Now it’s time to RUN THE TABLE

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

Someone report a murder. Al’s been killed

Right. Stay tuned for funeral arrangements.

 

[rutgersguy2]

BTW, here's what we have to look forward to:

TOTAL DEFENSE

Nebraksa (5)
IU (6)
Michigan (7)
PSU (9)
Wiscy (28)
Mary (39)
MSU (45)

…. it’s like taking candy from a baby. Way too easy.

These are the SP+ rankings to date

IU offense 6 defense 7
Maryland offense 56 defense 54
NW offense 59 defense 36
Michigan offense 52 defense 9
Wisconsin offense 84 defense 19
Nebraska offense 20 defense 22
PSU offense 28 defense 12
MSU offense 80 defense 58

Rutgers offense 42 defense 113

2026 college football SP+ rankings for all 138 FBS teams

The updated SP+ rankings, plus strength of schedule and résumé SP+, after this weekend's results.

www.espn.com

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

Irrelevant. Kids all over America are overpaid. How the talent plays or is coached is what counts, not how much it was paid.

Much of that talent will be playing Sundays, is the point, especially #94 Wafle, who had very little impact on the game. No remaining team on our schedule has an End as good as Wafle, and we almost shut him down.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

BTW, here's what we have to look forward to:

TOTAL DEFENSE

Nebraksa (5)
IU (6)
Michigan (7)
PSU (9)
Wiscy (28)
Mary (39)
MSU (45)

…. it’s like taking candy from a baby. Way too easy.

Most of these are over-rated because the teams haven’t played anyone. Let’s see what Indianas rating is after Saturday. Better luck next time.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

You do realize the OL was WILDLY unprepared for the UMass game and had that not been the case we’d likely be 3-1 instead of 1-3 right now. The QB play hasn’t been good but it was a secondary problem in the first game. It wasn’t until it became clear that we couldn’t run the ball that everything fell apart.

They were prepared. We just didn’t have the right personnel in the right spots. Now, Vigna at LT and Needham at Guard, so we’re well positioned for success.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

LOL I have seen higher coaching expectations in U8 rec soccer. What next you going to put together a snack list and give all his players participation trophies?

Just like Penn State Football, we’re developing our foundation. I do expect we’ll be good enough to beat Penn State, just as Wisconsin did, so there’s that . Sorry for your loss.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

Typing like Hawk and saying nothing of value like Hawk.

But keep highlighting why Greg should be fired. You’re too ignorant to understand what you’re typing.

The more I read your posts, the more I realize What a moron you are. Regurgitating insults I’ve already used on you! Maybe one day you’ll come up with your own material, but not going to hold my breathe. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

No, they don't. Estimates show MiamiOH spending twice as much.

Your keyword is estimate not actual. There are numbers out there that show that might not be the case.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

That's not what it's called in the current reality we're living in. Losing by double digits at home as a 3 TD favorite to a team that was winless the previous season is not rising above expectations. It's called sh#tting the bed.

We take the “L” and focus on our next opportunity. Beating Indiana more than makes up for the UMass “L“ in my book. This team should win its share of games. It’s not where we start, it’s where we finish.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

 

[seansherm]

No - the turning point of the game was the punt series your missing in between. We got stuffed twice in a row for negative yardage and then threw incomplete with a blitz in Lonergan’s face. Joe then knew the recipe to stop us.

We ran for 20 yards mixed in with the passes on the first drive of the game. 10 net yards the rest of the game. We played more additional series (11) than accumulated net rush yards. You cannot move the chains that way (less than a yard on the ground each series). It’s absolutely a recipe for a QB to panic and make mistakes. As I said - AK would’ve struggled too.

I’ll add - BC stunk last year but Lonergan’s stats were what they were and it’s not like he was a walking pick machine last season.

Thought he threw the interception on the 3rd down of that second series, my bad.
No doubt he wasn't turnover prone LY, but he was week one and three this year.

 

[RU05]

UMass is undefeated. Maybe they’re not so bad after all.

After we can Schiano what are the chances we steal Harasymiak from UMass?

That would be a better thread then this one.

 

[seansherm]

Much of that talent will be playing Sundays, is the point, especially #94 Wafle, who had very little impact on the game. No remaining team on our schedule has an End as good as Wafle, and we almost shut him down.

Once again, doesn't matter if they play on Sundays. Matters how they play on Saturdays. Wafle is a true freshman, his play reflected a mixed bag of hyper-athletic flashes coupled with typical freshman learning moments, and one of his best plays offset by a facemask penalty

 

[Caliknight]

Right. Stay tuned for funeral arrangements.

Funeral? More like a party. We are celebrating it

 

[RU#1fan]

These are the SP+ rankings to date

IU offense 6 defense 7
Maryland offense 56 defense 54
NW offense 59 defense 36
Michigan offense 52 defense 9
Wisconsin offense 84 defense 19
Nebraska offense 20 defense 22
PSU offense 28 defense 12
MSU offense 80 defense 58

Rutgers offense 42 defense 113

2026 college football SP+ rankings for all 138 FBS teams

The updated SP+ rankings, plus strength of schedule and résumé SP+, after this weekend's results.

www.espn.com

And this is after playing lowly BC , Howard, and UMASS. Can’t imagine how much further down our defense will get after playing Indiana, NW,Michigan,Nebraska,PSU, etc. I guess #138 is our floor. lol

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Thought he threw the interception on the 3rd down of that second series, my bad.
No doubt he wasn't turnover prone LY, but he was week one and three this year.

No - he actually didnt even throw a first half pick and he threw 3 picks total - not 4. The early one intercepted was pass interference and came back. He fumbled the ball trying to avoid the sack on the following play. Again - that was after our rush game had been held to a max of 1 yard (mostly negative yardage in hand offs / sacks) on every rush attempt since the first drive. The lone exception was his own 3 yard scramble to avoid a sack (earlier on the drive he fumbled).

So I guess where I’m coming from is - by the time he entered the game in the 3rd quarter, we were down 27-7 halfway through the 3rd quarter - with no sign of being able to easily stop UMass. He led us all the way to the UMass 12 yard line and again - it was the rush offense that failed to move the chains on 4th and 1. Still no picks thrown but now it’s full on panic time as it’s the 4th quarter and we are down 20 points and we still cannot run the football. That’s the starting point surrounding his 3 picks. To come back and win - 3 TDs were needed within under 15 minutes of play. To have any chance, we had to make something happen quickly from deep in UMass territory on those drives (the picks were thrown from the RU 1 yard line, 8 yard line and 29 yard line). At the 1 and 8, he can’t even just take the sack since that’s safety territory.

So that’s the perspective I’m coming from when I say Lonergan’s sloppiness was secondary. We needed a miracle 20 point come back in under 15 minutes to actually pull off a win by that point. It’s easy to say he should’ve been smarter and threw the ball away but we clearly needed points in a hurry. I personally think every pass should’ve been a long ball attempt to Duff down field but obviously that wasn’t the play calls.

Again - 27 net yards… 20 on the first drive of the game. I don’t care who your QB is. You don’t win games netting 7 yards combined in 11 series.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

The more I read your posts, the more I realize What a moron you are. Regurgitating insults I’ve already used on you! Maybe one day you’ll come up with your own material, but not going to hold my breathe. Thanks for the laugh.

The poor unintelligent court jester still doesn’t get he’s illiterate when it comes to football and the big picture.

Spamming the same stuff in every thread and yet it’s always a miss. Your record speaks for itself.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Once again, doesn't matter if they play on Sundays. Matters how they play on Saturdays. Wafle is a true freshman, his play reflected a mixed bag of hyper-athletic flashes coupled with typical freshman learning moments, and one of his best plays offset by a facemask penalty

Just him moving the goalposts again because he can’t defend their play on the field against those with brain cells.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Most of these are over-rated because the teams haven’t played anyone. Let’s see what Indianas rating is after Saturday. Better luck next time.

Always an excuse or a spin. Absolutely pathetic.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Someone might want to remind this idiot to look at the strength of schedule that UMass has played so far.

There are 266 teams in the FBS and FCS combined.. UMass has currently played the 225th most difficult schedule in the nation.

Rutgers (
Sacred Heart (209)
Stone hill (229)
Sacramento St (201)

….SPIN THAT!

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

They were prepared. We just didn’t have the right personnel in the right spots. Now, Vigna at LT and Needham at Guard, so we’re well positioned for success.

Not having the right personnel in the right spots is not being prepared. What was all that practice supposed to accomplish? Was it supposed to put the wrong people in the wrong positions?

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Al spent the last 24-hours or so coming up with nothing but narrative-fitting ******** with which to reply lolol!!!

 

[seansherm]

No - he actually didnt even throw a first half pick and he threw 3 picks total - not 4. The early one intercepted was pass interference and came back. He fumbled the ball trying to avoid the sack on the following play. Again - that was after our rush game had been held to a max of 1 yard (mostly negative yardage in hand offs / sacks) on every rush attempt since the first drive. The lone exception was his own 3 yard scramble to avoid a sack (earlier on the drive he fumbled).

So I guess where I’m coming from is - by the time he entered the game in the 3rd quarter, we were down 27-7 halfway through the 3rd quarter - with no sign of being able to easily stop UMass. He led us all the way to the UMass 12 yard line and again - it was the rush offense that failed to move the chains on 4th and 1. Still no picks thrown but now it’s full on panic time as it’s the 4th quarter and we are down 20 points and we still cannot run the football. That’s the starting point surrounding his 3 picks. To come back and win - 3 TDs were needed within under 15 minutes of play. To have any chance, we had to make something happen quickly from deep in UMass territory on those drives (the picks were thrown from the RU 1 yard line, 8 yard line and 29 yard line). At the 1 and 8, he can’t even just take the sack since that’s safety territory.

So that’s the perspective I’m coming from when I say Lonergan’s sloppiness was secondary. We needed a miracle 20 point come back in under 15 minutes to actually pull off a win by that point. It’s easy to say he should’ve been smarter and threw the ball away but we clearly needed points in a hurry. I personally think every pass should’ve been a long ball attempt to Duff down field but obviously that wasn’t the play calls.

Again - 27 net yards… 20 on the first drive of the game. I don’t care who your QB is. You don’t win games netting 7 yards combined in 11 series.

I had said four TO's, not ints.
Every rush attempt since the first drive was like three attempts, there were only like 5 plays in between the TD and fumble. Team is down 14 points thirty seconds after the fumble. That's more because the D could not stop anything than it is on how the O line performed on 5/6 plays. That's why I say total team failure, not just OL. Despite the second half int's the offense still put up almost 250 yards in that half.

 

[seansherm]

Someone might want to remind this idiot to look at the strength of schedule that UMass has played so far.

There are 266 teams in the FBS and FCS combined.. UMass has currently played the 225th most difficult schedule in the nation.

Rutgers (
Sacred Heart (209)
Stone hill (229)
Sacramento St (201)

….SPIN THAT!

This is why it's wait on see on Joe H, have to play someone with a pulse before annointing him coach of the year. This schedule is his ideal year 2 schedule, great for perception after saying complete rebuild year 1.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I had said four TO's, not ints.
Every rush attempt since the first drive was like three attempts, there were only like 5 plays in between the TD and fumble. Team is down 14 points thirty seconds after the fumble. That's more because the D could not stop anything than it is on how the O line performed on 5/6 plays. That's why I say total team failure, not just OL. Despite the second half int's the offense still put up almost 250 yards in that half.

First of all - it was 4 straight failed rush attempts getting stuffed - against UMass. Remember - this was a team that hadn’t won a game in years. The wheels were completely falling off us.

And yes - the D sucks but we knew that was going to be the case. We’re a BIG team. Going 3 and out on the second possession of the game for negative 7 yards on our second series was the catalyst that set off the panic alarms on offense. You can blame Lonergan for not holding onto the football on the ensuing series fumble, but again, UMass isn’t supposed to be in the position to bring a BIG team QB down repetitively on sacks and he had already scrambled once for 3 yards to avoid another sack on that same possession. Thats on the OL. Again - it was shockingly bad in that game.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

First of all - it was 4 straight failed rush attempts getting stuffed - against UMass. Remember - this was a team that hadn’t won a game in years. The wheels were completely falling off us.

And yes - the D sucks but we knew that was going to be the case. We’re a BIG team. Going 3 and out on the second possession of the game for negative 7 yards on our second series was the catalyst that set off the panic alarms on offense. You can blame Lonergan for not holding onto the football on the ensuing series fumble, but again, UMass isn’t supposed to be in the position to bring a BIG team QB down repetitively on sacks and he had already scrambled once for 3 yards to avoid another sack on that same possession. Thats on the OL. Again - it was shockingly bad in that game.

We have grown so much from the UMass game, and are now playing our best football. All we can do is work to do better going forward.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

This is why it's wait on see on Joe H, have to play someone with a pulse before annointing him coach of the year. This schedule is his ideal year 2 schedule, great for perception after saying complete rebuild year 1.

Have to give credit where it’s due. No one is expecting UMass to be world beaters. But bringing UMass from where they were, to where they are, is a tremendous accomplishment, which began with recruiting a good quarterback.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

Not having the right personnel in the right spots is not being prepared. What was all that practice supposed to accomplish? Was it supposed to put the wrong people in the wrong positions?

Coaches can only make decisions based on what they see. They can’t make decisions based on what they don’t see.

Playing UMass and Boston College helped us optimize our personnel mix. Coaches thought they had the right personnel, but they were proven wrong. Hard to spotlight issues when both sides of the ball aren’t as strong as they should be. This is Jim Turner’s and the DL Coaches first year, so things took time. The only thing that matters is that we’re playing our best football now.

 

[Jerseylegends]

This is actually true....this past off season Al was saying the team didn't have enough talent to compete. I said that was bs and with this schedule, with this talent, there should have been no less than 7 wins...to do that now they would have to defeat some serious competition. I'm rooting for them but if they don't get to 7 wins let's get schiano out of here and get a coach worthy of the efforts about to be put into Rutgers football.. Brian Kelly sounds good to me!

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

This is why it's wait on see on Joe H, have to play someone with a pulse before annointing him coach of the year. This schedule is his ideal year 2 schedule, great for perception after saying complete rebuild year 1.

Have to give credit where it’s due. No one is expecting UMass to be world beaters. But bringing UMass from where they were, to were they are, is a tremendous accomplishment, which began with recruiting a good quarterback.

Funeral? More like a party. We are celebrating it

whatever floats your boat. I wouldn’t spend any effort on you.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

This is actually true....this past off season Al was saying the team didn't have enough talent to compete. With this schedule, with this talent, there should have been no less than 7 wins...to do that now they would have to defeat some serious competition. I'm rooting for them but if they don't get to 7 wins let's get schiano out of here and get a coach worthy of the efforts about to be put into Rutgers football.. Brian Kelly sounds good to me!

I pretty much agree. Go 5-3 and win your bowl game. Then we’ll talk…

For now, the default expectation is that we’ll be moving on. We’d have to knock off multiple teams RU has never beaten before to accomplish the above.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Coaches can only make decisions based on what they see. They can’t make decisions based on what they don’t see.

Playing UMass and Boston College helped us optimize our personnel mix. Coaches thought they had the right personnel, but they were proven wrong. Hard to spotlight issues when both sides of the ball aren’t as strong as they should be. This is Jim Turner’s and the DL Coaches first year, so things took time. The only thing that matters is that we’re playing our best football now.

UMass had 53 new players. Seems like they were able to identify the right personnel and get them acclimated quickly. Optimizing the personnel mix doesn't explain losing either one of those games. Poor coaching and preparation do, though.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

UMass had 53 new players. Seems like they were able to identify the right personnel and get them acclimated quickly. Optimizing the personnel mix doesn't explain losing either one of those games. Poor coaching and preparation do, though.

Because we didn’t have the optimal personnel mix, we were unable to execute. No matter how many times you complain about coaching, You can’t turn chicken into chicken salad. We did not block or tackle properly against UMass.

So we’ve changed the talent, and kids have returned since UMass.

• Vigna is playing Left Tackle
• The QB has been able to reduce his turnovers
• Needham is looking 100x better at Left Guard
• Abram Wright and Moses Walker have given a big boost to the LB Corp
• Kaj Sanders has given a big boost to the secondary
• Ofurie is looking better as he grows into his role

The kids are playing with more confidence which is why we have a great shot to beat Indiana.

 

[seansherm]

Because we didn’t have the optimal personnel mix, we were unable to execute. No matter how many times you complain about coaching, You can’t turn chicken into chicken salad. We did not block or tackle properly against UMass.

So we’ve changed the talent, and kids have returned since UMass.

• Vigna is playing Left Tackle
• The QB has been able to reduce his turnovers
• Needham is looking 100x better at Left Guard
• Abram Wright and Moses Walker have given a big boost to the LB Corp
• Kaj Sanders has given a big boost to the secondary
• Ofurie is looking better as he grows into his role

The kids are playing with more confidence which is why we have a great shot to beat Indiana.

You are delusional. This defense just gave up three times as many yards to Howard as Indiana did. Walker has played one good game and Wright and Sanders maybe zero. I've barely even noticed Sanders this year. USC averaged more yards per play against us than all their other opponents except for Fresno. Defense still isn't good.

 

[RU#1fan]

Rather than time to run the table it’s more likely time to put the unstable OP in the mental asylum.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Because we didn’t have the optimal personnel mix, we were unable to execute. No matter how many times you complain about coaching, You can’t turn chicken into chicken salad. We did not block or tackle properly against UMass.

So we’ve changed the talent, and kids have returned since UMass.

• Vigna is playing Left Tackle
• The QB has been able to reduce his turnovers
• Needham is looking 100x better at Left Guard
• Abram Wright and Moses Walker have given a big boost to the LB Corp
• Kaj Sanders has given a big boost to the secondary
• Ofurie is looking better as he grows into his role

The kids are playing with more confidence which is why we have a great shot to beat Indiana.

Putting "chicken sh#t" on the field after the full complement of practices and resulting personnel evaluation is a coaching problem. Suddenly discovering that the OL had players playing out of position after 2 embarrassing losses is a coaching problem. The defense against USC was @SS. That's a coaching problem.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

You are delusional. This defense just gave up three times as many yards to Howard as Indiana did. Walker has played one good game and Wright and Sanders maybe zero. I've barely even noticed Sanders this year. USC averaged more yards per play against us than all their other opponents except for Fresno. Defense still isn't good.

I really don’t care what we gave up to Howard, compared with Indiana, because the transitive property doesn’t apply here.

We knew that going into this season that the defense wasn’t going to be good. Our portal haul was dreadful, and I’ve been screaming about this all offseason. We have no pass rush and the DL isn’t great against the run.

So, We need the defense to be good enough to win and we need the offense to stop turning the ball over. The difference in the USC game was a pick 6 committed by the offense.

If we can mirror our USC effort and reduce our turnovers, we’ll be sitting pretty at the end of the season.

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

Putting "chicken sh#t" on the field after the full complement of practices and resulting personnel evaluation is a coaching problem. Suddenly discovering that the OL had players playing out of position after 2 embarrassing losses is a coaching problem. The defense against USC was @SS. That's a coaching problem.

in an ideal world, you have terrific players going up against terrific players, so you find out most of the issues in training camp. Iron sharpens iron. Miami has that. We don’t.

some of our issues are only uncovered after games. You have to give kids an opportunity to work through their mistakes. We don’t recruit great players. We develop great players. That involves them taking their lumps and working to get better.

If you want players who are ready to go Day 1, you and the rest of the fanbase are going to have to pony up, just like Miami’s fanbase has done.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

in an ideal world, you have terrific players going up against terrific players, so you find out most of the issues in training camp. Iron sharpens iron. Miami has that. We don’t.

some of our issues are only uncovered after games. You have to give kids an opportunity to work through their mistakes. We don’t recruit great players. We develop great players. That involves them taking their lumps and working to get better.

If you want players who are ready to go Day 1, you and the rest of the fanbase are going to have to pony up, just like Miami’s fanbase has done.

Did UMass recruit better players than RU did? What was their roster cost compared to Rutgers? How much did their fans pony up? Why didn't their players have to work through mistakes? Why were their players ready on day 1?

 

[rutgersal_rivals139582]

I pretty much agree. Go 5-3 and win your bowl game. Then we’ll talk…

For now, the default expectation is that we’ll be moving on. We’d have to knock off multiple teams RU has never beaten before to accomplish the above.

The default expectation doesn’t matter. What matters is we go out and play our best football, and I think we’re finally positioned to do so.