Football GAMEDAY THREAD: Rutgers vs. Indiana

[SouthJerseyRU]

No maybe top 8 now. What a bunch of whiny babies on this board. Can we at least wait to the second quarter to cry so much? Man o man…

Actually top 7 if you want to go by ypg, which as I pointed out in that thread is a very flawed stat. In the same thread I said RU has a very good but not top 10 defense. In general, I'm not a whiny person but was frustrated with how we started that game and pointed out what I saw as lackluster plays.

I still don't think we are a top 10 defense, but we made some adjustments and won against that team and that's all that matters.

 

[RU848789]

Yea but still lot of time left and with a team like that a tide can turn with a play here or there. Need a sudden change or TO or something.

I’m not happy, it is what it is.

You were just about the only voice of reason in the early part of the game thread - well done. I get being unhappy at the start, as I was unhappy, too, but the level of vitriol levelled at the team and staff in this thread was worse than I've seen since Ash's last year or so. So many really bad, way over the top takes by the usual suspects. Now let's go beat MN, as they're beatable if we play like we did after the 1Q.

 

[Colbert17!]

We will always have the "nattering nabobs of negativism".

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

You were just about the only voice of reason in the early part of the game thread - well done. I get being unhappy at the start, as I was unhappy, too, but the level of vitriol levelled at the team and staff in this thread was worse than I've seen since Ash's last year or so. So many really bad, way over the top takes by the usual suspects. Now let's go beat MN, as they're beatable if we play like we did after the 1Q.

Yea thanks but I'm okay with whatever anyone says. If anything, I just try to "softly" pull people back from the ledge but I don't want to attack anyone. Everyone can feel what they're feeling, it's fine with me. If we had lost or lost big, so be it what can you do.

 

[Jtung230]

We will always have the "nattering nabobs of negativism".

It’s the Jersey way.

 

[mildone_rivals]

You were just about the only voice of reason in the early part of the game thread - well done. I get being unhappy at the start, as I was unhappy, too, but the level of vitriol levelled at the team and staff in this thread was worse than I've seen since Ash's last year or so. So many really bad, way over the top takes by the usual suspects. Now let's go beat MN, as they're beatable if we play like we did after the 1Q.

Just about.

I was joking and making light-hearted comments the whole time. I never get unhappy as early as the first quarter in a football game. There are four quarters and I've experienced way too many games with big momentum swings throughout the game to stress out so early in the game.

Once our players shook off their post-bye-week sleepiness and were fully energized, I felt pretty confident we'd win. They were really pretty bad.

I think MN and MI State are the most winnable games left, although neither will be anywhere near as bad as IN was so neither game should be considered an expected win. MD is kind of an unknown, but look better than us right now, IMO. PSU and UM are out of reach.

We've maxed out on my pre-season prediction of 2-4 wins for this year. But I thought some of our opponents would be stronger than they are this season. Unfortunately, we squandered opportunities with two weaker-than-expected teams in Iowa and Nebraska.

Be great to get 2 more but we'll probably need a little good luck for that to happen.

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

Just about.

I was joking and making light-hearted comments the whole time.

Funny quips and comments whether we’re winning or losing is part of the reason I like game threads.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Funny quips and comments whether we’re winning or losing is part of the reason I like game threads.

Being the total douchebag that I am, I was finding it extremely difficult not to make fun of the folks queuing up to leap off the cliff in the first quarter. There was comedy gold being teed up and I very much wanted to swing at a few.

Alas, I must be getting milder with time because I somehow resisted the impulse. No promises of similar reserve for the next game, however. Douchebaggery will out!

 

[Jtung230]

I took it surprisingly well at the beginning. Maybe 3 beers and a shot in an hour helped numb everything.

 

[RU848789]

Yea thanks but I'm okay with whatever anyone says. If anything, I just try to "softly" pull people back from the ledge but I don't want to attack anyone. Everyone can feel what they're feeling, it's fine with me. If we had lost or lost big, so be it what can you do.

I've always said game threads are generally exempt from having people being called out for wild mood swings, as they're stream of consciousness responses, typically, the equivalent of cursing and throwing my remote at the TV (broken a few). Was just noting that the nastiness seemed worse than usual and the Schiano haters couldn't restrain themselves to keep the commentary about the game, which is no surprise really.

Just about.

I was joking and making light-hearted comments the whole time. I never get unhappy as early as the first quarter in a football game. There are four quarters and I've experienced way too many games with big momentum swings throughout the game to stress out so early in the game.

Once our players shook off their post-bye-week sleepiness and were fully energized, I felt pretty confident we'd win. They were really pretty bad.

I think MN and MI State are the most winnable games left, although neither will be anywhere near as bad as IN was so neither game should be considered an expected win. MD is kind of an unknown, but look better than us right now, IMO. PSU and UM are out of reach.

We've maxed out on my pre-season prediction of 2-4 wins for this year. But I thought some of our opponents would be stronger than they are this season. Unfortunately, we squandered opportunities with two weaker-than-expected teams in Iowa and Nebraska.

Be great to get 2 more but we'll probably need a little good luck for that to happen.

Yes, you were, but you're not as much of a fanatic as many, so wouldn't expect true vitriol out of you. We'll be underdogs in the rest of our games, substantially so in maybe all of them, unless we upset someone, which I think we will to get to my prediction of 5 wins. I think 2 more wins is possible if we play like we did after the 1Q of yesterday's game and if Vedral plays better - thought he played just ok, but is capable of better. Would love to have that NE game back, especially.

 

[RU848789]

We will always have the "nattering nabobs of negativism".

Bill Safire would be proud you remembered. He was one of my favorite columnists and I still miss his "On Language" column in the Times magazine.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Yes, you were, but you're not as much of a fanatic as many, so wouldn't expect true vitriol out of you.

True, although I've been pretty despondent, or wildly happy, after some games in the past. But at the moment, I temper my expectations to reasonable levels to avoid undue stress.

 

[RU848789]

True, although I've been pretty despondent, or wildly happy, after some games in the past. But at the moment, I temper my expectations to reasonable levels to avoid undue stress.

Yeah, but if your past mood swings during games are a 5 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being mild(one) and 10 being A Clockwork Orange worthy, mine have been at least 11, although I'm probably down to an 8 or 9 in the last few years. Mellowing I guess.

 

[ScarletDave]

It’s ok to be fans. You don’t have to have 1 opinion all the time. If you would have asked me when we were down 14-0 what I thought the final score would be I would have said 42-0 (I saw 40-0 IU in Bloomington 2017). Many probably would have too. But now that we won I can also say I think our defense is actually elite, deserves it’s top-10 ranking, and Schianoball might be boring and frustrating at times but it won us this game and probably could have won us Neb or Iowa and we’d be 5-2 right now instead of 4-3 and maybe receiving votes in the AP poll

 

[mildone_rivals]

Yeah, but if your past mood swings during games are a 5 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being mild(one) and 10 being A Clockwork Orange worthy, mine have been at least 11, although I'm probably down to an 8 or 9 in the last few years. Mellowing I guess.

Well it's certainly true I haven't destroyed any remote controls, and nearly a TV, while watching games like some people.

 

[mildone_rivals]

It’s ok to be fans. You don’t have to have 1 opinion all the time. If you would have asked me when we were down 14-0 what I thought the final score would be I would have said 42-0 (I saw 40-0 IU in Bloomington 2017). Many probably would have too. But now that we won I can also say I think our defense is actually elite, deserves it’s top-10 ranking, and Schianoball might be boring and frustrating at times but it won us this game and probably could have won us Neb or Iowa and we’d be 5-2 right now instead of 4-3 and maybe receiving votes in the AP poll

Our D is pretty good. If it were elite, Ohio State wouldn't have had 49 points against us. I understand that when the O goes 3 and out all game, that puts extreme pressure on the D. But, IMO, an elite D would still have kept the score under 36 points.

OTOH, the D is improving from game to game. So if we hold UM and PSU to 24 points or less in our games against them, then I'll upgrade my "ranking" of our D from pretty good to very good. And if we still hold a YPG D ranking in the top 20 at the end of the season, then I'd upgrade it to elite.

I figure elite gets earned only against elite competition. We only faced one elite offense so far this season.

 

[mdk02]

Our D is pretty good. If it were elite, Ohio State wouldn't have had 49 points against us. I understand that when the O goes 3 and out all game, that puts extreme pressure on the D. But, IMO, an elite D would still have kept the score under 36 points.

OTOH, the D is improving from game to game. So if we hold UM and PSU to 24 points or less in our games against them, then I'll upgrade my "ranking" of our D from pretty good to very good. And if we still hold a YPG D ranking in the top 20 at the end of the season, then I'd upgrade it to elite.

I figure elite gets earned only against elite competition. We only faced one elite offense so far this season.

Ohio St. scored 55 on Iowa so I think, hard as it may be to believe, that was still a reasonable result.

My only prediction on Maryland is it won't be close. They are Top 1 in inconsistency.

 

[PessimisticallyHopefulPragmatist]

As a kid, I was a Notre Dame fan. That was fun. Then I learned I lived in NJ. Following Rutgers has had some ups and downs over the past 50 years. Today, I live in SC, so can follow Rutgers, then watch Clemson and end the weekend on a high note.

It's funny to watch this forum. There are the angry people and then there are the cheerleaders who come back into the conversation when something goes well. I don't look at the negativity as hate; I see those people as very passionate fans who are frustrated and desperately want something better. They finally got some things they were calling for and it worked out for the better - a new OC, one quarterback, and Brown carrying the ball. Let's just hope Wimsatt doesn't hit the portal.

The cheerleaders impress me more as propagandists. They react to sudden and often temporary high points and profess all is well. Suggesting that a limited set of statistics against mostly poor competition indicates a top-10 defense is delusional unless you're happy with it just on paper. I thought the rebuild would take 10 years, so anytime sooner than that would be great - I just don't know if I'll live long enough to see it. Rutgers has to solve the chicken or the egg problem before it will be able to attract the talent it needs to be competitive with the big boys.

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

Ohio St. scored 55 on Iowa so I think, hard as it may be to believe, that was still a reasonable result.

My only prediction on Maryland is it won't be close. They are Top 1 in inconsistency.

IMO you have to look at a bunch of things to judge. YPG, YPP (might be more appropriate metric with tempo offenses these days), stop rate, TOs gotten, scoring defense etc..and then you get a full picture. The type of competitions matters too as I said in the defense thread.

Looking at the final score and not watching/reading about the game you wouldn't know it. But Iowa's defense played well in the OSU game but as I said in the games thread eventually a pipe bursts under pressure. 10 points for Iowa, guess where 7 of them came from..you got it Iowa's D on a fumble return. 7 points of those 55 for OSU came on a pick 6. Iowa had 6 TOs in that game, OSU had starting field position about 4-5 times on Iowa's side of the field and inside the 35 multiple times and Iowa's D was holding them to FGs in the first half. I think it was only 19-10 at halftime. They did a good job but there's only so much you can do when your offense gives you less than zip.

I posted these tweets the games thread.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Ohio St. scored 55 on Iowa so I think, hard as it may be to believe, that was still a reasonable result.

My only prediction on Maryland is it won't be close. They are Top 1 in inconsistency.

I see your point, but I also don't see Iowa's D as elite this season.

Thing with Iowa is, they only have played Ohio State and UM in terms of elite Os this season. And even RU was able to move the ball against their D and had a legit shot in that game if we didn't keep turning the ball over. Very good D, yes, but not, IMO, elite.

MD hung w/UM who are very good. And seem like they mostly took care of business except a close one w/Purdue. They might be inconsistent, but seem to be having a season where they find a way to win most of their games.

Gotta see how they do against PSU and OSU. One thing in our favor is that they have those two tough games the prior two weeks leading up to playing us. OTOH, we don't exactly have an easy time of it w/UM, M State, and PSU as our leadup to the game.

I think if we can win against M State, a big ask for us where we're at, and be competitive against PSU (a really big ask), then I'd feel like maybe we have a shot w/MD. We're gonna need to be very healthy and keep improving on O and D to get that done. Losing any of Vedral, Brown, Ryan or two or more OL or DL and I think we're in trouble.