Panicking about a 1 TD conference road loss? Really?
- Thread starter NotInRHouse
- Start date
doesn't work like that: complaining about the bad luck and ignoring the good luck. Based on play, the team deserves being 1-1 over the last two.
For the stretch of Va Tech, Washington, Nebraska, Wisconsin, that we're in, anybody would have been pleased with a 2-2 split. We have that in our pocket already. I plan to enjoy the game, on Saturday. We've got a good chance to be 3-1, in this stretch.
So what you are saying is that you would rather RU be a worse team with a ranked win, than a better team without one.
Got it.
You aren't a troll just a tad dumb.
Works the same way if you look at the last two individually
Yes- could have been 0-2 1-1 or 2-0
All three could be equally true
Shelby agrees with that. People shouldn't be bitching about getting robbed by the refs at Nebraska when they by all rights had no business winning the Washington game.
A Wisconsin win probably guarantees a 7 win season at least. Anything more than 8 may still be a pipe dream because of the low risk, low score philosophy.
This is like social media. Some random Tuesday you see your friends vacation pics and think your life sucks. Every time you look you see all these people living large. How is it that they all have such great lives and you are stuck doing dishes?
“content” isn’t the right word. the word is “resigned”. The fan base is resigned to our mediocrity with underwhelming HC who isn’t going anywhere so bitching would be pointless. It’s like bad weather. Nothing can be done.
besides, due to Gruninger, Francis Lawrence, the Zoroastrians and Colonel Henry Rutgers (and all his baggage) it’s only fair that he gets 20 years to rebuild.
The rest of the season- how I see it...
We really should beat Wisc this week, but that is just weird to say lol
UCLA - Win. so now, we are 6-1
USC- I just don't know. I had it penciled as a loss but not sure now and not sure how they hold up to a B1G pounding week after week
Minn/Maryland- split
Ill- toss up
MSU- win
So- have us at 8-3 with a toss up.
If this plays out- I am happy as shit. We win these next 2 and find a way against USC- then all bets are off
We really should beat Wisc this week, but that is just weird to say lol
UCLA - Win. so now, we are 6-1
USC- I just don't know. I had it penciled as a loss but not sure now and not sure how they hold up to a B1G pounding week after week
Minn/Maryland- split
Ill- toss up
MSU- win
So- have us at 8-3 with a toss up.
If this plays out- I am happy as shit. We win these next 2 and find a way against USC- then all bets are off
Whatever it is you’re smoking, have enough to share ?
So- what is so off?
I’m worried about Wisc only because of who they are but we should beat them. UCLA is obvious
Most fans say we win both of Minny/ Ill- so I made it a split and we are better than MSU
Where do you see your team ending up? I actually think Fran finds 7-8 wins this year but maybe 4-5 next year
lol he's saying he just wants to see RU live up to it's full potential and it's frustrating watching different ways where we drop games. It has nothing to do with having faith in the team.
RU has a good football program no doubt. I don't think most credible users would argue against this regardless of the quality of their losses.
You and so many others continue to make fools yourselves believing I’m a Cuse fan only because I don’t think Schiano is a good coach. Bizarre and stupid. Nothing real to base that on and truth be told the only team i dislike more is ND. But go ahead, enjoy your own wit.
USC is a near-certain loss and Wisconsin and Illinois are probable losses. I think all the rest are toss ups. I could see us winning or losing each of those other 4 games, especially since Schiano game plans don’t emphasize high scoring, but instead low risk, low scoring and field position, but with that approach just a couple of TDs will often beat us
So I’m at 6 or 7 wins at most.
Sure - maybe that could happen if we keep suffering injuries to important starters or if AK is dealing with a chronic problem. But that’s seriously your baseline of the best case scenario?
In terms of style of play, I’m not sure what you could’ve realistically expected from a different offensive coach last game under the circumstances. Our QB played the game in a knee brace in a game where the wind gusts assured that no QB was going to be lighting it up in the air (that likely impacted Black’s drop - hard to read timing in the ball in the wind).
AK couldn’t run Saturday so no coach was preventing those sacks or the interception that simply mitigated the field position on the would be sack turnover on downs.
Despite all this, we drove multiple times inside their 30 on the wind gusting side of the field where FGs were impossible. On any other opening drive we’re not going for it on 4th and 3 from the opponent’s 22 for example. And we got a crappy spot on a would be TD.
I’m not following how this loss is predictive of much of anything at all.
Better QB and a real offense. Doesn’t rely on one player. Put up 24 on Nebraska on the road in 4Q (and another in OT) and won.
Only scored 7 against PSU on the road (21-7) but that’s also no easy task.
Wisconsin is the more winnable game, with Mellusi out. But scoring 52 against any Big10 opponent no matter how bad the team might be, and 21 in a half on the road at USC spells trouble for us.
Sure, I’m cherry picking evidence why we’re not likely to outscore either team. But what evidence supports the flip side ? Good defense ? Good defense doesn’t matter if you can’t score.
I’m not buying your Nebraska scoring comparison. It’s apples and oranges man. The game Saturday was going to be low scoring by default due to the weather. What part of this do you not get? The Illini has an excellent defense. Raiola threw for 297 yards on 68.5% accuracy in that game. In our game he completed less passes than AK and threw for only 134 yards on 48% accuracy - season low by a mile. Nobody was lighting it up Saturday. FGs were also impossible in our game from one side of the field. We passed up kicks from the 22 and 28 yard line in our game.
Weather didn’t shut down our running game, Nebraska did. Weather didn’t pressure or sack AK most of the game, Nebraska did.
In Shelby’s view, our offense isn’t good enough to win games against the better teams. It can’t play from behind.
No matter how well the defense plays, good teams will likely score enough to beat us.
Offense wins.
Thanks for your comment.
This year I wasn't sure how Pitt would fair with the shake up on offense. Surprisingly, Narduzzi (veteran defensive minded coach) makes a BOLD move and hires a very young progressive OC who then starts a rs freshman transfer QB from Alabama (with no prior college game experience) and Pitt is 5-0 so far.
Even more surprising is Indiana University 1st year HC Curt Cignetti.
Curt extensively uses the transfer portal to stock IU's football team and now they are 6-0. Transfer portal will be used by more coaches to fill the holes caused by recruiting defeciencies.
I try not to get too exited over the rankings because its too early in the season and defeats will eventually come.
I would like to see Pitt win enough to get into a good Bowl.
I follow Rutgers and Pitt football and again both programs play competitive teams this week (Rutgers-Wisconsin and Pitt-Cal).
Cal surprised me with their play against Miami so who knows how Pitt will fair.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Last edited:
Suddenly you think we should just keep the ball on the ground? Be consistent at least.
Our offense outgained Nebraska slightly (and theirs included 30 yards on the fake punt). On a normal day without wind gusts making timing unpredictable, Black takes that pass into the end zone. On a normal day we kick a field goal from the 22 on the opening drive. On a normal day we don’t fake a FG to totally shift momentum. Maybe we miss that attempt from the 28 but even that’s not a given either. In a normal day after the first blocked punt when we recover the ball at the Nebraska 28 we’re (as you’ve said before) playing conservative. AK isn’t dropping back to pass (wearing a leg brace) and taking sacks because we’re already in FG range now in a tight game. That’s probably another 3 points there.
And finally, bad breaks from the refs happen so the bad spot for Kyle at the 1 is what it is but if you think for a second we don’t find the end zone if Athan had his normal mobility you are nuts. Our run game would’ve been better too. Once Athan showed how much the brace was limiting his speed Nebraska was able to really exploit our RPO. Maybe we should’ve mixed things up more but when your in a hostile environment riding a QB whose noticeably slower than he usually is (and adjusting to a new left guard) that’s not the most ideal of circumstances to reinvent the wheel on the spot. Let’s check in next week. Maybe you’ll be right and Wisconsin will shut us down in the same way but I don’t think it’s the case that Nebraska is just better than Washington and VTech. Our offense was worse for the reasons stated above.
Oh and by the way - if we played our normal grind game in Nebraska territory on a day when FGs weren’t off limits, there’s almost no chance we wouldn’t have put up at least 6 points in FGs. If Black made that reception on a normal day - guess what? That goal line stand for Nebraska becomes at FG because the score is 14-13 instead of 14-0. Completely different decision.
Last edited:
Interesting how the wind may have effected both offenses so, it may not have been as simple. What did disappoint me a little on the missed FG was that knowing the wind- Patel had the right idea and the ball didn't really do anything crazy in the air. He just needed to read another yard on the bend. I think he read it correctly, made great contact, just needed to go just that small extra yard outside.
I also agree on AK - I'm not sure this was the day to air it almost 40 times but, I feel that if the weather was normal- he may have showed he can air it out over 30 times and be much more successful. Not being able to scramble hurt us too. And that most likely screwed up both our run and passing game. Hurt our run game as there was no fear of him pulling it back from KM and take it himself or if he did get pushed out of the pocket- he had to find a receiver and could just tuck it.
I still put a lot of this on coaching.
No, am saying being one dimensional will rarely result in outscoring good teams. We beat Washington despite being thoroughly outplayed. An aberration. Luck. Repeated unforced errors.
That's unlikely to happen again, so no, the offense isn't good enough. I see the three aforementioned losses and the rest toss ups. If we do steal one of USC, Illinois and Wisconsin then 8 wins is possible.
Lincoln, NE
An old friend of mine made this road trip a couple of years ago and gave me a good recommendation so:
An old friend of mine made this road trip a couple of years ago and gave me a good recommendation so:
- Hyatt Haymarket at 600 Q Street is a great place to stay and Courtyard by Marriott is another good choice.
- Beautiful campus adjacent to a thriving downtown half a mile from Memorial Field. The NU campus is still redeveloping the downtown, too. One of the Ubers told me that the area the Hyatt is in was considered unbuildable a decade ago. You don’t need a car for this trip if you can walk a mile.
- Great Reception by Rutgers (Game Day Rutgers Off the Banks tailgate). Cheerleaders (who I had met in the Lincoln terminal as well), excellent food and two drinks all for $20 at the Regency Student Union less than half a mile from Memorial Stadium.
- Shawn Tucker is in great shape and has excellent taste in clothing.
- NU fans are incredibly supportive and very friendly to Rutgers fans. Nicest people in the B1G.
- Stadium policies are very similar to SHI. No water (wink), no binocular case, security scanning.
- Seats under the Memorial Stadium overhang: Priceless. The temp was 97 degrees when I was on the ramp to my seats. If you have ever played on Fieldturf (underlayered by pelletized tires), you are probably aware that the field heats up dramatically in the sun and retains heat longer than grass. GS said in his Monday presser that the field level temp was 121 degrees.
- Beal Slough, which is eight miles south is #88 disc golf course in the country.
- It was NU homecoming, so they went at it hard downtown Saturday night.
- The JournalStar Sunday sports section was completely filled with NU game stories. There are no pro sports in Lincoln.
- If you had asked me after the GS presser closing training camp whether we would sign up for 4-1 with a TD loss to NU, the answer would have been a definitive “yes.”
Every team was going to be one demensional on Saturday due to the weather and we happened to be playing a team that defends the rush well when the threat of pass is minimal (which it was due to the wind gusts). The weather was a gift from Mother Nature for Nebraska. You don’t want to admit this, but it’s the truth regardless of whether we bounce back. A team that can’t kick field goals or punts was gifted a situation where kicking became impossible for their opponent too. It was 97 degrees and our sideline was parked in the blazing sun. Unfortunately our QB was in a leg brace too. Every break they could’ve gotten they got.
You're too focused on the Nebraska game. If you can't see that our offense is one dimensional, predictable and much more easily defended than our opponents' offenses, well, you don't know what you're watching.
Offense wins. Ours isn't good, even with an excellent RB.
Sorry but no. We had big leads in every other game we’ve played so far this season. So the only sample to support your position is the Nebraska game unless you go back to prior seaaons where we had a QB who wasn’t a reliable passer. Thats why we rarely threw. It’s not the case now.
‘Every other game’ includes two payday opponents plus another that outgained our offense by more than 200 yards. Your ‘body of work’ argument re: our offense fails too.
It’s just a weak offense, no debate. The key question is, can the D keep opponents to under 17 to give the team a chance.
You channeling Rutgers Al ?
Our D was terrible all season until the second half of the Nebraska game. Our offense is why we won the first 4 games. There was nothing wrong with our offense until the Nebraska game. it did not look bad against Washington. We scored when we needed to and held the lead from early in Q2 through the rest of the game.
You have a sample set of one game supporting the idea of “bad offense”. Playing cautious with a lead and “bad” are not the same thing. We were bad vs. Nebraska. going to have to deal with the loss of Felter. Hopefully we don’t look as bad if AK gets healthy and doesn’t need to play with a brace on his leg. It will also help to get Strong back. Being able to kick field goals in normal weather provides another avenue for putting up points. And lastly - AK was much more accurate vs VTech and Washington. Just like Nebraska’s QB was much more accurate in other game. both of them were throwing against or into 35 mph wind gusts and their receivers lead time was thrown off by it. There’s reason to expect that both of them are more accurate than what they showed Saturday.
No, in Shelby’s eyes the offense has been poor all of 2.0s years. Vedral, Langan, Wimsatt and now with AK.
Is this offense better than last year’s ? Yes. Is Schiano better than Ash ? Yes.
But those are the wrong comparisons. The analysis is, can the offense win games ? Can it come from behind ? Can it overcome a penalty? Can it get chunk yards and not need 15 plays to reach FG range ?
To Shelby, the answers to these questions are all no. It’s not a good offense.
Is this offense better than last year’s ? Yes. Is Schiano better than Ash ? Yes.
But those are the wrong comparisons. The analysis is, can the offense win games ? Can it come from behind ? Can it overcome a penalty? Can it get chunk yards and not need 15 plays to reach FG range ?
To Shelby, the answers to these questions are all no. It’s not a good offense.
We were 4-0 Schiano’s way. Certainly we have a long way to go but the Nebraska game doesn’t tell anyone anything about this team with AK as the QB. He played the game a leg brace in 97 degree heat with compromised mobility while we broke in a brand new left guard through blazing wind gusts. When we were on D he got to rest in an area that was devoid of shade. And oh yeah, he was also missing one of his top receivers for all but one or two plays.
Nebraska had far less adversity to overcome. They were home with a healthy QB. Their kicking team is historically awful but kicking was impossible for everyone on this given day so we lost that advantage too. They got to rest on a shaded sideline.
We lost by a TD dude. We didn’t just get unlucky on one crappy spot would be tying TD or have a wide out drop a bunny TD (we were playing the frosh because our veterans were limited in the game). We didn’t just pass up 3 FGs we would’ve surely kicked in any other game.
It took all of these things together for us to lose the game. So look - I have no idea how the rest of the season will go, but honestly the 4 sacks our D applied in Q4 were the most encouraging thing to see so far this season. If we lost this game 28-7 with a second half like the first one on D, I’d be worried. Losing Felter hurts but if we took 2 steps forward on D and AK can recover to the point where he doesn’t need that brace we should be in good shape.
The AL in your name suggests you may be Rutgers AL. Your argument is the exact same as countless others used last year after starting 3-0. Then reality set in, and went 3-6 after that.
Let’s be specific. How many points do you think RU will score on Saturday ? More than 17 ? Shelby doesn’t think more than 17. And he doesn’t think that will be enough.
Honestly - I have no idea mostly because we have no insight into Athan’s injury. That brace was a big factor in limiting the offense. I have no doubt he’s still our best option, but if he has no mobilty that will have certainly an impact on what we are trying to do.
I’m not sure why you otherwise think we couldn’t score more than 17 at home. Western Michigan dropped 14 at their place. South Dakota 13. Purdue stinks.
More than 17 yea or nay ? Won’t answer, huh ? Says a lot. Lots of words without any conviction or opinion on the question.
Last edited:
If Athan is in a brace I’m not sure. We will score more than that if he’s his normal self movement wise from the first 4 games.
I’ll add - if the D really did turn a corner, at some point, we’ll get some defensive points on the board too. It was the D, not the O holding us back. Some of our success in shutting them down in Nebraska related to the weather but it was a great sign that we finally could get some pressure.
Your all about the QBs. I take a healthy Athan over locke any day of the week. I don’t care how many yards he threw for against Purdue. Athan is better than him. Wisky may have the better line thought without Felter. Another TBD.
Who cares- We just need to score more then them.
And let's say it is 14-0 and we are 5-1
Are you still really bitching?
Let's be clear about something- we are not a playoff team. But man, you make it sound like Greg getting us to where we are now as a program...sucks
And I didn't even like GS 1.0
If we end up with 8 regular season wins- can you just go back to the frozen tundra and let us actually enjoy it.
We have gone through 10 years of the toughest schedules you can see. We finally have a B1G West type schedule- let us just be proud of our team and our players for what they are doing.
Why be a dick all the time...OK- you do have a few good moments but not that often
Yes, Shelby is all about the QBs. AK is obviously better than Golden Gavin but doesn’t seem to be a difference-maker, someone who can win games even if the running game is stagnant. And on top of that, the receiving corps aren’t very good either so Shelby gives the passing game edge to UW. And to be fair, we beat the other UW despite being outgunned in all phases of offense so anything is possible. Shelby sees the running attacks as even, but passing rules the day in CFB.
Altmeyer at Illinois is clearly better than AK and they have a diversified O so that’s going to be a tough one for us. Shelby sees us needing 24 to be in that game, but doesn’t see that happening.
5–1 with UCLA next at home changes Shelby’s outlook. But in his 2.0 experience, good starts haven’t led to noteworthy outcomes. We’ve seen this all before. Even without the big 3 on our schedule the offense remains a liabilty.
Similar threads
