1. Neither of these guys left all of their football knowledge in Columbus or Minnesota when they arrived On the Banks. In fact the RU defense is looking decent, surrendering 23 points to #8 UW and 16 to an EMU team that played in a bowl game last year. Which brings me to...
2. TALENT, and Rutgers has almost no BIG East talent on offense. Look at the OL and WR corps. Who starts for another team in the BIG? Grant starts as a KR/PR but is a 3rd WR at best on other squads. Mitchell? His career stats in 3 years at Arky would be nice for a single game. Why did this message board hail him as a savior? Harris? He's a baseball player. Melton? Wormly? True freshmen. Melton's most notable play so far is a late hit out of bounds.
Recall Carroo, Sanu, Britt, Moses, Underwood, even Funderburk...is there anyone on this roster who can play at their level right now? Not in 3 seasons...right now. The answer is an emphatic "no." You need at least 4 guys with Carroo-level talent on both O and D to be successful in this division. RU has zero on O.
And who is delivering the ball? I bought into the Bolin hype, as did everyone else including the team itself, which named him Captain. He has experience, but not enough at this juncture and it's his final year. Just play Lewis because at this point, Bolin is Laviano, Part Deux but with a much better head on his shoulders. Every time the ball goes in the air, the entire stadium holds its collective breath and is relieved if the ball merely goes out of bounds rather than be intercepted. How many long balls did Bolin miss yesterday? I think he connected on one. It may be Bolin, it may be the WRs, it may be both. It's probably both. Bolin has no feel for pressure, either. The OL has been giving the QB time.
Kill has seen some QB play over the years. Quite simply, he doesn't trust Bolin any more than you or I trust Bolin. That's why it's a run up the gut for two yards every time and we're seeing the re-introduction of the Run, Run, Pass, Punt offense.
So let's talk about the OL, then. Looked good against Washington, and the board came out en masse to note that Kyle Flood recruited these guys and we were way too hard on poor Coach Flood. The OL could manhandle my tailgate group, but could not handle Eastern Michigan's Eagles yesterday. Not the Philadelphia Eagles, or the Boston College Eagles, but the EMU Eagles. Where were the running lanes? There were none. RU has some decent backs. None are Rice or Leonard, but there's talent there. Is anyone going to rush for 1,000 yards? Not a chance. None. Zero. Zip.
3. But Purdue is a definite win, right? Guys that no one's ever heard of outside of their campus will be blowing RU off the field in a few weeks. I was hoping for 4 wins. Three will be a minor miracle.
I guess I could have summed up this long post in one word: patience.
2. TALENT, and Rutgers has almost no BIG East talent on offense. Look at the OL and WR corps. Who starts for another team in the BIG? Grant starts as a KR/PR but is a 3rd WR at best on other squads. Mitchell? His career stats in 3 years at Arky would be nice for a single game. Why did this message board hail him as a savior? Harris? He's a baseball player. Melton? Wormly? True freshmen. Melton's most notable play so far is a late hit out of bounds.
Recall Carroo, Sanu, Britt, Moses, Underwood, even Funderburk...is there anyone on this roster who can play at their level right now? Not in 3 seasons...right now. The answer is an emphatic "no." You need at least 4 guys with Carroo-level talent on both O and D to be successful in this division. RU has zero on O.
And who is delivering the ball? I bought into the Bolin hype, as did everyone else including the team itself, which named him Captain. He has experience, but not enough at this juncture and it's his final year. Just play Lewis because at this point, Bolin is Laviano, Part Deux but with a much better head on his shoulders. Every time the ball goes in the air, the entire stadium holds its collective breath and is relieved if the ball merely goes out of bounds rather than be intercepted. How many long balls did Bolin miss yesterday? I think he connected on one. It may be Bolin, it may be the WRs, it may be both. It's probably both. Bolin has no feel for pressure, either. The OL has been giving the QB time.
Kill has seen some QB play over the years. Quite simply, he doesn't trust Bolin any more than you or I trust Bolin. That's why it's a run up the gut for two yards every time and we're seeing the re-introduction of the Run, Run, Pass, Punt offense.
So let's talk about the OL, then. Looked good against Washington, and the board came out en masse to note that Kyle Flood recruited these guys and we were way too hard on poor Coach Flood. The OL could manhandle my tailgate group, but could not handle Eastern Michigan's Eagles yesterday. Not the Philadelphia Eagles, or the Boston College Eagles, but the EMU Eagles. Where were the running lanes? There were none. RU has some decent backs. None are Rice or Leonard, but there's talent there. Is anyone going to rush for 1,000 yards? Not a chance. None. Zero. Zip.
3. But Purdue is a definite win, right? Guys that no one's ever heard of outside of their campus will be blowing RU off the field in a few weeks. I was hoping for 4 wins. Three will be a minor miracle.
I guess I could have summed up this long post in one word: patience.
