National perception

[RUich]

It looks like we actually dropped from the pre-season spot after beating Howard. Don't know if it was due to us not scoring more, but seemed odd.
That said, Akron is a different story and we may see more of the starters in longer to see if we can win bigger. Greg though is really cautious and we may see him pulling them to both give the bench players more reps and keep the starters from potential injuries. We do have a week off after today.

 

[vic_torre42]

Remember, we have a lot of our impact players injured and some are still out.

-vic

 

[ru109]

There were a lot of P4 teams that played other P4 schools the first week so us moving down is to be expected. I don't expect anything from the media until after the Va Tech game assuming we win.

 

[knightfan7]

I think it was 2 things., P4 v P4 and teams that played FCS in general won by larger margins.

 

[RUGuitarMan]

Sam Brown, Wesley Bailey, Troy Rainey are out today. Powell and Dixon are questionable.

 

[knightfan7]

I think it was 2 things., P4 v P4 and teams that played FCS in general won by larger margins.

 

[REDRICH65]

Why does he work these kids so hard in August they are starters not able to play when season starts?

 

[mdk01]

Why does he work these kids so hard in August they are starters not able to play when season starts?

So they don't come out in their first game like the Giants did today.

 

[RUSK97]

Well, Akron’s ‘weak offense’ scored three times on us. And the same Howard which I thought looked pretty decent for a MEAC school was a few hallelujah plays from losing to a D2 school yesterday. We beat who we should’ve beaten, but we apparently didn’t look good doing it.

 

[chase_NJ]

Well, Akron’s ‘weak offense’ scored three times on us. And the same Howard which I thought looked pretty decent for a MEAC school was a few hallelujah plays from losing to a D2 school yesterday. We beat who we should’ve beaten, but we apparently didn’t look good doing it.

Akron's weak offense did nothing outside of a blown coverage and a touchdown against our 3rd string.

 

[RUforlife]

Akron is probably 130/134 FBS programs, we will start to gain respect when we beat Va Tech.

 

[RUSK97]

Akron's weak offense did nothing outside of a blown coverage and a touchdown against our 3rd string.

I don’t know about 3rd string, but it doesn’t matter. The national media doesn’t sit there and watch the Rutgers Howard game. They see the final results, the box scores and might peruse the stats. All of this doesn’t matter. Just need to keep winning and we’ll turn heads.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Akron's weak offense did nothing outside of a blown coverage and a touchdown against our 3rd string.

That wasn't even close to our 3rd string and the TD could have been prevented if the safety looked back at any point earlier than he did.

 

[vic_torre42]

That wasn't even close to our 3rd string and the TD could have been prevented if the safety looked back at any point earlier than he did.

The long TD run?

It looked like our 2nd/3rd string defense was on the field.

-vic

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

That wasn't even close to our 3rd string and the TD could have been prevented if the safety looked back at any point earlier than he did.

Eh I’m sure Greg disagrees but I’m not concerned at all about that last TD. Remember we were short several starters to begin with, and at that point all of our top dogs were out of the game. But I was not happy with the D overall. In terms of the first half and the opening drive of the second half, I was most concerned about the amount of time Finley had and even when we finally pressured him, we were rarely able to bring him down for the sack. Akron’s O is horrendous and I didn’t find us to be explosive. That won’t be good enough against better teams.

On the flip side, I was happy overall with how the offense looked. Akron in a “bad” MAC team mostly because of their offense - not their defense. They have a veteran D that returns most guys from last year’s team that held NW to 23 points and ranked somewhere in the 30s in points allowed (I think). AK didn’t have a great first half but we still put up 21 points (while one was a “gift” the previous TD pass to Long that was erased due to an extra guy on the field was a well executed play). Overall - their coaches have to be happy with what their D looked like in the first half of our game and OSU. We made some good plays to earn those points and Kyle was also a beast.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Well, Akron’s ‘weak offense’ scored three times on us. And the same Howard which I thought looked pretty decent for a MEAC school was a few hallelujah plays from losing to a D2 school yesterday. We beat who we should’ve beaten, but we apparently didn’t look good doing it.

Not that it matters but the team Howard played reclassified to FCS this year. If you look at the play by play - it looks like it was just one of those days for them…. On their first drive down the field they fumbled at their opponent’s 2 yard line. On their next 2 drives they missed a pair of 37 and 35 yard FGs.

 

[RUforlife]

Eh I’m sure Greg disagrees but I’m not concerned at all about that last TD. Remember we were short several starters to begin with, and at that point all of our top dogs were out of the game. But I was not happy with the D overall. In terms of the first half and the opening drive of the second half, I was most concerned about the amount of time Finley had and even when we finally pressured him, we were rarely able to bring him down for the sack. Akron’s O is horrendous and I didn’t find us to be explosive. That won’t be good enough against better teams.

On the flip side, I was happy overall with how the offense looked. Akron in a “bad” MAC team mostly because of their offense - not their defense. They have a veteran D that returns most guys from last year’s team that held NW to 23 points and ranked somewhere in the 30s in points allowed (I think). AK didn’t have a great first half but we still put up 21 points (while one was a “gift” the previous TD pass to Long that was erased due to an extra guy on the field was a well executed play). Overall - their coaches have to be happy with what their D looked like in the first half of our game and OSU. We made some good plays to earn those points and Kyle was also a beast.

Returning bad players for another year may indicate you have a seasoned and experienced defense, doesn't mean you have a good defense. And holding NW to 23 points is no great accomplishment from a team that lost to Temple last year and gave up 21 points to Morgan State. Nothing about Akron can be considered good as it pertains to football no matter how you try and slice it.

 

[Shelby65]

We moved down because teams with much better wins jumped us, and deservedly so. Rankings don't matter this early.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Returning bad players for another year may indicate you have a seasoned and experienced defense, doesn't mean you have a good defense. And holding NW to 23 points is no great accomplishment from a team that lost to Temple last year and gave up 21 points to Morgan State. Nothing about Akron can be considered good as it pertains to football no matter how you try and slice it.

That’s not an entirely accurate picture. Akron’s offense gave Morgan State the ball at the Akron 12 and the Akron 30 on picks for two of those TDs.

As said - the Akron D isn’t awful. I’m not saying they are spectacular but they held NW to 23, Indiana to 17 in regulation and while UK scored 35, they got plenty of stops early in that game before falling apart. And at half time, OSU only had 17 points the week before we played them this season.