via @Alec Crouthamel

Remember when we believed in one?
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You need straight up dudes to compete in the B1G
We have some, but not enough
Add in a mediocre game day coach and subpar NIL program and this is what you get

It's chicken - egg
Will someone (person or corporation) step up NIL wise while we're mediocre, or will we need to turn it around before they take the leap and write checks
Personally, I think the latter is more likely, but would love to be wrong

We're in year 5 of GS's return
Schedule and team lined up this year to make a run

What we're seeing in Piscataway, especially in light of our conference mates who've historically not been good now hosting GameDay and all of the promise we had for this year, is nauseating
I know we're injured, and going to SC and getting the dub was always going to be a big ask

But again, what we're seeing, in year 5 of GS 2.0, with the talent we had coming in and coming back, with this schedule avoiding the Big 3 (4 if you count Oregon) is completely unacceptable

#5-Duke w 21
#4-Minnesota w 22
#3-Nebraska w 25
#2-Rutgers w 29
#1-Iowa w 59!
(per Ivan Bologna)

I’ve been watching Rutgers football since 2005/2006 and this is by far the worst defense under Schiano we’ve witnessed this year.

I don’t want to hear any excuses about injuries or depth (look how many starters USC had out tonight).

The scheme sucks.

But worse for me is that there is no heart. They can’t execute basic fundamentals (i.e. angles in the open field and tackling). Our defenders are holding hands with their receivers instead of tackling their @ss to the ground.

It’s painful to watch and the complete opposite of what Greg is supposed to be about.

This guys just stinks

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End of first half announcers mentioned a High school Hail Mary from Caleb Williams to win a game …. For fun I googled …..Wild ending …..this needed a Texas HS play by play announcer ,,,,,,,,,

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Apologies I didn't post this last night, but the file didn't come through until about 4:30am and I needed to get some sort of sleep.

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Silver Lining - our QB played a flawless game - prob the best RU QB performance since Nova

But.....

Our coach is stuck in the 80s.

We have a game plan predicated on everything staying on schedule and near perfect execution on both sides of the ball

Nothing demonstrated this more than the last 3 minutes of the first half. With 2:30 left, Greg is running all the time on the play clock, as if he is nursing a 10 point lead and wants to make sure UCLA doesn't get the ball back We run about 1:30 off the clock and settle for a 49 yard field goal, with no thought of trying to score 7

UCLA gets the ball back for a minute and drives 75 yards with a SENSE of URGENCY and scores a TD to end the half.

Can you imagine Greg doing a 1 minute drill to end the half - NEVER

I know we have injuries on Defense but we were as healthy today as we were for Nebraska - no explanation why we turned the bottom of the B10 offense into the St Louis Rams

I don't see any way to fix this - don't know if it's coaching, execution or sloppy fundamentals.

I do believe Joe H and Flats are the 2 best coaches we have but they are currently our biggest problem areas. While I would never root against us, losing out might be the best thing to happen for Greg to make massive changes in the off-season

Where do you stand mid season5?

GS's vision for the program (ball control, low risk, ground and pound, play the field position game) will absolutely not work at RU in the B1G. Adding the 4 Pac 12 teams further cements that. All 4 will consistently gut our defensive scheme as we move forward.

We are NEVER going to get the players needed to successfully execute his vision. It requires perfect execution and luck. How many times has he said "it was a 1 score game with x amount of time left"? ALL of them resulted in losses.

Offense:
The focus to be scoring, scoring and scoring. We saw some of that last night but we weren't fully committed to it if you look at some of our possessions. There is enough talent to make that unit responsible for delivering wins. The OC has to accept and understand that there will be missed throws, drops, TO's and plan accordingly. It's like we plan on 4 TD's and are surprised when we end up with just 1 or 2.

KM has hidden the fact that we aren't consistent in creating room to run. We are in for a very rude wake up call next year. He does a lot all on his own.

Defense
I'm nervous to see what the talent level looks like next year. We need to shift to some smoke and mirrors to get an occasion stop. Did anyone know what USC was going to do on defense when the ball was snapped? Did EVERYONE know what Rutgers was going to do on defense when the ball was snapped? There can be no expectation of the defense controlling the game. NONE. Anything they provide is a bonus. The scheme in the 1st half has to go away FOREVER. We don't create any stress for the OC, QB, OL, RB, WR, TE. I was happy to see the DC give the kids a chance to make a play in the 2nd half. I can accept us getting burned because there is a talent disparity.

Next year is going to be brutal if GS stays the course.

AK isn”t amazing but he’s solid enough if we weren’t so bad on d, he will be a senior to bridge the gap and then either surace or stidwar take over and could very well be the best qb we have had in awhile.

Pretty much the entire oline returns , if you consider taj white a starter now. They are average , but the 2 deep gets another year to grow before being counted on to produce and we have the best oline class we have had coming in , if they stick and we don’t have fallout from the season

Our skill players will be the best we have had perhaps ? Strong , duff , black , fletcher.

Raymond has a lot of potential

Defense - well, disappointment with this cycle of senior players . Who would have imagined with their performance last year and nfl hopes they would just suck but there are some younger guys to rebuild with

Mascoe and sanders look good .

Walker might be decent at de , not referring to moses lol

Abraham wright needs to step up now, it’s his job to take at lb

Agnoy is playing well.

Toure comes back and I would think we move him down a level to de due to the injuries

It’s not a lot but finally the staff - I fully expect Greg to address our issues at lb , safety, dline and special teams . I’m actually ok with the offensive staff.

That’s all I got , sucks to be us but when did it ever not suck to be Rutgers frankly .

Sat first row during the scrimmage….

1. This team is incredibly fun to watch.
2. Minus the inside D, lack of a traditional B10 level center and our lack of B1G experience, we finally have a team that is an absolute total package.
3. Martiny plays like a bull. The kid is BIG and incredibly tough, aggressive and hustles!!
4. Dylan talks a LOT of trash. Constantly. I can see it leading to some touchy situations.
5. This team is only going to get better because they lost. I honestly think losing this game will be better for us.
6. This team is so, so fun to watch. We finally look the part of a big time team. Buckle up.


After watching these guys up close. I am even more excited to see them play. This is a special group and a very deep, tough, offensive first team.

Win, or lose… if these guys play like they did last week, this is going to be fun.

At this point, the team is regressing due to injuries and the coaching staff is not changing their approach. I really don't see more than one win the rest of the way (Minn).

What a win by the Mets last night and that's coming from a Yankees fan.

On Saturday we have a full slate of college football and MLB division series games including:
Undefeated Rutgers @ Nebraska
Mets @ Phillies (at the same time)
Yankees vs Royals

Oh yeah the soccer leagues are in full swing, we have a full NFL slate on Sunday and the NHL drops pucks on the season next week.

Convince me that October isn't the best sports month of the year.

I’ll start:

RU +7.5.

Keep Chopping

This isn't behind a pay wall. The big problem is that high school graduating classes are going to drop between 2025 and 2032.https://www.nj.com/education/2023/0...-very-very-traumatic-times-official-says.html

Who’s Going??