"Baby if you've ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me"
Another hard-fought loss. That really sums up the Cincinnati game. Losing by 3 on the road to a good team is nothing to be ashamed of. But the losses, whether the games are close or not, are starting to pile up.
The offense is still sputtering. The return of Kordell Young was welcome. But he had perhaps the toughest 78 yards I've seen in a long time. Actually, considering that RU had 2 yards rushing in the first half, Young finishing with 78 yards is quite impressive. The sad fact is that the reshuffling of the offensive line bore little fruit. Regardless of whether it was Young or Brooks running the ball, neither seemed to be able to break through the swarming Cincy D-line.
Perhaps it was the lack of a running game, but Mike Teel had another mediocre day behind center. He made some good throws but couldn't hit his open receivers with any consistency. Tiquan Underwood finishing the game without a catch is a travesty. You can't tell that he was taken out of the game on every play. In a post-game interview, Rutgers announcer Chris Carlin felt that Schiano would likely stick with Teel because Teel gives the team the best chance to win at the moment. That may be so. But one more loss ensures that there won't be a winning season this year. So, my feeling is that if there is one more loss it is time to start building for the future. Maybe Jabu Lovelace will come back healthy next year and win the starting job. But his injury is a serious one, and I think it's important, in a lost season, to give someone else some snaps. Dom Natale has moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart. If Schiano believes that Natale has the ability to be the starting quarterback then he should play at least a half here and there. In a lopsided win or loss I wouldn't mind seeing both Natale and Chris Paul Etienne play at least a quarter.
Asbury Park Press writer Keith Sargeant wrote an interesting article in which he blames Rutgers recent woes on a lack of stellar recruiting coupled with a tougher schedule. You can read his article here: http://www.app.com/article/20081010/SPORTS02/81010082/1002/SPORTS
I agree with Sargeant to some extent. The schedule is tougher but the fact remains that Rutgers won 11 games a couple of years ago with a stockpile of recruits that were not even as highly rated as the group that's there now. I think he ignores the problem of changeover in the coaching staff, which I believe is a main cause for the decline. That's not to say the current assistants are poor coaches. It's just been too much changeover too soon. I think it takes time for the staff to gel with the players and with the head coach and establish a consistent program. When you are recruiting classes ranked in the 40s the past few years you have to be able to make the kids you get better. And the current staff can do that, but it will take more time for them to develop the talent they have.
Those issues aside, regardless of its record, the team has improved quite a bit since the first two weeks of the season. Unfortunately, it just hasn't been good enough to defeat the level of competition they're facing. Next week, homecoming against Connecticut is another winnable game against a decent team. It may be unrealistic for this team to win more than 4 or 5 games this year. But a 4-2 or 5-1 finish isn't impossible and even 3-3 would instill enough confidence in the team to have them accomplish surprising things next season. Make no mistake about it, though, we're playing for and looking toward next season.
The offense is still sputtering. The return of Kordell Young was welcome. But he had perhaps the toughest 78 yards I've seen in a long time. Actually, considering that RU had 2 yards rushing in the first half, Young finishing with 78 yards is quite impressive. The sad fact is that the reshuffling of the offensive line bore little fruit. Regardless of whether it was Young or Brooks running the ball, neither seemed to be able to break through the swarming Cincy D-line.
Perhaps it was the lack of a running game, but Mike Teel had another mediocre day behind center. He made some good throws but couldn't hit his open receivers with any consistency. Tiquan Underwood finishing the game without a catch is a travesty. You can't tell that he was taken out of the game on every play. In a post-game interview, Rutgers announcer Chris Carlin felt that Schiano would likely stick with Teel because Teel gives the team the best chance to win at the moment. That may be so. But one more loss ensures that there won't be a winning season this year. So, my feeling is that if there is one more loss it is time to start building for the future. Maybe Jabu Lovelace will come back healthy next year and win the starting job. But his injury is a serious one, and I think it's important, in a lost season, to give someone else some snaps. Dom Natale has moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart. If Schiano believes that Natale has the ability to be the starting quarterback then he should play at least a half here and there. In a lopsided win or loss I wouldn't mind seeing both Natale and Chris Paul Etienne play at least a quarter.
Asbury Park Press writer Keith Sargeant wrote an interesting article in which he blames Rutgers recent woes on a lack of stellar recruiting coupled with a tougher schedule. You can read his article here: http://www.app.com/article/20081010/SPORTS02/81010082/1002/SPORTS
I agree with Sargeant to some extent. The schedule is tougher but the fact remains that Rutgers won 11 games a couple of years ago with a stockpile of recruits that were not even as highly rated as the group that's there now. I think he ignores the problem of changeover in the coaching staff, which I believe is a main cause for the decline. That's not to say the current assistants are poor coaches. It's just been too much changeover too soon. I think it takes time for the staff to gel with the players and with the head coach and establish a consistent program. When you are recruiting classes ranked in the 40s the past few years you have to be able to make the kids you get better. And the current staff can do that, but it will take more time for them to develop the talent they have.
Those issues aside, regardless of its record, the team has improved quite a bit since the first two weeks of the season. Unfortunately, it just hasn't been good enough to defeat the level of competition they're facing. Next week, homecoming against Connecticut is another winnable game against a decent team. It may be unrealistic for this team to win more than 4 or 5 games this year. But a 4-2 or 5-1 finish isn't impossible and even 3-3 would instill enough confidence in the team to have them accomplish surprising things next season. Make no mistake about it, though, we're playing for and looking toward next season.
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