It's not about the scores, but...

[ScarletDave]

I know that looking at scores is like using the translation rule, ie. we beat them, they beat those guys, so therefore we're better than those guys, BUT, looking at the scores of the top-ranked teams this past weekend who played what would be considered 'average to lesser' opponents, I'd say we had one of the best performances of those teams. Last year I wouldn't be sure we'd have beaten a MAC team, but looking at the scores, it seems like just another indication of big improvement.

#1 played #3, and #11 played #17. But of the rest:

#2 OSU 49 - 21 Indiana (28-point win)
#4 USC 49 - 31 Western Michigan (18 points)
#5 Clemson 56 - 3 Kent State (53 points)
#6 PSU 52 - 0 Akron (52 points)
#7 Oklahoma 56 - 7 UTEP (49 points)
#8 Washington 30 - 14 Rutgers (16 points)
#9 Wisconsin 59 - 10 Utah State (49 points)
#10 Oklahoma State 59 - 24 Tulsa (35 points)
#12 Auburn 41 - 7 Ga. Southern (34 points)
#13 LSU 27 - 0 BYU (27 points)
#14 Stanford 62 - 7 Rice (55 points)

 

[ron313]

Yeah. The big thing was I thought we play that game 10 times and we win half of them. Sometimes it's close and I feel like we're lucky to escape. Not this time. We could have had this game with a few bounces our way. They seemed to have more. Very evenly matched.

 

[Scarlet4ever]

Yeah. The big thing was I thought we play that game 10 times and we win half of them. Sometimes it's close and I feel like we're lucky to escape. Not this time. We could have had this game with a few bounces our way. They seemed to have more. Very evenly matched.

I didn't get the sense that it was a 50/50 toss up who would win. They seemed more talented for the most part, definitely more explosive. We held them to FG 3 out of 4 times inside the 20. That translates to a lot closer game. I felt we had an opportunity to win if we had some fortune go our way. They were soooo much better at special teams. Their Punt coverage team was fantastic. Pinning us inside the 5 three times makes it more than luck. Their gunners were down there very quickly and the punter had a heck of a touch. For RU to win vs them, we needed that Davis sack to be a scoop and score. We needed our punter to angle that 60 yard bomb of a punt out of bounds. And finally we needed to nail the kick right before the half.

 

[colbert17]

we needed that Davis sack to be a scoop and score.

That could have been the start of something big.

 

[bac2therac]

my feeling was the only way we were winning this game was with a big break, I lost all hope after punting on 4th and 1 down 10-7. It was just a matter of time before Washington exploded and they did. They simply had more and are better. RU played as good as they probably could but not enough to do win without some luck. Did we get the best from Washington, probably not but they had to work for this win too, it was a chopping kind of win for the Huskies

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I didn't get the sense that it was a 50/50 toss up who would win. They seemed more talented for the most part, definitely more explosive. We held them to FG 3 out of 4 times inside the 20. That translates to a lot closer game. I felt we had an opportunity to win if we had some fortune go our way. They were soooo much better at special teams. Their Punt coverage team was fantastic. Pinning us inside the 5 three times makes it more than luck. Their gunners were down there very quickly and the punter had a heck of a touch. For RU to win vs them, we needed that Davis sack to be a scoop and score. We needed our punter to angle that 60 yard bomb of a punt out of bounds. And finally we needed to nail the kick right before the half.

I see all this talk about special teams.. but to my way of thinking.. it was all about their punter. I'd imagine he got a gameball and could have been the PAC 12 special teams player of the week.

I think we should have taken a safety on that goal line punt.. especially since we were willing to run it tree times risking a safety... seeing the 1st two handoffs almost end in a safety we ran it again.. I wouldn't hang that TD return on the special teams.

 

[shields]

I was happy that we were not pushed around and Turay could be a factor this year. Please stay healthy.

 

[RUJMM78]

my feeling was the only way we were winning this game was with a big break, I lost all hope after punting on 4th and 1 down 10-7. It was just a matter of time before Washington exploded and they did. They simply had more and are better. RU played as good as they probably could but not enough to do win without some luck. Did we get the best from Washington, probably not but they had to work for this win too, it was a chopping kind of win for the Huskies

The time of possession helped keeping Washington from scoring more than 30 points.On the other hand Rutgers conservative play calling in the second half really limited scoring opportunities.A 16 point loss certainly looks good from a perception point of view against a ranked opponent.

 

[read option]

I did not think we were winning this game at any point. Had we gone up 14-10 that may have been a different story, but without having a 2nd half lead it's kind of hard to say we could have had the win.