So my brother-in-law is good friends with someone within the Arkansas football program. The other day, I was asking him what he thought of Robb Smith, who helped make the Arkansas defense quite formidable last season as they were 10th in the country in yards per game against (from 76 in 2013) and 10th in points allowed per game (from 89th in 2013). He was pretty impressed from an x and o standpoint and thought he was a really smart guy. Not necessarily the easiest to work for, but very effective.
Obviously Smith was Flood's first choice at the defensive coordinator position before Coach Rossi. I pulled up a few key defensive stats from the last 7 years (points/game, yards/game, turnovers), and I hate to say it, but the last two seasons have me concerned. The one thing that could be counted on with Rutgers football over the last 10 years is that the defense was tough to play against. With the exception of the 2010 season (with Eric's injury and just a lousy year), all of Schiano's more recent defenses were significantly better than the last two seasons. I think there are some reasons for that, but of all the things that people don't love about Schiano, you knew that more often than not, the defense would show up and be tough.
Year Points/Game Yards/Game Turnovers Coach Conference
2014 30.2 442.77 18 Flood Big Ten
2013 29.8 412.77 18 Flood AAC
2012 14.2 311.62 32 Flood Big East
2011 18.3 311.46 34 Schiano Big East
2010 26.5 374.17 22 Schiano Big East
2009 17.9 307.77 34 Schiano Big East
2008 18.8 326.92 21 Schiano Big East
So my question for the board is whether the last two years have been more about the x's and o's or the Jimmy's and Joe's?
To get ahead of a few things, I think a few factors impacting the last two years would be the lack of consistency with our opponents (three conferences in three years), a change in the college game to more scoring and more spread out offenses, and personally, I think we were just overpowered at times last year. For the longest time, I think kids were excited to play in the Rutgers defense and it was a recruiting advantage (in a similar, but not nearly as impactful, way as an offensive player wanting to play for Oregon).
I apologize for the formatting of the stats...it looked good when I typed it (i.e. I spaced it properly).
Obviously Smith was Flood's first choice at the defensive coordinator position before Coach Rossi. I pulled up a few key defensive stats from the last 7 years (points/game, yards/game, turnovers), and I hate to say it, but the last two seasons have me concerned. The one thing that could be counted on with Rutgers football over the last 10 years is that the defense was tough to play against. With the exception of the 2010 season (with Eric's injury and just a lousy year), all of Schiano's more recent defenses were significantly better than the last two seasons. I think there are some reasons for that, but of all the things that people don't love about Schiano, you knew that more often than not, the defense would show up and be tough.
Year Points/Game Yards/Game Turnovers Coach Conference
2014 30.2 442.77 18 Flood Big Ten
2013 29.8 412.77 18 Flood AAC
2012 14.2 311.62 32 Flood Big East
2011 18.3 311.46 34 Schiano Big East
2010 26.5 374.17 22 Schiano Big East
2009 17.9 307.77 34 Schiano Big East
2008 18.8 326.92 21 Schiano Big East
So my question for the board is whether the last two years have been more about the x's and o's or the Jimmy's and Joe's?
To get ahead of a few things, I think a few factors impacting the last two years would be the lack of consistency with our opponents (three conferences in three years), a change in the college game to more scoring and more spread out offenses, and personally, I think we were just overpowered at times last year. For the longest time, I think kids were excited to play in the Rutgers defense and it was a recruiting advantage (in a similar, but not nearly as impactful, way as an offensive player wanting to play for Oregon).
I apologize for the formatting of the stats...it looked good when I typed it (i.e. I spaced it properly).
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