Sabel's Haus

-The big day is almost here. The Bearcats travel to Rutgers for the opening game against the conference favorite Scarlet Knights. The schedule does not suit the Bearcats well at all. While teams like Florida and Texas get cupcakes their first couple weeks, UC has to go on the road for a conference game against, as I said, a Rutgers team that is picked by many to be first in the conference. The Rutgers beat writer for their school paper emailed me asking some questions this week and I asked him who would start at QB for the Knights since Greg Schiano said he would not reveal a starter before the game. Here is his email back:

"The starting quarterback (although Schiano has not officially said) will be Dom Natale. he may not technically start, but will by far see the most playing time. Tom Savage, the true freshman, will only play if Natale plays poorly and Jabu Lovelace has what we call 'the Jabu package' where he essentially lines up in shotgun and runs straight up the middle for five yards every time. It's very annoying, but sadly effective."

-Bengals Notes:

Three days after signing, top-round draft pick Andre Smith fractured his foot and early estimates say he will miss at least three weeks. With as far behind as he is in actually working with the team, this could mean he may not actually play until mid season. Not good news at all for the Bengals.

Not sure if anyone outside of Cincy watches Hard Knocks on HBO but last night's episode proved how unfriendly and un-personable owner Mike Brown is. Andre Smith walked in to Brown's office immediately after signing his contract to introduce himself and say hello to Brown and the first thing Brown says was something like, "You've got a lot of work to do. I hear you're pretty out of shape."

It was one of the most awkward exchanges in conversation I have ever seen and you had to kind of feel for Smith a little bit.

That's all for now. Back later with an update on the UC men's soccer players who had the Swine Flu during preseason workouts.