Has the team quit on the coaches?

[NickRU714]

Would have been enough to beat UCLA, while still allowing them way more points than they had been scoring. And would have made the USC game interesting. As it was with the swiss cheese D, it was a one score game in the third quarter.

The flip side is that we can't expect to win if offense doesn't score 20+ points either.
That's the bare minimum.
Despite what HC Schiano likes to think, planning on winning 10-6 isn't a viable strategy.

Weekly update:
34 teams scored 20 or less this week.
5 of them won.

 

[NotInRHouse]

The flip side is that we can't expect to win if offense doesn't score 20+ points either.
That's the bare minimum.
Despite what HC Schiano likes to think, planning on winning 10-6 isn't a viable strategy.

Weekly update:
34 teams scored 20 or less this week.
5 of them won.

Yes- we scored in the 30s vs UCLA and 20 exactly vs USC. My point is we'd be at least 5 wins and possibly 6 if the D played like it had in the first 5 games, which I think all but the "we should be a playoff team!!" crowd would have expected if not been pleasantly surprised by.

 

[rucoe89]

When the defense holds opposing teams to 23 points or less, they put the team in the position to win.

Averages often is meaningless. Median may be more telling. That said the 23 points was not the case with Wisconsin, UCLA, USC. We got lucky with Washington.

 

[mdk01]

I think people have in general overly high expectations of the defense.

The defense before the injuries, no. The defense that's been on the field the last few weeks, yes.

 

[RUaMoose]

There’s no lack of effort , they have played hard with the exception of stretches in the Wisconsin game. They have tough players, the defense has a lack of overall speed , whether due to injuries or personnel. There have been coverage busts and missed tackles. The coaching staff has to do a better job with what they have.

Team speed particularly on D. We don’t have it (relative to our conference mates). This was glaring in the last 2 games. Schiano used to emphasize speed.

 

[rutgersal]

Team speed particularly on D. We don’t have it (relative to our conference mates). This was glaring in the last 2 games. Schiano used to emphasize speed.

The kids have speed. The issue is that some of the kids don’t know what they’re doing, so they’re playing slower. They are reacting rather than anticipating and positioning themselves to make the play.

 

[NotInRHouse]

Averages often is meaningless. Median may be more telling. That said the 23 points was not the case with Wisconsin, UCLA, USC. We got lucky with Washington.

I didn't say anything about averages or Wisconsin, but it's kind of silly to toss out the early results. Not everything was luck. By the same token someone could say we were unlucky with UCLA and Nebraska.