PISCATAWAY -- After Rutgers beat Maryland, the optimist embraced the significant progress the Scarlet Knights have made by winning three of their last four Big Ten games and looked at the final three games as playing with house money.
The pessimist nitpicked a few plays here or there that prevented Rutgers from possibly blowing out Maryland and worried about running into a buzzsaw at Penn State.
And the masochist couldn't enjoy the moment without asking, "What if...?"
Since losing to Eastern Michigan on Sept.