Silenced Knights

When this beautiful Saturday morning dawned, and the sun rose over the railroad bridge that spans George Street, just east of Old Queens, there were a list of things that were bound to occur, and make the day another remarkable triumph for Rutgers football:

First, Ohio State was to blow out Michigan, sinking Wolverine hopes for a trip to the BCS championship;

Second, Mississippi State would rise and upset 5th ranked Arkansas, giving the Razorbacks their second loss, and interrupting their trip to the SEC Championship game;

Third, Cal would knock off the terminally obnoxious USC Trojans (who do have the best cheerleaders in college football, by the way), tagging those wannabes with their second loss, and perhaps snatching the Pac 10 Championship into the bargain;

Fourth, seventh-ranked Rutgers would surely beat Cincinnati and, since Ohio State had beaten the Bearcats 30-7, it would be truly good when the Scarlet Knights shut them out, and scored 5 touchdowns to boot.

A glorious day for all Loyal Sons of Rutgers.

But now it’s late at night here on the east coast, and the sun has long since set over the spot where that old wooden bridge used to make a sharp right turn and take River Road across the Raritan and on into Piscataway.

The scores are final:

Ohio State 42
Michigan 39

Arkansas 28
Mississippi State 14

USC 23
California 9

Cincinnati 30
Rutgers 11

And so to sleep -- perchance to dream . . . .