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Ash train is chugging

bac2therac

bac2therac

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As I mentioned before after the EMU debacle and OSU drubbing everyone's love tank here was empty. Alot of us started to question whether Ash was the right guy. We needed wins and with 16 straight conference losses and a sputtering anemic offense it looked like a 1-11 or 2-10 season was on the way. Very depressing...but back against the wall Ash/Kill simply proved doubters wrong. As one who doubted I will eat some major crow. Ash and the rest of the coaching staff deserve some major kudos. The last 4 weeks has proven their coaching acumen. Taking a spiraling team and getting them to believe that they could win. That Illinois win was important because this team needed to proof that they could get it done. Winning is contagious. I think this team has worked harder than any in over 10 years at RU. Injury riddled and overall lacking talent and experience they have swept the 3 teams that were measuring sticks of where the program is at. The program is clearly developing comporsure and poise and identity.When RU tied that game up yesterday at 24, I did not have any doubt that RU was going to win that game and I do not think they had a doubt either.

3 conference wins...3...that exceeded most predictions. A legit shot at beating Indiana and getting to 5 wins and what looked to be a meaningless game in front of 20K vs Michigan State the season finale now looks to have huge implications for both programs. By any metric win or lose the rest of the games this year, this season is a major step forward for the program. With the Sitouwski flip suddenly things are looking up. We now see the tangible evidence as fans that hey we are okay with Ash afterall. Watching RU football has become fun once again, games matter, coaching matters, hard work matters, wins matter...and the fans matter...those who went yesterday were loud and made a difference. We are on board the Ash Train
 
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Love this post. Yet guys like Manhattan are still silent. And where’s CuredbywinningRU? Lol!
 
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I never stopped believing in Chris Ash as our HC but worried about where the conference wins would come from this season, especially with a stop gap at QB.

I give him great credit turning this season around while many doubters in the fan base we’re looking to jettison him.

I believe we have the right guy at HC, especially since recruiting should markedly improve after this season’s results.
 
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bac2therac said:
As I mentioned before after the EMU debacle and OSU drubbing everyone's love tank here was empty. Alot of us started to question whether Ash was the right guy. We needed wins and with 16 straight conference losses and a sputtering anemic offense it looked like a 1-11 or 2-10 season was on the way. Very depressing...but back against the wall Ash/Kill simply proved doubters wrong. As one who doubted I will eat some major crow. Ash and the rest of the coaching staff deserve some major kudos. The last 4 weeks has proven their coaching acumen. Taking a spiraling team and getting them to believe that they could win. That Illinois win was important because this team needed to proof that they could get it done. Winning is contagious. I think this team has worked harder than any in over 10 years at RU. Injury riddled and overall lacking talent and experience they have swept the 3 teams that were measuring sticks of where the program is at. The program is clearly developing comporsure and poise and identity.When RU tied that game up yesterday at 24, I did not have any doubt that RU was going to win that game and I do not think they had a doubt either.

3 conference wins...3...that exceeded most predictions. A legit shot at beating Indiana and getting to 5 wins and what looked to be a meaningless game in front of 20K vs Michigan State the season finale now looks to have huge implications for both programs. By any metric win or lose the rest of the games this year, this season is a major step forward for the program. With the Sitouwski flip suddenly things are looking up. We now see the tangible evidence as fans that hey we are okay with Ash afterall. Watching RU football has become fun once again, games matter, coaching matters, hard work matters, wins matter...and the fans matter...those who went yesterday were loud and made a difference. We are on board the Ash Train
Click to expand...

Winning is contagious. I said those exact same words when people couldn't accept the fact we beat a bad Illinois team on the road and I called it progress. Winning changes the mindset and relieves doubt. This team is making a nice little turn around in a short amount of time.
 
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I don't quibble with your post except for:"after the EMU debacle and OSU drubbing everyone's love tank here was empty."

1. EMU is a quality bowl team. That loss was nothing to be ashamed of. I will stick with that statement to the end. :fistbump:

2. Everyone? Sometimes WTF games are needed to motivate a team to achieve. The reverse of one step up two steps back. A problem with some in our fanbase is we freak out and dwell on every little thing that goes wrong, and fail to look at the bigger picture and celebrate the small victories.

That said, the EMU loss may loom larger as it may keep RU out of a bowl. At the time however, I just wrote it off as a bad day for the coaches and the team. Ash and the team have more than redeemed themselves for that loss, and that EMU game will be there to remind the young players not to sleep on any competitor.

Also, have to wonder what that game would have been if Gio started. But now I am falling into the would have, could have should have trap. I think the Purdue game could have ended differently if Blough played QB the entire game for them. So that shoe can be on any other team's foot too--Brohm was playing two QBs and it bit him. That was a familiar problem here at RU several years ago.

That's why it is important to not get lost in the moment and look at a coach's entire body of work over a season, and for that matter over a couple of seasons. We had too many fans staring lovingly at Brohm, Fleck and others. Where are Brohm's and Fleck's team now? BELOW RU!!!
 
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I think the OP just stated reasons to like and dislike Ash. I think Ash (and fans) were very lucky that DM left to go to Texas and we got Kill. Keep learning from Kill and recruit top talent, there is light at the end of tunnel.
 
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dude EMU loss was an embarrassment...the team was flat, they played offense, Kill and Ash were afraid, they were playing Bolin who is quite awful. RU had two great chances to win or tie the game and failed miserably. RU was awful in every way imaginable in that game. It was a disaster but I agree with you on the second point perhaps a needed disaster and learning experience to get where we are now.
 
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Early in the season this team lost to a bad EMU. Later in the season they beat or barely beat very bad Illinois and bad Purdue. Now they beat decent Maryland. That is clear progress. It seems doubtful to me that they can beat great teams like MSU or PSU but the upward trajectory is very clear. It's about the best we could hope for. It just remains to be seen how much further the team can rise in the next year or two.
 
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I have hope again. Really have enjoyed the last 4 weeks of football and hoping our improved play helps us on signing day. That's the key, get the momentum going again on the recruiting front. Sitkowski is a great start.
 
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Yes I am very happy to eat crow as I thought after EMU we would be at best a 1 win team.

EMU will loom large the rest of the season, especially if we win just one more game. Win that game and we are talking about what bowl we are going to.

I hope that EMU is instructive. The "Free Gio" crowd was proven true. Gio is not Tom Brady but the staff made a serious error not starting him from the beginning and I think with him we win EMU and maybe Nebraska.

Next season's schedule sets up nicely- Buffalo, Texas State, Indiana, Illinois, and NW at home and Kansas on the road- for 6 wins. I hope the staff can keep up some grad transfer mojo as Anderson, Gus and Washington will be major losses that need replacement.
 
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Think they need to BLAST Journey at the Mich St game. DON'T STOP BELIEVING to get the crowd and team PUMPED
 
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All this talk about how we beat bad teams. How do you think Rutgers was perceived by the 3 B1G teams we beat?

If I'm not mistaken we weren't favored in any of the B1G games we won. So any way you slice it the team and coaches have been over-achieving in our 4 games after the bye week, versus the first 4 games (not counting Morgan St) where it appeared we under-achieved somewhat.

I was not sold on Ash initially, but he has shown that he's learning, improving as a head coach, and is willing to make changes, in particular by installing Gio as our QB, that appear to be making a positive difference.
 
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Good post but many here - MANY - have yet to wane in their confidence of Ash and Co as well as what we are seeing out there. YES - the loss to EMU sucked - OH WELL. Shit happens to almost EVERY team in the country, as such, year-after-year...but, but, BUT....ya' think maybe this was possible THE "learning experience" that this team - AS YOUNG AS IT IS - needed? If so, quite honestly, I couldn't care less that we lost to them.

Move on, learn from it, grow from it...because that's what this staff, this team, this program, has obviously done. [cheers]
 
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bac2therac said:
As I mentioned before after the EMU debacle and OSU drubbing everyone's love tank here was empty. Alot of us started to question whether Ash was the right guy. We needed wins and with 16 straight conference losses and a sputtering anemic offense it looked like a 1-11 or 2-10 season was on the way. Very depressing...but back against the wall Ash/Kill simply proved doubters wrong. As one who doubted I will eat some major crow. Ash and the rest of the coaching staff deserve some major kudos. The last 4 weeks has proven their coaching acumen. Taking a spiraling team and getting them to believe that they could win. That Illinois win was important because this team needed to proof that they could get it done. Winning is contagious. I think this team has worked harder than any in over 10 years at RU. Injury riddled and overall lacking talent and experience they have swept the 3 teams that were measuring sticks of where the program is at. The program is clearly developing comporsure and poise and identity.When RU tied that game up yesterday at 24, I did not have any doubt that RU was going to win that game and I do not think they had a doubt either.

3 conference wins...3...that exceeded most predictions. A legit shot at beating Indiana and getting to 5 wins and what looked to be a meaningless game in front of 20K vs Michigan State the season finale now looks to have huge implications for both programs. By any metric win or lose the rest of the games this year, this season is a major step forward for the program. With the Sitouwski flip suddenly things are looking up. We now see the tangible evidence as fans that hey we are okay with Ash afterall. Watching RU football has become fun once again, games matter, coaching matters, hard work matters, wins matter...and the fans matter...those who went yesterday were loud and made a difference. We are on board the Ash Train
Click to expand...
OK but not EVERYONE'S love tank was not empty...some of us suggested we were going to surprise to the upside with 3 wins in the next 4 games and ordered crow for the loveless...
 
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Knight Shift said:
I don't quibble with your post except for:"after the EMU debacle and OSU drubbing everyone's love tank here was empty."

1. EMU is a quality bowl team. That loss was nothing to be ashamed of. I will stick with that statement to the end. :fistbump:

2. Everyone? Sometimes WTF games are needed to motivate a team to achieve. The reverse of one step up two steps back. A problem with some in our fanbase is we freak out and dwell on every little thing that goes wrong, and fail to look at the bigger picture and celebrate the small victories.

That said, the EMU loss may loom larger as it may keep RU out of a bowl. At the time however, I just wrote it off as a bad day for the coaches and the team. Ash and the team have more than redeemed themselves for that loss, and that EMU game will be there to remind the young players not to sleep on any competitor.

Also, have to wonder what that game would have been if Gio started. But now I am falling into the would have, could have should have trap. I think the Purdue game could have ended differently if Blough played QB the entire game for them. So that shoe can be on any other team's foot too--Brohm was playing two QBs and it bit him. That was a familiar problem here at RU several years ago.

That's why it is important to not get lost in the moment and look at a coach's entire body of work over a season, and for that matter over a couple of seasons. We had too many fans staring lovingly at Brohm, Fleck and others. Where are Brohm's and Fleck's team now? BELOW RU!!!
Click to expand...
Dude emu is terrible this year
 
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Wasn’t a big fan of Ash’s style but it is really coming in to focus now. Winning trumps all.

And one thing he says about his squad that is very evident is these kids fight and believe in what they are doing. That’s a powerful mindset to have in any team sport.

Continue to upgrade the talent with those values instilled in the program and that’s when things get real interesting.

The team continuing to get better as the season goes on is a very positive sign.
 
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brgRC90 said:
Early in the season this team lost to a bad EMU. Later in the season they beat or barely beat very bad Illinois and bad Purdue. Now they beat decent Maryland. That is clear progress. It seems doubtful to me that they can beat great teams like MSU or PSU but the upward trajectory is very clear. It's about the best we could hope for. It just remains to be seen how much further the team can rise in the next year or two.
Click to expand...
I agree on upward trajectory, but I think the trajectory is more last year to this year, not so much week 1 to week 9. We've looked pretty good from game 1.

EMU was a stinker, but the progress from that game to now is Gio.
 
AreYouNUTS said:
Good post but many here - MANY - have yet to wane in their confidence of Ash and Co as well as what we are seeing out there. YES - the loss to EMU sucked - OH WELL. Shit happens to almost EVERY team in the country, as such, year-after-year...but, but, BUT....ya' think maybe this was possible THE "learning experience" that this team - AS YOUNG AS IT IS - needed? If so, quite honestly, I couldn't care less that we lost to them.

Move on, learn from it, grow from it...because that's what this staff, this team, this program, has obviously done. [cheers]
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. Count me as someone who didn't jump on the "Ash can't get it done" bandwagon. I really thought the game against UW and Nebraska showed improvement, while the loss against EMU was certainly a WTF game (also agre that we learned from it) and the blowout against OSU wasn't a suprise. I was hoping for a turnaround and we got it with wins against Illinois, Purdue and Maryland, all of which I predicted, given that I really thought we had improved.
 
Things were sure to get better when RU had teams like Purdue and Illinois on the schedule instead of the steady diet of the big boys of the conference that we began our membership in the conference with.
And BTW, a friend who is not a Rutgers fan took one look at our schedule at the beginning of last season and just laughed. He said that whoever was the genius that signed up to play Washington in a year when the schedule included Pedd St., Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Iowa was either a fool or someone who wanted RU to fail.
 
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NotInRHouse said:
Yes I am very happy to eat crow as I thought after EMU we would be at best a 1 win team.

EMU will loom large the rest of the season, especially if we win just one more game. Win that game and we are talking about what bowl we are going to.

I hope that EMU is instructive. The "Free Gio" crowd was proven true. Gio is not Tom Brady but the staff made a serious error not starting him from the beginning and I think with him we win EMU and maybe Nebraska.

Next season's schedule sets up nicely- Buffalo, Texas State, Indiana, Illinois, and NW at home and Kansas on the road- for 6 wins. I hope the staff can keep up some grad transfer mojo as Anderson, Gus and Washington will be major losses that need replacement.
Click to expand...
Washington is her le next year again...
 
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I still don't get why EMU is a bad loss. They have 6 losses by 23 pts to teams with a combined record of (38-16)

EMU (3-6) has lost to:
Ohio (7-2) by 7
Kentucky(6-3) by 4
Toledo(8-1) by 5
Army(6-3) by 1
W.Mich(5-4) by 3
N.Ill(6-3) by 3

But why listen to facts. That's a tough schedule.
 
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Scarlet Blind said:
I still don't get why EMU is a bad loss. They have 6 losses by 23 pts to teams with a combined record of (38-16)

EMU (3-6) has lost to:
Ohio (7-2) by 7
Kentucky(6-3) by 4
Toledo(8-1) by 5
Army(6-3) by 1
W.Mich(5-4) by 3
N.Ill(6-3) by 3

But why listen to facts.
Click to expand...
I don't want to dwell on the EMU loss, but perhaps it's considered a bad loss because they are a 6 loss MAC team.
 
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Kbee3 said:
If I never hear another Journey tune I'd be fine with that.
Click to expand...
Seconded. And the world has also ruined a fine, fine pop tune, by ridiculously overplaying Sweet Caroline for years - and I especially hate the fact that somehow Red Sox fans have infected the rest of the world with the horrible tradition of people shouting out "so good, so good, so good" after Neil sings "good times never seemed so good."

It's also simply not a football song: "hands, touching hands" and "warm, touching warm," are not the "let's stomp on these guys' necks, pull their heads off and crap in their necks" kind of lyrics we should have for a football song. The Dmitri Vegas song "Hum" from Wolf of Wall Street is a much better pump 'em up song (doesn't even have lyrics to speak of other than screaming about the bass droppin', which is fine by me), which I was really glad to hear last night at the end of third quarter - and nobody else uses that song that I know of, so I think we can claim it as ours. Great freakin' video, too...

https://www.google.com/search?ei=8L......0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.89....0.vGqvhGsK1k0
 
RU848789 said:
Seconded. And the world has also ruined a fine, fine pop tune, by ridiculously overplaying Sweet Caroline for years - and I especially hate the fact that somehow Red Sox fans have infected the rest of the world with the horrible tradition of people shouting out "so good, so good, so good" after Neil sings "good times never seemed so good."

It's also simply not a football song: "hands, touching hands" and "warm, touching warm," are not the "let's stomp on these guys' necks, pull their heads off and crap in their necks" kind of lyrics we should have for a football song. The Dmitri Vegas song "Hum" from Wolf of Wall Street is a much better pump 'em up song (doesn't even have lyrics to speak of other than screaming about the bass droppin', which is fine by me), which I was really glad to hear last night at the end of third quarter - and nobody else uses that song that I know of, so I think we can claim it as ours. Great freakin' video, too...

https://www.google.com/search?ei=8L......0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.89....0.vGqvhGsK1k0
Click to expand...

So good, so good,So good has been used for 20 plus years in the night clubs in Jersey when they play that song.
 
Had a beach house in Bradley in '89. "So good" was going on then.
 
Scarlet Blind said:
I still don't get why EMU is a bad loss. They have 6 losses by 23 pts to teams with a combined record of (38-16)

EMU (3-6) has lost to:
Ohio (7-2) by 7
Kentucky(6-3) by 4
Toledo(8-1) by 5
Army(6-3) by 1
W.Mich(5-4) by 3
N.Ill(6-3) by 3

But why listen to facts. That's a tough schedule.
Click to expand...
Preach on, my Blind brother!!!
 
EMU had NEVER beaten a Power 5 team, so saying they are a "quality bowl team" is nutty. So let's get that out of the way. That loss was flat-out awful. 1-38 vs. the Big Ten. Awful. Case closed. (That's a reply, but I didn't want to hit "reply" to a long post. Sorry if you wonder where that came from.)

Now for the point,

I never called for Ash's head. I also never said I was sure he was the right guy. I don't judge this early. And you know what? I still don't. Getting too excited too early is just as dangerous as getting impatient too early. So I'll remain firmly on the sidelines on the Ash question.

BUT, this team has made significant progress in very tangible ways. Everyone can see we have found ways to actually beat teams we can compete with. The players should be pleased with themselves, as should the coaches. Not satisfied, but very, very pleased. Not only to win games, but to win them by not allowing the potentially heartbreaking play at the end. That's pretty cool.

The fact that we can win games while still obviously having so much room for improvement also says something.

But the bottom line is Chris Ash -- and the Rutgers athletics department -- can show boosters, students and potential ticket buyers that we have taken a step in the right direction. There is legitimate reason to believe in better things. And next year's schedule screams possible bowl game, especially if our home-field advantage gets a bit better with a few more bodies in the building.

So hell yeah we can feel good about RU football. And I haven't felt that way since right after the Quick Lane Bowl.
 
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jtung230 said:
I think the OP just stated reasons to like and dislike Ash. I think Ash (and fans) were very lucky that DM left to go to Texas and we got Kill. Keep learning from Kill and recruit top talent, there is light at the end of tunnel.
Click to expand...

DH was getting fired. Don't think it was luck he went to Tx. The idiot who recommended him since they are BFFs took him. What's was more important was Ash not being stupid like he was w DH and hoeing a younger guy. He put his ego aside and hired a coach whose offensive philosophy and back ground were very different from what he said he wanted. A bit of Luck that Kill Was available but a good sign he realized he needs a guy who was much more experienced than he was
 
Some people on here are simply too impatient. Not willing to see what Ash can do. Needed instant success. The fools that have killed Ash from the start, refusing to acknowledge that Flood left nothing behind, jumped in to say after every loss that he wasn' HC material. That crowd is silent now.
Ash was the right hire for Rutgers situation then. He is the right coach going forward. Go RU!
 
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herdof3 said:
Had a beach house in Bradley in '89. "So good" was going on then.
Click to expand...
Back in 78, used to spend every weekend at Jimmy Byrnes Sea Girt Inn. "So good" was played every weekend, so it's been around for at least 40 years, and definitely not invented by Red Sox nation.
 
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