scarlet Knights in their inaugural season in the Big Ten.
Feeling good after a 9-4 season which included a win against an SEC team (itās debatable how impressive beating a woeful Arkansas team that finished 4-8 actually is), Rutgers apparently looked toward SEC country to fill a slot in its 2014 schedule. But the school couldnāt find an SEC partner during the Aug. 28-30 timeframe and, instead, scheduled a home-and-home series with Washington State of the Pac-12.
The Razorbacks come to Piscataway, N.J., for the Sept. 21, 2013 rematch. The only SEC teams with unfilled spots during the time Rutgers was looking for in 2014: Auburn, LSU and Vanderbilt.
āThere were a couple teams that were available that werenāt willing to play us. Iām not going to name names,ā Flood said. āWe were looking for a game that we thought would be an exciting game for our players and for our fans and an exciting game for our fans. Really the only stipulation I have is that I want it to be a home-and-home.ā
And maybe thatās the catch.
Rutgersā High Point Solutions Stadium holds just 52,454 fans. Only Vanderbilt Stadium (40,350) among the 14 SEC schools holds less. This season, Auburn plays each of its four nonconference opponents at home, while LSU plays three at home and a fourth against TCU at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
And itās not like Auburn and LSU (and Vanderbilt) wonāt go on the road against BCS-conference opponents. Auburn played at Clemson in 2011 and LSU played at West Virginia the same season. Both schools have played neutral site games as well.
āTo be very honest with you, there were other SEC teams that wouldnāt play us,ā he told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.
Thatās right. Flood pretty much called out at least a handful of teams from the big, bad SECāthe conference with seven consecutive BCS national titlesāfor not playing his Scarlet Knights in their inaugural season in the Big Ten.
Feeling good after a 9-4 season which included a win against an SEC team (itās debatable how impressive beating a woeful Arkansas team that finished 4-8 actually is), Rutgers apparently looked toward SEC country to fill a slot in its 2014 schedule. But the school couldnāt find an SEC partner during the Aug. 28-30 timeframe and, instead, scheduled a home-and-home series with Washington State of the Pac-12.
The Razorbacks come to Piscataway, N.J., for the Sept. 21, 2013 rematch. The only SEC teams with unfilled spots during the time Rutgers was looking for in 2014: Auburn, LSU and Vanderbilt.
āThere were a couple teams that were available that werenāt willing to play us. Iām not going to name names,ā Flood said. āWe were looking for a game that we thought would be an exciting game for our players and for our fans and an exciting game for our fans. Really the only stipulation I have is that I want it to be a home-and-home.ā
And maybe thatās the catch.
Rutgersā High Point Solutions Stadium holds just 52,454 fans. Only Vanderbilt Stadium (40,350) among the 14 SEC schools holds less. This season, Auburn plays each of its four nonconference opponents at home, while LSU plays three at home and a fourth against TCU at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
And itās not like Auburn and LSU (and Vanderbilt) wonāt go on the road against BCS-conference opponents. Auburn played at Clemson in 2011 and LSU played at West Virginia the same season. Both schools have played neutral site games as well.
