As i sat through last nights drubbing and listened to many of our fans joke and laugh how bad this was it got me thinking. We need to define our goals for this program and use that to make the necassary decisions.
Coaching.
I think flood is a solid coach. Good fundamental coach that can match up well with most teams. However, when he plays teams that run the spread or has better players he gets run off the field. I think Floods ceiling is 8-5. Maybe 9-4. If this is our goal than go ahead and continue. Without recruiting classes similar to the caroo/hamilton class year after year then prepare for 2-3 blowouts a year. Losing out on the entire top ten in jersey year after year is not going to get it done. Its embarrassing. Those top ten are going in the Big ten and our helping beat us. We dont do anything unique. Its vanilla. If our goals are to truly try to compete with every team then we better all start ponying up some money. The school also needs to use that credit rating and start building improved facilities and hire a dynamic coach who can RECRUIT. For this first time in a long time we are going to be playing teams that have better players then us. So far we have shown that we cant just hang with them. So far in 2 years we ve been blown out 6 times. Thats embarrassing and likely to continue without better recruiting. We don t need the entire Jersey top ten. But we need at least 4. Flood hasnt been able to deliver even being in the BIG TEN.
Fan support
There were at least 12-15k OHIO fans last night. If you look at most of our games against garbage opponents We draw around 48k rutgers fans to a game. Could we draw more...absolutely. But the product on the field has to change. There needs to be excitement. Everyone in the state knew we were gonna get blown out. No one wants to come to see that. An exciting offense would be a start. If we were expected to compete in that game last night the crowd would of been even different with more demand for tix from RU fans.
QB
Which brings me to qb. Laviano IMO is light years ahead of where Nova was. To be honest he might even be better then NOva was last year. He s not a bad qb and has improved from the beginning of the season. My issue is that I m not sure how much better he s gonna be. His passes lack zip. We all know this. The PSU game it was on full display. Good teams are just going to crowd the box and take away our run game and make us beat one on one coverage. Carroo has done that. But next year......no caroo. I am not saying to start Rettig. However, I think the competition was ended early. I would of liked to see Rettig against WSu, PSU, Kansas to see how much he progesses. His balls have zip on them. and not just the deep ball. His out routes get there before the defender has a chance to break on the ball. Laviano's has gotten our Receivers drilled a few times. Rettig has the higher ceiling. He needs to be given the chance to compete so that if he can deliver we become much more competitive against the best teams. With our talent level we need a STUD and qb. Not just a decent qb but someone who levels the playing field and keeps the defenses at least honest and at best causes chaos. And i am not trying to knock Laviano. Like i said IMO he is already better then Nova was.
Defense.
the arrests killed us. But the mediocre recruiting is going to make it worse. Case in point LBS next year. We might lose all 3 Lb's this year. Who is going to replace them. Our DL generates no Pass rush and has gotten dominated a few times up front. Rossi was an excellent Special teams coach. He shouldnt of been made DC without some defensive coaching experience at this level. The Eagles did this a few years ago and it backfired and spelled the end for Andy Reid. We are in the Big ten now. Coordiators have to be experienced.
So what is our Goal. To be minnesota? Iowa maybe? or try to push our way into the top rung? Whatever your answer is then it tells you how to handle the above issues. For me its go Big or go home. I dont enjoy getting blown out. I dont enjoy an opposing fan base chanting in our stadium. And I dont enjoy sports casters goofing on us. I dont enjoy people in this state telling us we don t belong. WE need to act like we belong. Add another 200 to your donations. its a start.
Coaching.
I think flood is a solid coach. Good fundamental coach that can match up well with most teams. However, when he plays teams that run the spread or has better players he gets run off the field. I think Floods ceiling is 8-5. Maybe 9-4. If this is our goal than go ahead and continue. Without recruiting classes similar to the caroo/hamilton class year after year then prepare for 2-3 blowouts a year. Losing out on the entire top ten in jersey year after year is not going to get it done. Its embarrassing. Those top ten are going in the Big ten and our helping beat us. We dont do anything unique. Its vanilla. If our goals are to truly try to compete with every team then we better all start ponying up some money. The school also needs to use that credit rating and start building improved facilities and hire a dynamic coach who can RECRUIT. For this first time in a long time we are going to be playing teams that have better players then us. So far we have shown that we cant just hang with them. So far in 2 years we ve been blown out 6 times. Thats embarrassing and likely to continue without better recruiting. We don t need the entire Jersey top ten. But we need at least 4. Flood hasnt been able to deliver even being in the BIG TEN.
Fan support
There were at least 12-15k OHIO fans last night. If you look at most of our games against garbage opponents We draw around 48k rutgers fans to a game. Could we draw more...absolutely. But the product on the field has to change. There needs to be excitement. Everyone in the state knew we were gonna get blown out. No one wants to come to see that. An exciting offense would be a start. If we were expected to compete in that game last night the crowd would of been even different with more demand for tix from RU fans.
QB
Which brings me to qb. Laviano IMO is light years ahead of where Nova was. To be honest he might even be better then NOva was last year. He s not a bad qb and has improved from the beginning of the season. My issue is that I m not sure how much better he s gonna be. His passes lack zip. We all know this. The PSU game it was on full display. Good teams are just going to crowd the box and take away our run game and make us beat one on one coverage. Carroo has done that. But next year......no caroo. I am not saying to start Rettig. However, I think the competition was ended early. I would of liked to see Rettig against WSu, PSU, Kansas to see how much he progesses. His balls have zip on them. and not just the deep ball. His out routes get there before the defender has a chance to break on the ball. Laviano's has gotten our Receivers drilled a few times. Rettig has the higher ceiling. He needs to be given the chance to compete so that if he can deliver we become much more competitive against the best teams. With our talent level we need a STUD and qb. Not just a decent qb but someone who levels the playing field and keeps the defenses at least honest and at best causes chaos. And i am not trying to knock Laviano. Like i said IMO he is already better then Nova was.
Defense.
the arrests killed us. But the mediocre recruiting is going to make it worse. Case in point LBS next year. We might lose all 3 Lb's this year. Who is going to replace them. Our DL generates no Pass rush and has gotten dominated a few times up front. Rossi was an excellent Special teams coach. He shouldnt of been made DC without some defensive coaching experience at this level. The Eagles did this a few years ago and it backfired and spelled the end for Andy Reid. We are in the Big ten now. Coordiators have to be experienced.
So what is our Goal. To be minnesota? Iowa maybe? or try to push our way into the top rung? Whatever your answer is then it tells you how to handle the above issues. For me its go Big or go home. I dont enjoy getting blown out. I dont enjoy an opposing fan base chanting in our stadium. And I dont enjoy sports casters goofing on us. I dont enjoy people in this state telling us we don t belong. WE need to act like we belong. Add another 200 to your donations. its a start.
