Toran was unstoppable and would be the same today. The comparisons often are unfair since years ago there was not the same weight training and conditioning programs as today. Knowing dome of the players of the Burns era I can tell you that if they were available then and how the overall game has changed they would be just as good now as then. Nate Toran and his teammates came yo practice and games everyday ready to play.
Best Rutgers Defensive Line Ever
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Not taking anything away from Toran, but he's not getting 19 sacks against the schedule we played this year. Or last year. Or next year.
He could have had an amazing season, top 3 in the conference and top 10 nationally, with 12. As great an athlete and lineman as he was, his stats definitely benefited from the schedule in those years. If he were on the team today, he may still be one of our best linemen, but he wouldn't hold the top 3 years in the record book for sacks.
1974: Harvard (7-2), Hawaii (6-5), Princeton (4-4-1), Colgate (4-6), William and Mary (4-7), Air Force (2-9), and 5 non-IA teams (UConn, BU, Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell).
1975: Syracuse (6-5), Hawaii (6-5), Colgate (6-4), Princeton (4-5), Columbia (2-7), William and Mary (2-9), and 4 non-IA teams (UConn, BU, Lehigh, Lafayette).
1976: Colgate (8-2), Louisville (4-7), Navy (4-7), Columbia (3-6), Cornell (2-7), Princeton (2-7), Tulane (2-9), and 4 non-IA teams (UConn, UMass, Lehigh, Bucknell)
So, over three years and 33 games, just 6 Div-IA teams that finished with a winning record (and only 3 of those are FBS programs today)... and 13 teams that were non-IA.
It was a different era. We were basically an FCS team playing what amounted to a Patriot/Ivy League schedule. It's really not possible to compare the 70s with today in terms of statistics.
They were both in their 4th year in 2006 plus as another poster mentioned we went with speed that year and were totally on the attack at all times. Don't forget we also had a 4th or 5th year DE in Beckford who tied up blockers as well as anyone and NFL player Westerman manning the other DE slot. A formidable group who allowed our LBs to play downhill. It was fun to watch and not many of these kids (starters) did go on to the NFL. They were just a great unit where the whole was much greater than the sum of its parts. A ton of veterans with a lot of young talented players backing them up.
As for this years group, Hamilton showed he can be unblockable. Turay was very good when healthy his first season. The others have all showed signs and ability. Like 2006 we now have a group that have been in the program for a few years. I hope we go back to the attacking style of 2006. It is tougher to do today with so many different looks coming at you each week but the BIG teams like to run the ball so if we can get that fixed we will have more success.
Choppin, did you ever see Toran play? Regardless of the era Nate was unstoppable. Ask his teammates who practiced against and played with him. Why try to diminish the play of one of Rutgers finest players ever both on and off the field. But if you want to play the what if or era game then let's give Nate the weight training and conditioning programs of today and he would be just as dominant regardless who the team played.
Not trying to diminish - as I said, he very well might have been one of our best DLinemen if he were on this year's team with the current level of conditioning and weight training. He may have been the first name mentioned in our opponents' scouting reports, and may have been a the talk of the commentator's booth.
But even then, I don't see him putting those numbers up against teams that are nationally ranked when he previously did it against FCS teams and teams with losing records. Even if he dropped 25% to 40 career sacks, that'd still be one of the best in Big Ten history. Even first round draft picks don't put up close to those numbers in the Big Ten - JJ Watt, who was drafted 11th overall out of Wisconsin and has been the NFL sacks leader twice in his first five seasons, only put up 11.5 sacks in two years in the Big Ten. If he played 8+ FCS teams in those two years, his numbers would have certainly been higher.
In the last 10 years, the most career sacks any lineman in the conference has put up has been 34... and that was with 4 years and 12+ game seasons. The NCAA didn't start officially collecting defensive numbers until 2000, but the leader in that time is Terrell Suggs with 44. If Toran were to put up 52 sacks over three seasons in the Big Ten, he'd have been one of the top players selected in the NFL draft and would have had a shot to be in the NFL HOF at this point - there were 47 DLinemen drafted in 1977, and he wasn't one of them (in fact, Toran's teammate John Alexander was taken by the Dolphins at DE in the 11th round (291st overall) as was DB Don Harris (300th overall)). Dan Gray was taken in the 5th round the following year (122nd overall).
Toran was dominant while at Rutgers, against the competition he faced. While that didn't attract much attention from NFL scouts, it did cement him atop the school record book forever.
You just can't look at Rutgers stats from the 1970s and the 2010s and compare them, though - we were an FCS team playing an FCS schedule, and now we're a P5 team playing a P5 schedule. And the gap between the haves and have-nots was that much higher in the mid-70s too, given that teams could sign 105 scholarship players instead of today's 85.
But even then, I don't see him putting those numbers up against teams that are nationally ranked when he previously did it against FCS teams and teams with losing records. Even if he dropped 25% to 40 career sacks, that'd still be one of the best in Big Ten history. Even first round draft picks don't put up close to those numbers in the Big Ten - JJ Watt, who was drafted 11th overall out of Wisconsin and has been the NFL sacks leader twice in his first five seasons, only put up 11.5 sacks in two years in the Big Ten. If he played 8+ FCS teams in those two years, his numbers would have certainly been higher.
In the last 10 years, the most career sacks any lineman in the conference has put up has been 34... and that was with 4 years and 12+ game seasons. The NCAA didn't start officially collecting defensive numbers until 2000, but the leader in that time is Terrell Suggs with 44. If Toran were to put up 52 sacks over three seasons in the Big Ten, he'd have been one of the top players selected in the NFL draft and would have had a shot to be in the NFL HOF at this point - there were 47 DLinemen drafted in 1977, and he wasn't one of them (in fact, Toran's teammate John Alexander was taken by the Dolphins at DE in the 11th round (291st overall) as was DB Don Harris (300th overall)). Dan Gray was taken in the 5th round the following year (122nd overall).
Toran was dominant while at Rutgers, against the competition he faced. While that didn't attract much attention from NFL scouts, it did cement him atop the school record book forever.
You just can't look at Rutgers stats from the 1970s and the 2010s and compare them, though - we were an FCS team playing an FCS schedule, and now we're a P5 team playing a P5 schedule. And the gap between the haves and have-nots was that much higher in the mid-70s too, given that teams could sign 105 scholarship players instead of today's 85.
OP, I'm sure you're a nice person, but, when rutgersal agrees with your "sentiment" it's
time to follow another sport.
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