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Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano's address to the media Tuesday, Oct. 5: "I am excited about the opportunity Friday night against Connecticut at Rutgers Stadium. I am certainly anxious to get back to playing and coaching. Without going to all the history that has happened in these last four games, this last game we certainly are disappointed and feel like we are a much better team than we showed. The good thing is we get an opportunity to go out and play. I think our players will be ready and our coaches will be ready. We are playing a good football team in Connecticut that has really seemed to get things going in the right direction and they are rolling right now. They are scoring a lot of points. They bring a great pass rush so we are going to have our hands full. As usually, Connecticut-Rutgers games are going down to something at the end so it will be exciting."

On how rivalries evolve in general:

"I think you play into them. I think people who try and create them - you can maybe aide and assist - but I don't think they happen unless they are played into."

On the BIG EAST's No. 1 rushing defense in Rutgers vs. the league's No. 1 rushing offense in Connecticut:

"They have a gigantic offensive line who really move quite well. They are not just big galoots; they are pulling all over the place. They are very athletic for guys their size. They are very athletic period. That running back, Todman, he is something. I see a lot of Ray [Rice] in him when he is running the football. He is not the biggest guy and he hides behind a gigantic line, but he has got great acceleration and really good patience and vision and balance. There is a reason he is as productive as he is."

On the effect Connecticut will have with Robbie Frey out:

"I can't tell you from not being in the inner workings but as I look at it, he is a very productive player for them. In the kicking game, he is a first team guy and in the running back situation he is a second team guy. I am sure it has an effect.

"This time of year, everybody has their deals. I hate to announce this, but we lost Jimmy Dumont yesterday for the season with a knee. It was freak deal. He was trying to hold somebody up and his feet got tangled up and the next thing you know he is done. Jimmy is a very important guy to us. He may be a lot like their Frey. Jimmy is our personal protector on our punt team, he is on our kickoff return team, he is on our kickoff team. He does so much for us and he is our backup linebacker and backed up all three spots. He knows all three. He is like having a coach out there. Jimmy is going to continue working with us and help with our young linebackers. We have had to make some shifts and moves. The reason I bring it up is number one, I want you to know and number two, that is the time of year that it is. Unfortunately we have been bitten by a bug. We have had six knees since spring practice and five of them since training camp that are season-ending injuries. It happened so long ago but you wish you had Timmy Wright in this passing game right now. He has been gone so long you forget about him. We have had some key guys; Edmond Laryea was really coming on. We have lost three guys now at the linebacker position with [Dave] Milewski, Edmond [Laryea] and now Jimmy [Dumont]. The young guys are going to have to step up and some older guys too. Marvin Booker, who has been here for a while, now he is on stage. [Al-Ghaffaar] Lane, who has been here for a while, well now here is your chance... get ready. It is definitely an interesting turn of events that can make you do some juggling and some jockeying. We have to do that."

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On the quarterback situation:

"That one is important too. Tom [Savage] is getting better. I have dealt with hands I don't know if you remember Mike Teel had that hand injury that kind of plagued him for a while. Right now, if we had to play today, I don't know if he could play. But, we are playing Friday so I hope that he can. He does the things that he can do right now. I say play... could he go in there and play, sure he could be quarterback, but he could he go in there and play at the level that we need to compete... not right today I don't think. He is working his tail off to get there and we will see. That will be right up to game time and maybe even into the game, we will see."

On your plan at linebacker with Jim Dumont and Dave Milewski out for the season:

"We are going to have to do some shuffling. To get into the specifics right now, I can't tell you until I watch this practice tape. We moved some guys around and I want to see how they adapted to the move. It is a shame because Ka'Lial Glaud was really coming on as a backup WILL to Antonio [Lowery]. The last two weeks I saw the promise that I saw when I recruited him. Now we may have to change his position because of the way we have to shuffle around. Some guys say a linebacker is a linebacker but that's not really true. There is different keys, different reads, different responsibilities. I think Ka'Lial is growing up. Ka'Lial will be our personal protector. He has been our backup personal protector. That is a big job. That is the quarterback of the punt team and you know how important the punt team is. It is a shuffle."

On the possibility of Marcus Thompson moving back to linebacker:

"We are thinking about doing that but I don't think you will see that this week with two days preparation time. We are considering making that move. We may make that move and work out it and see how he does before we finalize it. We have to create some depth. Right now we have six linebackers and that is it other than the kids we are redshirting."

On improving the record at home:

"We are not where we want to be and we are better than we used to be. We are going to get there. We have great talent in this program and I think the finest coaching staff we have had since I have been here. We just have to keep chopping away. When that translates into wins and when that translates into wins at home then we will have a better home winning percentage. Again, it is a process. It is not going to happen overnight. We will keep going at it."

On looking back and seeing everything, does it make it harder to get over the hump:

"It doesn't make it harder for me because I am going to do what I am going to do. No disrespect to you all but what you write or what you put on TV, that doesn't affect me. I have beliefs personally and professionally that I am going to stick to because I believe in them that strongly. That doesn't mean that I am not going to tweak and change things as we go. I think the thing that you have to look at, and this is a Connecticut press conference, but the thing I look at from a program standpoint is we came from a 7-5 team to an 11-2 team like that. We had a great chemistry and we played very well, but maybe what we are is kind of what we are building. I don't know what 2010 is going to be. I know Friday night, that is all I care about is Friday night right now. We have a thing around here is we play 12 one-game seasons and if we do well enough we get a 13th. That will never change. I believe in that. As a football coach, you put everything you got into a six or seven-day period to get ready for that game. At the end of that game, you get a couple hours and they you have to go do it again. That is the way the season is, but you only play 12 of them. That makes it so critical. I think the program is doing this, I believe that, but I see it differently... every day I see it. I am very confident of where we are headed."

On the Connecticut defensive line having the majority of their sacks:

"It is not necessarily just a four-man rush. They have an extensive blitz package. Those front four guys or front three guys, they do a lot of things that we do on third down so there is some similarities there."

On your level of concern with the offensive line against their defensive line:

"Of course it is a concern because last week we gave up four sacks. We have to get better at pass protection. Why we gave up sacks, they are issues that are correctable. When we get whooped one-one-one, you can work on technique but if a guy is better than you, you are probably going to get whooped more times than you are not going to get whooped if you guys are matched up together. That happens sometimes. I can promise you that I have watched every sack and every quarterback pressure and every quarterback hit and said is there a common denominator and that is why it is a very good question when you guys ask that because that's what I ask... is there a common denominator. The first thing I look at is me, then I look at our assistant coaches and then I go to the players. I haven't found that common denominator. I do think there are some things that we need to improve on. Understanding a little bit, but as you interject a young guy in there that hasn't played a lot, the pressures, the third-down pressures especially, are the hardest things to understand. Because, if you every have done it, it looks like spaghetti coming at you. There people going everywhere. To try and chase that line of spaghetti is not easy to do. We need to help them more. We, meaning me, need to help them more. That is our job as coaches. They are coming at us, there is no doubt. If I am Connecticut, I am coming after Rutgers. They are going to bring the heat and I would do the same thing in many different ways too and they have the ability to do it. I really am impressed schematically. They do a nice job of four-man front, three-man front, dropping people, rushing different people... really a good scheme."

On how much you are limited on what you are able to do offensively with the offensive line:

"You know when you play out in the park when you are a kid and ‘let's make it 7-1000, today is a 4-1000 day' if you are in a 3-1000 day those routes have to get down the field. We have to find that place where we can throw routes that the timing allows it. You stretch your limits sometimes because situations stretch your limits. It is where we find ourselves. I am confident that we have some really good, talented guys that as they do it more and more will get better, but we are in the middle of a season right now so we have to get better by Friday."

On looking forward to the BIG EAST season and whether it is wide open and how that is encouraging:

"I do think the league is wide open. I think it has been wide open for a couple years now. Encouragement I don't need. I love getting prepared for a game and I believe in our kids and our team. I don't need the league being wide open. I think we are going to win the league every time we start the year. That is my beliefs. That hasn't come true yet but that is what I believe. It is wide open but it doesn't really matter to me though."

On how Jordan Todman compares to other Connecticut running backs you have seen like Donald Brown:

"I think he is right up there with them, I really do. Donald was a little bigger. Like I said before, Jordan reminds me of Ray [Rice] in a lot of ways. Even sometimes when he breaks out, you know how Ray had that different gate. Jordan has a little bit of that too. He is a really fine back."

On the progress of Betim Bujari:

"He is young. He has a lot to learn, but he has talent. He will be good someday."

On the progress of Casey Turner:

"He is getting better. He is healing finally. It has been a slow process. I can't tell you that he is ready to go Friday night but I think we may be closing in on it here in a couple weeks. Then it will be a decision do we are don't we. That is if he doesn't have any more setbacks. I felt by Norfolk State he would be ok but it just kind of drifted. You never know, the human body is a funny thing."

On whether you would consider getting Chas Dodd into the action even if Tom Savage could start:

"The fact that Tom has not done everything yet, I don't know if it is in relation to how well he played. I have had confidence in him all along. I don't know if that is the issue really. I would rather not get into if this, if that. I just have confidence in Chas so how he plays and when he plays I will have to kind of figure that out as I go. If he goes, I have confidence in him."

On how special it is to open the BIG EAST season on ESPN under the lights:

"It is great to be able to have a national audience when you are putting your program out there. I really like this team. I think they are a great group of young people and as I said I really like this staff. I am excited to go do it with them to get this BIG EAST season going, but that doesn't guarantee anything. All it does is it feels better doing it with a group that you really feel good about. We have very worthy opponents in this league and it starts with one of the most worthy in Connecticut so Friday night should be everything BIG EAST football is cracked up to be."

SOURCE: RUTGERS