PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The frustrating part about watching a Pat Hill coached team is that Fresno State was just about to put this game away, and the play-calling wouldn't let them.

For a long time I've heard people complain about Hill's conservative offense. I heard it going all the way back to that 2001 game against Boise State where the Bulldogs got way up at home and started running the ball a lot, instead of keeping the foot on the gas, and Boise came back and beat them. It ended the 6-0 start to the season. It ended any chance at a BCS bowl. That was David Carr's senior year. I wasn't here then, and haven't gone back through the play-by-play, but have always kind of assumed it was sour grapes, or that it was the group of fans who just don't like Hill. I'm sure there are play-calling complaints that go back to Hill's introductory press conference.

But now I've seen it in person. Early in the fourth quarter, Fresno State just had the ball and a 10-0 lead. They had all the momentum. You could hear plastic bags blowing around Rutgers Stadium. And what did Fresno State do on first down. Charged up the middle with running back Ryan Mathews. He was stuffed, because everyone but my mother knew it was coming. On second down, wide receiver Marlon Moore couldn't quite hold on to a little slant pattern on his finger-tips, which was a tough play. On third down and 10, Rutgers brought everyone on a blitz and sacked Brandstater. Time to punt.

The next possession, Rutgers went down and scored and so now the score is 10-7, the crowd is back into it and this thing is for sure going down to the wire.

Why? Why not crank it up there? Come out on play-action and make another big play. Fresno State might still win this, but why not take the game instead of clinging to it?

I don't even know who called that series of plays. Maybe Hill is letting Doug Nussmeier take control. Maybe he's over-riding him. I just know that he's the head coach and all things stop with him.

I'll now go back to my labor-intensive job of second-guessing from the press box.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Did that just happen? And by that, I mean, nothing. Halftime score: 0-0. Did not expect that. Unfortunately you are not here to see it, but ESPN producers are throwing themselves into traffic. Unfortunately, everyone in New Jersey is in this stadium, so there are no cars on the roads. They just announced the attendance is 42,508, which means eight people paid for seats that didn't exist.

What a half. I can imagine viewers at home grabbing their remotes and jabbing them at their TVs, saying, "There's got to be some re-runs of Olympic rythmic gymnastics on here somewhere."

OK, the second half has started and they just escorted an injured Nico Herron off the field. Then the Fresno State linebacker jogged up the tunnel to the locker room. Preliminary word is that he was suffering from boredom.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- We are just an hour from gametime and can I just say I love the east coast accent? I love it. Thinking about marrying it. With that accent, you could tell someone your leg is on fire, and do it with sort of a no-care attitude. It just feels like there's nothing to worry about in all the world. Of all the great things about New Jersey, the accent is probably my favorite.

I'm sitting here in the press box and because the $100 million renovation to Rutgers Stadium is currently under way, the south end of the stadium is a massive construction site. My co-worker, Daniel Lyght, is wondering why they don't put up a giant screen to block the eyesore. We have come to the conclusion that it's all part of the hard-hat image of New Jersey. We'll see how it works.

OK, predictions. Guy Haberman of 1430 ESPN Radio is sitting next to me. He has said on the air, 26-22 Fresno State, but is now trying to backtrack and say the score will be higher. Now he's re-backtracking and going with his original score. Radio guys. What can ya do?

Daniel and I agree, for once, that the score will be 38-35. He came up with it and I'm on board. Here's a few more photos. Some of these are from last night's walk-through. Some are from a couple hours ago.

This is what they call the "Scarlet Walk," the march that the Rutgers players make down a row of hedges from the buses down the hill to the locker rooms on the back side of the stadium. It was pretty cool. The band played. The cheerleaders were there. A guy with a beer smacked me, dropped it, and didn't even punch me, which was nice.

Here are running backs (left to right) Reynard Camp, Ryan Mathews and Lonyae Miller at Sunday's walk-through at Rutgers Stadium.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill answers questions after Sunday's walk-through. He complimented the Rutgers facilities about 83 times in 10 minutes. Sometimes I think he only schedules these tough games at BCS schools so he can point out how inadequate the Bulldogs' facilities are. But I've been wrong before.

The voice of the Bulldogs, Bill Woodward, checks out Rutgers Stadium, as a Fresno State media relations person makes sure he doesn't tell me any secrets.

Here's a shot of Hill walking in front of the birthplace of college football sign at the north end of the stadium. I'm not nearly fascinated by Rutgers being the home of the first college football game as I should be. I'm told it the site of the game is actually across the river over on College Avenue. There's now an old gymnasium there. If you click on the photo, it gets bigger. It doesn't get more in focus, but at least it gets bigger.

We're ready for kickoff. Enjoy the game.