The Biggest Difference between Rutgers and Indiana is NIL

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 5:13 AM

People loved to point out that Rutgers should have been able to beat UMass and Boston College with the support it had. And that is true. But Indiana and USC are a different story, as they are in a much higher weight class, and spent a lot more money in the transfer portal.

More money brings the #1,Transfer class, with better trench play and better quarterback play. Curt Cignetti flat out stated what the difference in the programs was, in his press conference.

“It takes a certain amount of financial commitment to be successful”

IU football coach Curt Cignetti says programs like Rutgers can emulate the Hoosiers' remarkable success, provided all the right pieces are put in place. Right now Rutgers simply cannot match Indiana’s financial commitment.

We thought we would be more competitive in the trenches and at quarterback, but that flatly wasn’t the case, and that a lot of that is due to the quality of transfers:

Indiana brought in Josh Hoover, who previously threw for 9,629 yards at TCU, paying him $4M
Rutgers brought in Dylan Lonergan who is still acclimating to the Big Ten, while losing Athan Kaliakmanis to the NFL. Ultimately a big step down
Joe Bruner a Wisconsin transfer, took an Indiana payday, rather than enter the NFL draft
Rutgers brought in OL that haven’t started
Rutgers lost Bo Mascoe to Texas and replaced him with a DB that can’t make an open field tackle

Ultimately Indiana brought in seasoned professionals while Rutgers brought in developmental kids, because we didn’t have budget to do otherwise. And that is the biggest difference between the two programs.

-RUFAN4LIFE- · Monday at 5:21 AM

"Don’t listen to the IDIOTS. After 4 games, this is a GOOD Football team that is ready to win some games. We are peaking and playing our best football, and will have an opportunity to beat anyone who comes our way.

This Saturday, we’re going to start our run of the table"

RUInsanityToo · Monday at 5:48 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
I’ve been spending the whole thread saying we’re playing much better football now, than when we played UMass. Keep up. After we beat Indiana, no one is going to care about UMass.

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
You want dwell on the 3 of four losses, go right ahead. Those 3 losses shaped us, tested us, and made us a better team. We would not be where we are today for those three losses, with a great opportunity to beat Indiana.

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
During the times your speaking of, the team had no hope because it had no talent. With the #4 receiver and #8 rusher, there’s plenty of talent to generate the desired outcome. This is a good team that needs to play better.

Section124 · Monday at 6:10 AM

Message Board Genius will be out of material if you keep doing that.

kupuna133 · Monday at 6:33 AM

What Indiana is spending is just estimates. Right Al? It goes both ways. Cignetti and others from within Indiana have gone on record and stated their roster didn’t cost anywhere near estimations (you should know that with your 20+ years experience)for both 2024 and 2025. I’m sure they paid but that is not the reason they are able to dominate over the last couple years. It’s the system and coaching. Which is done with 1/3 the staff and more than 1/2 the cost of Rutgers.

JL23 · Monday at 6:33 AM

Quite a big difference indeed
No denying that

Al, have much have you personally donated to NIL?

kupuna133 · Monday at 6:41 AM

JL23 said:
Quite a big difference indeed
No denying that

Al, have much have you personally donated to NIL?

Been asked multiple times and met with nothing but….

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 7:05 AM

JL23 said:
Quite a big difference indeed
No denying that

Al, have much have you personally donated to NIL?

That’s personal, but it’s a significant amount to me.

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 7:12 AM

kupuna133 said:
What Indiana is spending is just estimates. Right Al? It goes both ways. Cignetti and others from within Indiana have gone on record and stated their roster didn’t cost anywhere near estimations (you should know that with your 20+ years experience)for both 2024 and 2025. I’m sure they paid but that is not the reason they are able to dominate over the last couple years. It’s the system and coaching. Which is done with 1/3 the staff and more than 1/2 the cost of Rutgers.

Cignetti just implied Indiana spends a lot more to be successful, and here you are BSing as usual. It’s a direct quote from him, and I even provided the video link. The Athletics estimate is just a shade under $40M, and based on their play, I’d say that’s probably right. The team that is most likely to beat them is Ohio State, which spent $50M.

JL23 · Monday at 7:13 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
That’s personal, but it’s a significant amount to me.

Don't come on here and scold adults on what to donate if you're not willing to pony up yourself

The program has been dogshit for 50 years
The University does nothing to keep students & alumni engaged

From the time kids step on campus until long after graduation, the school continues to alienate fans and donors
Add in bad football and we've had generations of apathy and fans putting their rooting interests elsewhere

You also have an arrogant coach telling fans and reporters alike to "shoot their shot" and "get it in now" after one of the more embarrassing losses in modern times

We've seen enough
Of Greg
Of You
And of the incompetence

Tate wants to win
Zinn wants to win
We, as a fanbase, want to win

The time for change, real change, is now

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 7:14 AM

JL23 said:
Don't come on here and scold adults on what to donate if you're not willing to pony up yourself

The program has been dogshit for 50 years
The University does nothing to keep students & alumni engaged

From the time kids step on campus until long after graduation, the school continues to alienate fans and donors
Add in bad football and we've had generations of apathy and fans putting their rooting interests elsewhere

You also have an arrogant coach telling fans and reporters alike to "shoot their shot" and "get it in now" after one of the more embarrassing losses in modern times

We've seen enough
Of Greg
Of You
And of the incompetence

Tate wants to win
Zinn wants to win
We, as a fanbase, want to win

The time for change, real change, is now

I ponied up my share so you can go fk yourself.
What did you pony up?

kupuna133 · Monday at 7:16 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
Cignetti just implied Indiana spends a lot more to be successful, and here you are BSing as usual. It’s a direct quote from him, and I even provided the video link. The Athletics estimate is just a shade under $40M, and based on their play, I’d say that’s probably right. The team that is most likely to beat them is Ohio State, which spent $50M.

Al we’ve discussed multiple times over the years. The only one continuously bullshiteing is you. Cignetti said his roster last year was closer to 15mm than it was to the reported 40mm. So the man that put the roster together and signed off on the details is wrong and you’re right. Got it.

Curt Cignetti Reveals Indiana’s Real Spending Figures After Dismissing $40M Championship Roster Claim

Curt Cignetti pulls back the curtain on Indiana’s title roster cost, challenging big-money narratives and what it takes to win big.

www.essentiallysports.com

And what cignetti is saying in that clip you posted is not what you think he’s saying.

JL23 · Monday at 7:19 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
I ponied up my share so you can go fk yourself.
What did you pony up?

I do a 4-figure donation for FB and donate for other sports who I believe are on the right trajectory
Not going to keep throwing bad money at a program who's got a lame duck coach well past his prime

The guy is shot - grateful for his contributions, but it's over
Smarten up

Nyagentman · Monday at 7:23 AM

If Rutgers spent 40 mm they still would barely break .500 . Indiana had a losing culture but it still had a better reputation than Rutgers in sports! Also Cignetti hire was a home run obviously but they got a coach from a winning lower tier program!

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 7:25 AM

JL23 said:
I do a 4-figure donation for FB and donate for other sports who I believe are on the right trajectory
Not going to keep throwing bad money at a program who's got a lame duck coach well past his prime

The guy is shot - grateful for his contributions, but it's over
Smarten up

I do 4 figures/year too.

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 7:45 AM

Nyagentman said:
If Rutgers spent 40 mm they still would barely break .500 . Indiana had a losing culture but it still had a better reputation than Rutgers in sports! Also Cignetti hire was a home run obviously but they got a coach from a winning lower tier program!

The need is 1000 good men ponying up $20K. Or 2,000 doing $10K.

That gives us $36M. $16M revshare + $20M NIL =$36M

bring in a GM to manage the budget and
if people pony up and Schiano still doesn’t get it done, then it’ll be that much easier to hire the next coach. We’re not getting a good coach without the appropriate NIL support. If we want to be serious, let’s be serious.

Jerseylegends · Monday at 8:00 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
The need is 1000 good men ponying up $20K. Or 2,000 doing $10K.

That gives us $36M. $16M revshare + $20M NIL =$36M

bring in a GM to manage the budget and
if people pony up and Schiano still doesn’t get it done, then it’ll be that much easier to hire the next coach. We’re not getting a good coach without the appropriate NIL support. If we want to be serious, let’s be serious.

The problem in your argument is that the current ad has been boosting Rutgers' nil program. Your boy schiano said multiple times that this year he finally had time to coach and that he's getting everything he wanted..plus you've been donating 2000 bucks a year for all 7 of the years. Look what he's done with your money?

ClassOf02v.2 · Monday at 8:10 AM

I just can’t take anyone seriously who doesn’t know how to move the indentation back to the margin after using bullet points.

SandystonScarlet · Monday at 8:14 AM

A big part of IU's success the previous two seasons was contributions from the JMU guys (Fisher, Ponds, Saratt, Black) and last year they got Mendoza, who was not in the top 25 of NIL $. Cig got the right players to make the team competitive in the first year, then used that success to help get additional $ and more players. Chesney is doing that now at UCLA as well as the coach at Oklahoma State so it is a repeatable formula. Greg has had years to figure this out and he hasn't. It's time.

seansherm · Monday at 8:19 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
The need is 1000 good men ponying up $20K. Or 2,000 doing $10K.

That gives us $36M. $16M revshare + $20M NIL =$36M

bring in a GM to manage the budget and
if people pony up and Schiano still doesn’t get it done, then it’ll be that much easier to hire the next coach. We’re not getting a good coach without the appropriate NIL support. If we want to be serious, let’s be serious.

Al, it's estimated that about 1.5% of RU's 617,000 alumni donate to RU athletics. That's 9255 people. You are hoping almost 10%-25% of the supporters of athletics will donate $20K per year? The same group that historically hasn't done so. That's your answer?

RUChet · Monday at 8:34 AM

This should end the debate once and for all

NW has relatively the same roster spend as RU and they lost to IU at IU by 6.

Iowa has less roster spend than RU and if we play them they would win by at least 20. Anybody doubt that?

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 8:37 AM

seansherm said:
Al, it's estimated that about 1.5% of RU's 617,000 alumni donate to RU athletics. That's 9255 people. You are hoping almost 10%-25% of the supporters of athletics will donate $20K per year? The same group that historically hasn't done so. That's your answer?

Yes, the richest 1K of the 9,255 can make it happen if they want.

-RUFAN4LIFE- · Monday at 8:38 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
The need is 1000 good men ponying up $20K. Or 2,000 doing $10K.

That gives us $36M. $16M revshare + $20M NIL =$36M

bring in a GM to manage the budget and
if people pony up and Schiano still doesn’t get it done, then it’ll be that much easier to hire the next coach. We’re not getting a good coach without the appropriate NIL support. If we want to be serious, let’s be serious.

Why do you continue to make these dumbass posts?

Regular fans can’t donate to NIL, only the revenue share now and you know this.

Companies did pony and Greg flub it badly this year. So badly that there are no more chances.

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 8:42 AM

RUChet said:
This should end the debate once and for all

NW has relatively the same roster spend as RU and they lost to IU at IU by 6.

Iowa has less roster spend than RU and if we play them they would win by at least 20. Anybody doubt that?

NW could be spending at least $5M more, which is not a small amount. They also spent $1B+ in facilities, so are you just going to ignore that?

kupuna133 · Monday at 8:43 AM

Jerseylegends said:
The problem in your argument is that the current ad has been boosting Rutgers' nil program. Your boy schiano said multiple times that this year he finally had time to coach and that he's getting everything he wanted..plus you've been donating 2000 bucks a year for all 7 of the years. Look what he's done with your money?

Once again he’s asking someone else to carry his water. Asking others to do 5-10x minimum what he’s willing to do.

ScarletJocko · Monday at 8:44 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
I do 4 figures/year too.

All this yapping about money from you and you dont even put up $10k???

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 8:46 AM

-RUFAN4LIFE- said:
Why do you continue to make these dumbass posts?

Regular fans can’t donate to NIL, only the revenue share now and you know this.

Companies did pony and Greg flub it badly this year. So badly that there are no more chances.

There are all kinds on this board, and plenty of well heeled people on these boards. I actually tailgate with some of them. You wouldn’t know that because no one likes you.

SandystonScarlet · Monday at 8:48 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
NW could be spending at least $5M more, which is not a small amount. They also spent $1B+ in facilities, so are you just going to ignore that?

They would've beaten Penn State on my high school field, which would've been ironic given NW was running the Wing T (just like an old HS rival Lenape Valley).

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 8:48 AM

ScarletJocko said:
All this yapping about money from you and you dont even put up $10k???

Why should I do what you wont do? Be serious!
We either do it together, or it doesn’t get done.

RUChet · Monday at 8:49 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
NW could be spending at least $5M more, which is not a small amount. They also spent $1B+ in facilities, so are you just going to ignore that?

We could be spending more than NW. you have no idea

Ryan Field didn’t help NW play amazing at IU

you are embarrassing yourself here

ScarletJocko · Monday at 8:51 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
Why should I do what you wont do? Be serious!
We either do it together, or it doesn’t get done.

If you came up with $900/month and led by example, others may follow. But you don't want to win, you just want to complain. Typical

Caliknight · Monday at 9:00 AM

JL23 said:
Quite a big difference indeed
No denying that

Al, have much have you personally donated to NIL?

Zero. He considers his ticket purchase a “donation”.

-RUFAN4LIFE- · Monday at 9:00 AM

rutgersal_rivals139582 said:
There are all kinds on this board, and plenty of well heeled people on these boards. I actually tailgate with some of them. You wouldn’t know that because no one likes you.

Zinn is cutting NIL deals worth millions for Rutgers. $20k isn’t moving the needle, you’re a bit out of touch with reality as usual.

@Caliknight - get a good laugh over this one.

vkj91 · Monday at 9:07 AM

NIL is great. Kids still want a coach that doesn't suck. ours sucks

LotusAggressor_rivals · Monday at 9:11 AM

As sure as the sun will rise in the East and set in the West.......

Before this game, YOU said that Rutgers was good enough to run the table the rest of the way because the new players were acclimated and everybody on the OL was playing in their correct positions.

Of course, after the inevitable and predictable Indiana blowout victory, we're back to fans needing to donate more. The biggest difference between RU and Indiana isn't NIL. It's coaching. There is yawning chasm between Cignetti and Schiano as coaches. Indiana has had 3 different starting QBs in the last 3 seasons. They're 32-2. They had no problem getting them ready for B1G play. Rourke was from the MAC. Mendoza was lightly recruited and REJECTED when he tried to walk on at Miami. Hoover was 9,000 yard QB that had a turnover problem. All of these players are better than they were before they got to Indiana. Meanwhile, RU turned Lonergan and Surace into INT machines. That's not a lack of money. That's bad coaching.

Caliknight · Monday at 9:19 AM

Cig would smash Schiano if they merely switched sidelines.

AreYouNUTS · Monday at 9:22 AM

idiot

Greg Schiano could have been handed Indiana’s roster last year and he would not have won the national championship. He may not have even made the playoffs. If he did, let’s be honest, he would find a way to lose in the fourth quarter at home in the first round.

THAT IS THE BOTTOM LONE.

Stop sucking off a man who is just not built to be a head coach in this era of college football.

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 9:30 AM

-RUFAN4LIFE- said:
Zinn is cutting NIL deals worth millions for Rutgers. $20k isn’t moving the needle, you’re a bit out of touch with reality as usual.

@Caliknight - get a good laugh over this one.

Of course, running your mouth as usual when you don’t even have $.20.

You have to work with what we have. We don’t have anyone to donate $20M, but we do have people who can give $20M collectively. There’s power in numbers.

BossNJ · Monday at 9:30 AM

The biggest difference between the two programs is talent evaluation, player development, and coaching.

We didn’t belong on the same field as them and that is 100% on our coach.

He’s done, give it up Al, at this point you’re just an annoying troll.

rutgersal_rivals139582 · Monday at 9:32 AM

RUChet said:
We could be spending more than NW. you have no idea

Ryan Field didn’t help NW play amazing at IU

you are embarrassing yourself here

There’s no way we’re spending more than NU. Do you realize how good a school NU is? It’s one step below Harvard and much more selective than RU. Their alumni are LOADED.

The Biggest Difference between Rutgers and Indiana is NIL

Heisman

Heisman

All-American

Heisman

All-American

Junior

All-American

Heisman

Heisman

Junior

Heisman

All-American

Junior

Sophomore

Heisman

Heisman

All-Conference

Heisman

Sophomore

Heisman

All-Conference

Heisman

Heisman

Heisman

All-American

Senior

Heisman

Sophomore

Heisman

All-Conference

Senior

Hall of Famer

Heisman

Heisman

All-American

Hall of Famer

Heisman

Heisman

All-American

Heisman