Some times the Shxt hits than fan all at the same time.
Last year we were an experienced team and did a good job in our first year in the big ten
Significant losses to graduation at key positions coming into this year - QB/OL/FB TE
Was going to be a rebuilding year anyway
Key Injuries to best Defensive and Offensive players on the team
Major Loss in defensive backfield due to dismissals and injury. ( Blame Flood if you want for these idiots doing what they did to get themselves in trouble… but I don’t. cant baby sit everyone) and to add to that, I’ have read many times on this board in recent years that some fans thought we should not be so concerned with recruiting “Rutgers men” and be a bit more lenient in character issues when recruiting players, in order to get better athletes - to WIN WIN WIN !!! But that is a whole other issue.
Defensive Line is not getting the job done Still need upgrade in athletes her
Across the board need to recruit better…. But I feel so much more of recruiting is based on the institution and cannot be overcome no matter who is doing the recruiting. And very hard to only blame the Head coach. Yes, flood may not be the most dynamic recruiter, but most of the issue is trying to get kids to come here is with the institution of Rutgers itself as opposed to Michigan, or OSU or other powers and all the other huge programs with all there fantastic facilities, huge stadiums, supportive fan bases etc. And the desire of NJ kids to leave the state. I have 3 kids who spurned Rutgers to go out of state and I see from all their friends, no one wants to stay in state. RU has become the school that these kids pick if their parents are unwilling to spend to go elsewhere. Probably different for athletes, but I would say there is a lot of the same attitude with NJ athletes. There will not be many coaches who are ever going to be able to come in here and overcome these obstacles and recruit that much better, until there is years and years of steady success and a major perception change. ( This will be a years and years process) And the next problem is convincing someone who actually could do that to even come here. The chances of that are slim. The issue is not only $$... why would a top coach want to come here and have to overcome all those inherent issues, before even doing the normal convincing required in recruiting. We will need to get luck in our next hire whenever that is.
And honestly…. The difference between blow out losses and more competitive games is not as great as people say. Things get out of hand and snowball in football games. Especially when you have major problems on defense. Look at Purdue Nebraska last week. How does something like that happen. I say Purdue plays Nebraska 10 times and this is the only time that blowout happens. Maybe the only time Purdue wins. Differences are not as great as many feel they are. Only as strong as your weakest link, and if we are playing #3’s and #4’s on the depth chart on defense in the backfield… from what we had in training camp… not hard to see how things snowball. And it carries over to the offense as well. Even w/o a coaching change things will be better next year. I am confident. Not great, but better.
I know the “:Win now” crew will not agree, but RU fans have to be more realistic and accept some mediocrity in this conference for a while... a long while. There is no magic that will make it get better. The slow and steady progress is our only way of making it in the big ten. I am convinced of this.
Last year we were an experienced team and did a good job in our first year in the big ten
Significant losses to graduation at key positions coming into this year - QB/OL/FB TE
Was going to be a rebuilding year anyway
Key Injuries to best Defensive and Offensive players on the team
Major Loss in defensive backfield due to dismissals and injury. ( Blame Flood if you want for these idiots doing what they did to get themselves in trouble… but I don’t. cant baby sit everyone) and to add to that, I’ have read many times on this board in recent years that some fans thought we should not be so concerned with recruiting “Rutgers men” and be a bit more lenient in character issues when recruiting players, in order to get better athletes - to WIN WIN WIN !!! But that is a whole other issue.
Defensive Line is not getting the job done Still need upgrade in athletes her
Across the board need to recruit better…. But I feel so much more of recruiting is based on the institution and cannot be overcome no matter who is doing the recruiting. And very hard to only blame the Head coach. Yes, flood may not be the most dynamic recruiter, but most of the issue is trying to get kids to come here is with the institution of Rutgers itself as opposed to Michigan, or OSU or other powers and all the other huge programs with all there fantastic facilities, huge stadiums, supportive fan bases etc. And the desire of NJ kids to leave the state. I have 3 kids who spurned Rutgers to go out of state and I see from all their friends, no one wants to stay in state. RU has become the school that these kids pick if their parents are unwilling to spend to go elsewhere. Probably different for athletes, but I would say there is a lot of the same attitude with NJ athletes. There will not be many coaches who are ever going to be able to come in here and overcome these obstacles and recruit that much better, until there is years and years of steady success and a major perception change. ( This will be a years and years process) And the next problem is convincing someone who actually could do that to even come here. The chances of that are slim. The issue is not only $$... why would a top coach want to come here and have to overcome all those inherent issues, before even doing the normal convincing required in recruiting. We will need to get luck in our next hire whenever that is.
And honestly…. The difference between blow out losses and more competitive games is not as great as people say. Things get out of hand and snowball in football games. Especially when you have major problems on defense. Look at Purdue Nebraska last week. How does something like that happen. I say Purdue plays Nebraska 10 times and this is the only time that blowout happens. Maybe the only time Purdue wins. Differences are not as great as many feel they are. Only as strong as your weakest link, and if we are playing #3’s and #4’s on the depth chart on defense in the backfield… from what we had in training camp… not hard to see how things snowball. And it carries over to the offense as well. Even w/o a coaching change things will be better next year. I am confident. Not great, but better.
I know the “:Win now” crew will not agree, but RU fans have to be more realistic and accept some mediocrity in this conference for a while... a long while. There is no magic that will make it get better. The slow and steady progress is our only way of making it in the big ten. I am convinced of this.
