B1G 2016 // Rutgers Potluck, Part 4: FAT SANDWICHES

GREASE TRUCK FAT SANDWICHES. Something truly great that no one can take away from Rutgers. There are cheap knock-offs all over, but just know that this great collegiate (and beyond) culinary tradition started right in the heart of Rutgers- New Brunswick. Speaking of heart, Rutgers would like to apologize to your arteries.

Massive, messy, over-filling, famous, delicious. There are many adjectives that can describe one of the many fat sandwiches you can find at the famous "Grease Trucks" of Rutgers. My personal favorite is the national favorite, the "Fat Darrell"-- Chicken Fingers, mozzarella sticks, marinara sauce, and, of course, french fries. This is named after someone who completed the "Fat Sandwich Challenge" where, if you can eat FIVE of these sandwiches in 45 minutes, you get to create and name your own. Many have tried, more have failed, including Adam Richman of "Man vs. Food."

A couple of years ago, Rutgers decided to evict the Grease Trucks from their home lot for some fancy new dorms, so they had to scatter all over the several campuses of Rutgers New Brunswick. It was a big change that many were uneasy and angry with at first, but it was quickly realized how great it actually is because now the Grease Trucks are mobile, and give people on each of the spread out campuses an opportunity for Fat Sandwiches.

In terms of a question mirroring the results of this big change, do you think that the transition from pro-style to an up-tempo, spread offense will treat Rutgers Football well this season?

Bonus question (that you must answer): Go to this website, http://ruhungrynj.net/menu/, and tell the OTE community what Fat Sandwich you would get from a Rutgers-famous Grease Truck.

LPW: A spread attack can work well when you don't have the beefy linemen to play 3 yards and a cloud of dust style football. I presume Ash is bringing the OSU power spread to the Birthplace. Let's see how well Ash can scheme with the players he inherited. As for the food, I’ll get the Fat Darrell

AK: As LPW notes, moving away from schemes that rely more on having the best talent in favor of ones that neutralize that disadvantage can let you make some hay even against much more talented teams. See: Hoosiers, Indiana. The risk there is that if you aren't good at it, you just eat your possessions really quickly and hang your defense out to dry.

C4B: I am a big fan of the up-tempo offense, and recommend it highly to everyone. As long as your defense can compensate for the change, it should work out pretty well.

As far as Fat Sandwiches, I’m leaning towards the Chicken Fingers Fat Cat, but the problem I’m seeing with all of these is that they all have sauces and toppings that I have no interest in consuming. Can’t you all make something more normal, like the Big Butch at Butch’s Grillacatessan and Eatzeria in Bloomington?

WSR: No no no no no. If you’re going to change to up-tempo, you need to have the talent in place if you’re going to do anything other than give the ball to the other team at a quicker pace.  Be smart. Take the air out of the ball, smother them into submission, and hope that you’re in position to kick a game-winning FG instead of them.  And I’ll take a Fat Vavavoom, please.

Jesse: Nope. This isn’t going to be a super fun season. Between trying to learn the signs to figuring out new blocking schemes to, well, you know… not having the athletes to accomplish what you’re doing, it’s bad. In the long run, a school like Rutgers is probably going to do best in a uptempo type offense. But uh, that defense is going to be sucking wind when that first three and out happens in under 30 seconds and it’s going to really suck when your special teams shanks a punt. I’ve witnessed this transition first hand. It’s not super duper fun.

As for the sammich. Give me a Fat Fillapino please. [mnw: just like the korean to be racist] <- LOL

MNW: I’ll take the Fat Knight or the Fat Koko.

As for the question, so so so rarely does a team change scheme and overnight become world-beaters. Like, that’s not a serious question, right? I mean, new routes, a new playbook, new blocking, potentially new "fun" signs with 4 Rutgers-themed pictures (now this is a question you should’ve asked: What four pictures do you put on a Rutgers-themed playcall sign?), etc… The scenarios that WSR and Jesse have posed are so much more likely. Laviano/Rettig gets stuffed on QB Power Left, a bubble screen loses a yard, and there’s an over/under/inner/outer-throw on 3rd-and-13. Punt. By the 3rd quarter the defense is vomiting and so are you.

To answer my question, I’d say (1) a Fat Sammich, (2) a Cannon, (3) The Situation’s Abs, and (4) Chris Christie. What say you, commentariat?

babaoreally: #7 Fat Knight, although it looks like there are a lot of excellent choices there. For the unimportant (football) part of the question, the spread should be fine.

Townie: Titanic’s cruise director: "...do you think the chaise lounges should face the bow of the ship, or should they look out over the rail?"

Chris Ash has a blank slate to work with, in terms of the offense. With Leonte Carroo gone, your offense went too. Install whatever. Hell, the wishbone might be worth fooling with at this point.

Stew: Rutgers is going from pro-style to up-tempo?  Welp, you’re going to go from losing by 14 to losing by 28.  This season is not going to be kind to Rutgers.  Between the transition, schedule, and dearth of talent, I can’t imagine going uptempo will be anything but a disaster for year 1.

And give me the Fat Koko or Fat Knight, hold the marinara sauce.

Ray: Oh yeah! Now we’re talking. While Rutgers has given the world football, a cure for tuberculosis, and some damn fine philosophising, the greatest contribution The State University of New Jersey has offered mankind is the Fat Sandwhich. My favorite is the Fat Sam, hold the fries...dammit now I’m hungry.

So yeah, this year is going to be feast or famine. The offense is going to click some days and stall some days. While the defense may have some issues (again), the offense should put up great numbers behind a stable of exceptional running backs, two capable QBs, a solid offensive line and an absolute monster in the making in Janarion Grant. The question is whether the offense can move the ball on offense with enough consistency to sustain drives and score points. I think 2016 is going to be a bumpy ride, with a great 2017 on the horizon.

Aaron Yorke: Rutgers is probably more suited to a ground-based attack since Leonte Carroo has moved on and the school had three backs with a yards-per-carry average greater than five last year. Still, it’s not like you can’t run the ball out of the spread. Maybe the quicker tempo will make it easier for the Knights to move the ball against the big, strong teams that their offense fell flat against in 2015. I’m more of a pro-style guy myself, but it’s hard to deny the success that spread teams have had in recent years.

I’m pretty sure I’ve had a Fat Darrell or a Fat Knight before, so I would probably go with one of those sandwiches since it’s been a while.