How do you assess this?

[usfgrad84]

I kind of expected a flat performance. It was an emotional win last week.  It was a physical game and our defense was on the field for more than 80 plays last week. I think it took a lot out the defense. 

I also think it was hard for the team to get up for the game after what they did to Illinois last year. Just human nature.  

I think this is a great experience and opportunity for the team to grow..  so many penalties. That"s very coachable.

[Hueyhog20]

Let’s just hope at the end of the year we can look back at this game and say it was our worst one. We seem to play sloppy against Illinois, for whatever reason.

[Roaming Bull]

I think this team needs to find itself. We have talent, I think they play most of the game at the level of our competition. Then snap into form at the end, the last couple of weeks at least. We need to find our level and play at that level all game, every game

[USFBulls727]

1 hour ago, puc86 said:

A .500 big ten team is an upper tier aac team, plus we are scrappy. 

Except Buttgers

[puc86]

6 minutes ago, USFBulls727 said:

Except Buttgers

Rutgers is mid level?

[Rocky Style]

Here's my take.  This was an emotional letdown game from GT.  The defense was a pleasant surprise and are the heroes of the day.  Barnett was missing a lot of passes and running at the wrong times, but pulled it together late.  I think surviving a scare like this on the road is a good learning experience. 

We need to figure out the kicking situation or we will lose to a good team.  I am hoping the defense will keep improving with experience and this will become a balanced team with big play weapons.

Just now, puc86 said:

Rutgers is mid level?

I think they are the lowest possible level in football now.  Back to classic Rutgers.

[USFBulls727]

1 hour ago, brybull1970 said:

The bottom line is I’d rather be 3-0 than 2-1, but this game had all kinds of issues - most of the. If the self-inflicted variety. It makes me think that we may have 3-4 losses ahead of us instead of just 1-2.

Could be. There's no guarantee that we improve. If what we've seen is what it's going to be, then yes...3 or 4 losses looks likely. Illinois had several starters out, a Freshman QB who looked like a freshman QB, and they're not supposed to be that great to begin with, and we still barely won. But this team is winning games while still trying to get on the same page, on both offense and defense. The D has shown flashes of being pretty good. The offense has been mostly awesome with a QB who hasn't worked with the first-team much. This can only get better.

[MikeG]

"Momma said there'd be days like this"

It was a bizarre game. I think we take out of it the positives-- the fighting all the way through. The rising up to meet the challenge. We also get a ton of video of things we need to work on and perhaps a humbling tone not to take anything for granted. And we learned more about (and possibly used last weeks lesson) handling adversity and facing pressures.

Ultimately, we survived the game and got that all important win. We could have played better and racked up more points-- certainly. We could have done a better job controlling this game.  Beating ourselves up over what we did badly might not be healthy. Let's take the experience and grow. Address areas that need attention. And keep our focus on the game in front of us no matter how favorable it might appear.

I am proud the team never stopped fighting. I am happy they won. I was frustrated when they made mistakes but few games will present such a difficult set of problems the team has to work through.

Perhaps another phrase fits this game--

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[Bulls On Parade]

6 minutes ago, USFBulls727 said:

Illinois had several starters out, a Freshman QB who looked like a freshman QB, and they're not supposed to be that great to begin with, and we still barely won. 

If we played a clean game then I would be worried.  We had over 600 yards pf offense...should have scored 40+

[Roaming Bull]

18 minutes ago, puc86 said:

Rutgers is mid level?

FCS