2016 schedule as salve
- Thread starter ngrant
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2016 vs 2015? 2016 is harder by every measure.
There is no Army or Kansas.
Washington is a very good team and we play them in the west coast and New Mexico is far better than Army or Kansas.
We are also installing brand new system on all three sides of the game.
There is no Army or Kansas.
Washington is a very good team and we play them in the west coast and New Mexico is far better than Army or Kansas.
We are also installing brand new system on all three sides of the game.
You don't think losing Nebraska and Wisconsin and picking up the Ill Noise and the Minny Mouses is less difficult. Indiana is weaker and Maryland is...Maryland. Under/Over =6. But I am enjoying this smoke.
Minnesota and Iowa are the next top teams in the West and both are far better than Rutgers.
Illinois, well yeah, at least that one is winnable.
Illinois, well yeah, at least that one is winnable.
EASIER?? LOL!
Washington > Wazzou
New Mexico > Army
Iowa > Wisconsin
Minny = Nebraska
Illinois > Kansas
....harder buddy. Going into the season we will be underdogs in ALL but 1 game, maybe 2, that's it.
Washington > Wazzou
New Mexico > Army
Iowa > Wisconsin
Minny = Nebraska
Illinois > Kansas
....harder buddy. Going into the season we will be underdogs in ALL but 1 game, maybe 2, that's it.
bingo. I wonder if the OP even seen these teams play last year or us play last year? There is a huge gap. Hopefully Ash can START to close that gap.
This has come up quite a bit - people thinking 2016 will be easier than 2015 - and it really won't be.
Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State are all back on the schedule - and all finished last year in the Top 20 in Sagarin. The closest of those last year, MSU, we get on the road in 2016 instead of home in 2015... Ohio State loses several pieces to the NFL, but we're into Harbaugh's second year too. A slight nudge harder here.
We also keep PA St., Indiana, and Maryland on the schedule... two of three will be at home, rather than one of three. A slight nudge easier here.
The FCS games are a wash.
So, that leaves the other five games... let's look at them in Sagarin order.
#19 Wisconsin (10-3) (away) vs. #22 Iowa (12-2) (home)... fairly close, pretty much a wash.
#42 Nebraska (6-7) (home) vs. #25 Washington (7-6) (away)... definitely more difficult in 2016.
#43 Washington State (9-4) (home) VS. #64 Minnesota (6-7) (away)... slightly easier opponent, but away instead of home... bit of a wash, maybe a touch easier in 2016.
#140 Army (2-10) (away) vs. #71 Illinois (5-7) (home)... more difficult in 2016.
#156 Kansas (0-12) (home) vs. #107 New Mexico (7-6) (home)... more difficult in 2016.
So, three of the five games are more difficult than last year... and two are close to a wash. If you look at the win totals for those five teams, we go from teams that finished last year (27-36) vs teams that finished (37-28).
Edit: We finished last season with Sagarin worse than all but one team we face next year (New Mexico).
Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State are all back on the schedule - and all finished last year in the Top 20 in Sagarin. The closest of those last year, MSU, we get on the road in 2016 instead of home in 2015... Ohio State loses several pieces to the NFL, but we're into Harbaugh's second year too. A slight nudge harder here.
We also keep PA St., Indiana, and Maryland on the schedule... two of three will be at home, rather than one of three. A slight nudge easier here.
The FCS games are a wash.
So, that leaves the other five games... let's look at them in Sagarin order.
#19 Wisconsin (10-3) (away) vs. #22 Iowa (12-2) (home)... fairly close, pretty much a wash.
#42 Nebraska (6-7) (home) vs. #25 Washington (7-6) (away)... definitely more difficult in 2016.
#43 Washington State (9-4) (home) VS. #64 Minnesota (6-7) (away)... slightly easier opponent, but away instead of home... bit of a wash, maybe a touch easier in 2016.
#140 Army (2-10) (away) vs. #71 Illinois (5-7) (home)... more difficult in 2016.
#156 Kansas (0-12) (home) vs. #107 New Mexico (7-6) (home)... more difficult in 2016.
So, three of the five games are more difficult than last year... and two are close to a wash. If you look at the win totals for those five teams, we go from teams that finished last year (27-36) vs teams that finished (37-28).
Edit: We finished last season with Sagarin worse than all but one team we face next year (New Mexico).
There is a huge perceived gap. We're going to find out how much of that gap is due to talent and how much is due to coaching/schemes.
I'll tell you what's a salve: we have 7 Home Tailgates next year: Sept. 10th, 17th & 24th; Oct. 8th & 15th; and Nov. 5th & 19th.
This coming season will be consider a success or failure depending on how the team does when measured against the point spread.
80% emotional 20% talent = college football; VL quote
That said our season will be pivotal on our very first shot out of the gate.
9/3 against Washington will be a game to watch because it will set the attitude of our players. Our advantage is there be no tape on our O. How well we play even a close loss as we will be the underdogs could set a upbeat tone for the rest of the season. Kids "buy in" will be great. A major blow out could discourage progress, but with Howard and New Mexico at our house should be a mental rebound should we lose to Washington on game one.
Hell we upset Washington we could be 4-0 going into tosu
Yes I am saying we beat Washington and the emotional "buyin to the new program" charge we have a good change of upsetting Iowa at our house.
If we have a coach who can come up with a solid game plan. Yes I am stating to beat Iowa we will need good coaching, in preparation and game day adjustment.
Note, Ash may be auditioning for one of the few position that may make him leave Rutgers down the road. I can see Iowa being one of the few programs Ash would leave us for (NOT NEXT YEAR) but in 4-6 years if successful here. And that success starts with beating Iowa.
That said our season will be pivotal on our very first shot out of the gate.
9/3 against Washington will be a game to watch because it will set the attitude of our players. Our advantage is there be no tape on our O. How well we play even a close loss as we will be the underdogs could set a upbeat tone for the rest of the season. Kids "buy in" will be great. A major blow out could discourage progress, but with Howard and New Mexico at our house should be a mental rebound should we lose to Washington on game one.
Hell we upset Washington we could be 4-0 going into tosu
Yes I am saying we beat Washington and the emotional "buyin to the new program" charge we have a good change of upsetting Iowa at our house.
If we have a coach who can come up with a solid game plan. Yes I am stating to beat Iowa we will need good coaching, in preparation and game day adjustment.
Note, Ash may be auditioning for one of the few position that may make him leave Rutgers down the road. I can see Iowa being one of the few programs Ash would leave us for (NOT NEXT YEAR) but in 4-6 years if successful here. And that success starts with beating Iowa.
Ash is absolutely using Rutgers as an audition as did Greg and Flood(if he could have won). RU is not a destination type program, as much as we all want to believe, we lack tradition, facilities, fan support and winning. If Ash can bring some of that he will move on, then the next will have to continue to build on it. we are 10-15 years and alot of luck away from being OSU or Michigan.
RU has traditionally been a graveyard for coaches. The only exception to that is Schiano who many on this site seem to underappreciate. Let's hope that Ash wins enough so that bigger programs come after him. People who would leave their current job in an instant if offered a large raise for some reason feel that the RU head football coach should be loyal and accept below market pay. Always amazes me.
One change to the above is that Iowa in our building is not stronger than Wisky in theirs (though both teams are very hard for us to beat).
As far as what next year looks like compared to last, we return 18 starters, including Darius, a healthy Turay, and possibly Laviano. We'll also have a DC who won't have us playing a soft zone 90% of the time, regardless of down and distance. Our DBs will be better and stronger than last season. Linebacker is a concern, and the installation of the new offense is gonna give our O-line problems, but Martin has great vision and should find the holes (Hicks has good vision, too, but Martin stood out to me).
Net-net: I give us about an 80% shot at winning 5 games.
C Viv and now Wrestling coach Scott Goodale, not to mention the women's Soccer Coach have succeeded and made RU their 'destination ' job.
See, I think the landscape has (or will have) changed in Ash's case.
This is the first coach we have hired while a member of a major conference. Almost by definition, any coach in the Big East (or at an independent school) would see their current position as a stepping stone to the "big leagues" of the Big Ten, SEC, etc.
If Ash were to succeed to the point that he would be drawing notice from other schools, it would likely be year 3 or 4 before they came calling. By 2019-2020, Rutgers will be getting a near full share of conference revenue, and will have the dollars to pay to retain him. If he did have enough success that bigger programs came calling, it's a fair chance that our stadium would be sold out and donations would be up significantly - which would make it more likely that Rutgers would offer a competitive salary to retain him.
It would also mean that he had successfully made inroads in NJ recruiting. Pair strong in state recruiting with competitive salary and top tier conference, and I don't think Rutgers is the stepping stone it once was.
It's TBD. Outside of the top top teams nobody knows who will be good or bad at this point. Nobody thought Iowa would be in the Rose Bowl just like nobody thought WSU would win 9 games especially after losing to a crappy 1AA team. When you are talking about second tier teams like Illinois, NW, Minn, and even Iowa two or three bad injuries in spring or summer camp can derail their seasons. Same goes for us........
Some years, maybe, but not this year/last year and wait until you see the # of fans these guys bring for a beautiful September Saturday game. Can't agree with one that buddy.
Based on what I just saw recruiting wise there is not as much of a gap as many of you think. Iowa typically gets 2 and 3 star kids but mainly 3 stars. Same with Minny and Illinois is much closer to the 2 star average than 3 star. I think we get a boost by playing more aggressive on D. I think we get more big plays on Offense and hopefully we can run the ball as well or better than we have the last 2 years. We lose Carroo but we are no longer looking for matchups out of Tight sets. We will be seeing more of a stat sheet that has a handful of guys catching 3-4 passes. We have a veteran group returning. Time for them to step up. Most other positions will be stronger due to a year of experience (unless we lose 7 guys for off field issues again which I don't see happening).
I also tend to think the schedule is not too far off from last year based on what we did and the talent levels::
Wisconisn on the road is a tougher game than Iowa at home if we bring the noise. Similar talent levels and styles of play but home.
PSU should be easier at home and they lose most of their D line and Hack. No gimme but gotta have this one for many reasons
Minny Away should be same or likely tougher than Nebraska at home. Nebraska has a ton of talent but screwed the pooch in 4 games last year. Minny can grind the ball.
MSU and OSU will be tougher of course but a loss us a loss. Close loss to MSU did nothing for us other than show what might have been but wasn't.
Wash away should be tougher than WSU at home. Again we lost this one but we are looking to improve on 4 wins and not stay there.
New Mexico is better than Army but we will shut them down and score a ton on them.
Illinois is better than Kansas but winnable.
Michigan spanked us away and should be tough even at our place with a lot of noise.
Md away vs home and Indiana home vs away is just a flip. Both winnable games.
I'm not expecting miracles nor am I one to say the coach has to win x games or get fired. I just think we can line up and play with a lot of these teams on our schedule and when we are home we can make it a very tough place to play when we want to (see separate thread on night games). Let;s do our part. That is all we have control over.
The guy hasn't even coached one game for Rutgers and some are already expecting him to bolt? Smh
We should change the team name to the Scarlet Sisyphuses to fit the mentality of some of our fans. Change our theme song to Loser by Beck.
I know my comment move the post to If Ash is sucessful
I believe he will want to stay B1G that said
Michigan is out (he is not a Michigan man)
Indiana, Purdue, Ill. Minnesota would all be a downward step as they all have weak recruiting territories.
OSU yes he would go in a minute
Iowa, his home state so yes he would go home
Nebraska is a meat grinder and moderate success at RU could buffer a move
Northwestern ? TBD
Wisconsin yes he has connection with Berry
Now two hard ones to call Maryland/PedSU truly unknown so many variables in this can not even predict
So yes Ash will be here a min of 5 years and unless one of the cherry jobs show up we could keep him for the long term. yes it has a lot to do with how well he can "farm the garden" (for those short on metaphors= how well he recruits NJ)
I believe he will want to stay B1G that said
Michigan is out (he is not a Michigan man)
Indiana, Purdue, Ill. Minnesota would all be a downward step as they all have weak recruiting territories.
OSU yes he would go in a minute
Iowa, his home state so yes he would go home
Nebraska is a meat grinder and moderate success at RU could buffer a move
Northwestern ? TBD
Wisconsin yes he has connection with Berry
Now two hard ones to call Maryland/PedSU truly unknown so many variables in this can not even predict
So yes Ash will be here a min of 5 years and unless one of the cherry jobs show up we could keep him for the long term. yes it has a lot to do with how well he can "farm the garden" (for those short on metaphors= how well he recruits NJ)
One way the schedule will be easier is that I think Ohio State and Michigan State will both be weaker than their 2015 versions due to graduation and defections to the NFL. But it'll make no difference to us because even in their weakened state, they're still playing heads and shoulders above us. So rather than a big blowout, it'll be a smaller blowout. Then again, we played M State close last year, so you never know.
I think 20-16 could be more difficult than 2015, from a scheduling standpoint - and should be.
But you definitely skewed the comparisons.
Why not, for example, compare Washington State to Washington? That seems more natural than comparing Nebraska to Washingotn and Minny to Wash St.
Then I would say that Washington might be EASIER than Washington State - after all ... for a variety of reasons (even taking into consideration road versus home) - like RU losing its entire secondary 10 days before the WSU game.
And Minny may be easier than Nebraska, no?
I do agree with your premise, but the comparisons you choose make it easier for you to make your point.
And she's worth every $$$. Clue me in to the last Men's coach that came within a Light Year of C Viv.
What planet do you live on?
Iowa will be Top 15 nationally by everyone in the pre-season and returns significant contributors and experience in every single position group on the roster (well, except for kicker and punter, but we apparently just got a grad transfer punter today, so yeah).
It really was as arbitrary as ranking them in Sagarin order and then matching them from highest to lowest - wasn't trying to match up by conference, though that's probably a better way to look at it.
Can definitely compare Washington vs. Washington St... I wouldn't say Washington would necessarily be a lesser opponent because of our own roster issues, though I would say we might be a better matchup against Washington this year than we were against WSU last year. Washington finished in Sagarin's numbers well ahead of WSU, though looking at their respective records and results, I'd say they would arguably be closer than that. Remember, though, WSU was coming into our stadium off a bad FCS loss on their home field, too... but got better as the season progressed (aside from a blowout at Washington to end the year). Next year, we'll be bringing a new staff and offensive/defensive concept across the country to play on Washington's home field for the first time. Maybe you could call those two a wash - but I think I'd say this year is a tougher road than last.
Minny easier than Nebraska? I don't know about that. Nebraska lost to both Illinois and Purdue last year, and gave up 55 points to the latter. Five of Minnesota's six losses came against teams ranked in the Top 15 at the time they played... and six of their seven total losses were against teams that finished in the Top 25. They were within a single score of beating Iowa, Michigan, and TCU. We also play this one on the road, rather than Nebraska at home... I'd say this one's a step up in difficulty from last year.
As for the others? Illinois easily trumps Army, and New Mexico State easily trumps Kansas. The schedule is definitely not easier than last year.
I'm sure Iowa will have a good squad next year, but you're losing four out of your six all-conference players. It's not crazy to say the Hawkeyes overachieved last year and may see a drop off in 2016.
Iowa loses, at a minimum, its best linemen on both sides of the ball, best rusher, best kicker and (games started in parentheses)
OL (49)
OL (37)
OL (23)
DE (31)
DE (27)
FS (27)
LB (14)
WR (24)
Anyone who thinks 2016 is easier than 2015 hasn't watched college football in 15 years and doest realized how Minn is a solid team and how Ill is far superior to kansas. And that NM went bowling last year and beat some good programs.
Maybe the OP is Mike Francesa
Maybe the OP is Mike Francesa
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