An outsider’s take on the RU UM game

[ShoreLion85V2]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

 

[RUChet]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

Pretty much agree with you

Our OC only sees TEs for help blocking

We were 2-5 going into a matchup with a historically bad Michigan team. We had 2 wins - 1 over the worst B1G team and 1 over a horrible FCS team - hard to motivate fans . We flat out stink

 

[Knight Shift]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

1. RU has not effectively used TEs since Tyler Croft. Seems to be a recruiting/talent problem and a coaching problem.
2. Yep and yep.
3. Yep.
4. It's a shame what GS has done to special teams. Basically taken that phase of the game out of the game with 95% fair catches.
5. Seven years of mediocrity trending further down breeds fan apathy.

 

[Caliknight]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

As to special teams, it’s one of the biggest blunders of Greggo’s career. He willingly nullifies the best chances he has to get athletes in space. And we don’t even block punts anymore.

He coaches scared and feckless. When he was asked why he does this he responded about some bs about “analytics” told him this is the way to coach. Apparently he has a different AI tool than every other coach.

 

[rureadyforsomefootball]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

Great post. You are the anti-Rutgers Al, with a well thought out, logical thinking post.

 

[ClassOf02v.2]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

I will try to respond to each point as objectively as possible, without letting my disdain for our current coaching staff cloud my comments:

1. Our blockhead head coach limits the usage of things that can be weapons in the offense, and prefers that TEs exclusively block. It’s a wonder we get any in the program at all.

2. Our blockhead head coach can’t attract a defensive coordinator like every other P4 team can, so it took him until February to hire one and fill out the coaching staff on that side of the ball. Obviously, portal talent wasn’t coming without knowing who would be coaching them.

3. I was very surprised at the amount of pressure we had against Michigan. First time we’ve seen that all year.

4. Our blockhead head coach is scared of penalties and turnovers. Some analytics guy convinced him that 51% of the time something bad will happen if you return a kickoff or punt, so naturally he decides to just eliminate any potential of changing a game on special teams. Funny thing is, GS 1.0 was known for special teams play. It’s now completely gone from the game plan. Sometimes I wonder if the Eric Legrand injury has an impact on his special teams strategy.

5. When a UMass defensive line absolutely manhandles our O line in the first game of the year at home — after a 2025 season of being overwhelmed on defense — it has a funny way of breeding fan apathy. The program was already trending downward, but the bottom fell out in the very first game this year.

So, to sum up….all your observations really come down to one thing: our head coach is a blockhead. But don’t worry, he knows what to do and he’ll fix it.

 

[RUGuitarMan1]

We lack speed and explosive players across the entire defense. The defense has gone from bad to horrendous over the last 3 seasons. Poor player evaluation in recruiting and in the portal. Poor development of HS recruits over the last 3-4 years. This goes to the quality of the defensive coaches starting with the HC. The offense is mediocre and has been better than the defense over the last several years because there are better coaches and recruiters on that side of the ball.

 

[RUChet]

As to special teams, it’s one of the biggest blunders of Greggo’s career. He willingly nullifies the best chances he has to get athletes in space. And we don’t even block punts anymore.

He coaches scared and feckless. When he was asked why he does this he responded about some bs about “analytics” told him this is the way to coach. Apparently he has a different AI tool than every other coach.

Yep. His analytics result in winning 1 in 4 conference games

 

[RUChet]

1. RU has not effectively used TEs since Tyler Croft. Seems to be a recruiting/talent problem and a coaching problem.
2. Yep and yep.
3. Yep.
4. It's a shame what GS has done to special teams. Basically taken that phase of the game out of the game with 95% fair catches.
5. Seven years of mediocrity trending further down breeds fan apathy.

We must be the only football program that literally doesn’t understand the TE is a weapon yet it wasn’t that way under GS1.0.

We heard about Rothbar and Anthony will step up yet all I see is Blake blocking and 1 short catch a game

 

[RU#1fan]

Yep. His analytics result in winning 1 in 4 conference games

Worse winning percentage in the B1G.
Will be near 20% at season’s end.. this after 7 years

 

[RUBlackout]

Every inexperienced or new QB EVER has utilized the TE for a safety net—-except RU!

 

[Redrich66]

I will try to respond to each point as objectively as possible, without letting my disdain for our current coaching staff cloud my comments:

1. Our blockhead head coach limits the usage of things that can be weapons in the offense, and prefers that TEs exclusively block. It’s a wonder we get any in the program at all.

2. Our blockhead head coach can’t attract a defensive coordinator like every other P4 team can, so it took him until February to hire one and fill out the coaching staff on that side of the ball. Obviously, portal talent wasn’t coming without knowing who would be coaching them.

3. I was very surprised at the amount of pressure we had against Michigan. First time we’ve seen that all year.

4. Our blockhead head coach is scared of penalties and turnovers. Some analytics guy convinced him that 51% of the time something bad will happen if you return a kickoff or punt, so naturally he decides to just eliminate any potential of changing a game on special teams. Funny thing is, GS 1.0 was known for special teams play. It’s now completely gone from the game plan. Sometimes I wonder if the Eric Legrand injury has an impact on his special teams strategy.

5. When a UMass defensive line absolutely manhandles our O line in the first game of the year at home — after a 2025 season of being overwhelmed on defense — it has a funny way of breeding fan apathy. The program was already trending downward, but the bottom fell out in the very first game this year.

So, to sum up….all your observations really come down to one thing: our head coach is a blockhead. But don’t worry, he knows what to do and he’ll fix it.

Do we have a Lucy for the Blockhead?

 

[rob kight]

From my very good seat, here are the things I noticed. Please keep in mind that I have no opinion/position on the Head Coach’s job situation - I’m a guest here, and I try to act like one.

1. RUs passing attack could use the TE much more/better - don’t understand the lack of TE in the O;
2. Your LBs are not fast enough, and your safeties are not as good as RU usually has;
3. DL is improving - better pressure on QB than previous games, although some over-pursuit plus lack of speed at LB really hurt you when the UM QB ran;
4. Special Teams can be a force multiplier and change the trajectory of the game. Why does your coaching staff remove the kick and punt return portion of them? Especially when a big play could tie or win the game - why not give your returners a shot?
5. Waaay to many visiting team fans in the stands! Cmon Jersey - keep your tix away from the UM Walmart fans!!

See you vs Nebraska - go RU (except on Nov 21st, of course)!

Was a winnable game, if Lonergan and Duff were healthy, believe we would have won. Agree that we need a solution to defend a QB that can run or we will be 0 for 4 the rest of the year. RU makes average QBs look like Heisman candidates

 

[ScarletDave]

Was a winnable game, if Lonergan and Duff were healthy, believe we would have won. Agree that we need a solution to defend a QB that can run or we will be 0 for 4 the rest of the year. RU makes average QBs look like Heisman candidates

We havent had a solution for defending mobile QBs for 20 years under Schiano nor for the first 8 games of this season but I’m sure they figured it out this week in practice