Something to consider about Rutgers and USF

[Bullish]

Rutgers just 5 years ago were the worst time in division 1a football, the program has been around for a long time however they have sucked for most of their football history. USF has had a football team for only 10 years and have usually been middle of the pack ranked around 50'ish.

If everyone bullieves CJL has had it tough think of how tough Coach Schiano had it when he left UM for NJ and a program that might has well been a 1 st year program because that would have been easier. Schiano has been recruiting S. FL heavily (I bullieve the stat was 69 players from FL, although not sure) coupled with getting better recruits from the Northeast (ie. Rice and Leonard) leads me to suggest this team is not overrated and can hang with any team below the top 15, IMO. I think the posters who also suggested that Ray Rice was not that talented better think twice and look at the tape because every time he touched the ball he gained at least 5 yards and made 1 or 2 (sometimes more) players miss a tackle. Now he could be overrated but then we would have to admit that USF's D is overrated (could also be true) but I do not think that is the case at all.

Lets look at USF, lack of depth at RB (we will see how good Ponson will be when he is finished his suspension, I am still not convinced he is the answer), OLine play is poor at best and no help in sight, Kicking and Punting are laughable (has to be the worst in all of college football), DLine is getting torched each week. USF has not had an an easy win and losses hurt even more because the team is close to having enough talent to win but always find a way to lose when it matters most.

RU has passed USF as a quality team in the BE and now USF has to pass WVU, Lville, Pitt, and RU in 2007 to have a chance at the BE title. Lets see how the rest of 2006 shakes out to see how many other schools have passed USF in the BE to start 2007. I know CJL has many fans and some detracters but I admire the job that Coach Schiano has accomplished and bullieve he has achieved more in such a short time. I do not see anyone at RU ******** about how little their coaching staff gets paid, how tough it is to recruit FL players to play in Central Jersey, subpar athletic facilities and cold snowy winters.

[The_Reaper]

Shiano is a class act, no doubt. It's just the North Jersey Slutgers fans who are classless. By the way, did you see last night some Slutger players tried to dance on the U at midfield after the game? Shiano see this and runs right at them and is yelling at them to stop their actions. He was really chewing out 2 of his players. Good for him. Again, he shows a lot of class.    Reaper

[Bullish]

Certainly did, he acts with poise and confidence that will get him very far in College Coaching. He will be a media darling for years to come until he leaves RU. Maybe UM will be smart and bring back their long lost son, but I am thinking Butchie might be headed back to UM in 07, so Coach Schiano might be going someplace else in 07 but for sure by 08.

[windbane]

RU has passed USF as a quality team in the BE

That is an absurd comment.  They have done better this year, but beat us by 2 points on a failed 2-point conversion with a freshman QB and 2 key players out.  Passed USF?  We'll know more by the end of this year and the game next year.  That's a little premature imo.

They are just as 1 dimensional as we are.

[E.T.]

22 players from FL

And they beat us this year and may very well have a better season ... but I would say that overall - in the long run ... USF is it !

[USFPDiddy]

Rutgers just 5 years ago were the worst time in division 1a football, the program has been around for a long time however they have sucked for most of their football history. USF has had a football team for only 10 years and have usually been middle of the pack ranked around 50'ish.

If everyone bullieves CJL has had it tough think of how tough Coach Schiano had it when he left UM for NJ and a program that might has well been a 1 st year program because that would have been easier. Schiano has been recruiting S. FL heavily (I bullieve the stat was 69 players from FL, although not sure) coupled with getting better recruits from the Northeast (ie. Rice and Leonard) leads me to suggest this team is not overrated and can hang with any team below the top 15, IMO. I think the posters who also suggested that Ray Rice was not that talented better think twice and look at the tape because every time he touched the ball he gained at least 5 yards and made 1 or 2 (sometimes more) players miss a tackle. Now he could be overrated but then we would have to admit that USF's D is overrated (could also be true) but I do not think that is the case at all.

Lets look at USF, lack of depth at RB (we will see how good Ponson will be when he is finished his suspension, I am still not convinced he is the answer), OLine play is poor at best and no help in sight, Kicking and Punting are laughable (has to be the worst in all of college football), DLine is getting torched each week. USF has not had an an easy win and losses hurt even more because the team is close to having enough talent to win but always find a way to lose when it matters most.

RU has passed USF as a quality team in the BE and now USF has to pass WVU, Lville, Pitt, and RU in 2007 to have a chance at the BE title. Lets see how the rest of 2006 shakes out to see how many other schools have passed USF in the BE to start 2007. I know CJL has many fans and some detracters but I admire the job that Coach Schiano has accomplished and bullieve he has achieved more in such a short time. I do not see anyone at RU ******** about how little their coaching staff gets paid, how tough it is to recruit FL players to play in Central Jersey, subpar athletic facilities and cold snowy winters.

I can't think of very many teams that could lose BOTH of its top 2 RB's and still have "depth".  I'd say 90+ would have "no running game" similar to us if that happened.  Quick!  Name the 3rd string running back at UF!  How about USC?  You can't.  We just couldn't afford that and it's a major part of why we've lost.  It's not like its really anyone's fault heavily.  No running game can make even very good teams look subpar.

Even the pittsburgh steelers have had bad years/losing seasons, despite very good and long-term coach continuity.  Last year, they then won it all...despite not winning their division.  Why?  Injuries kept certain starters out in the regular season.

Miami is 1-2, FSU looks average, and mike belloti and the oregon ducks are back.  In the last 3 years, they had a season where they were barely a .500 team.  In 2001, they had a case for appearing in the NC game instead of Nebraska.  Things happen like that.

The overall direction of our program is positive right now...and there's not much the universtiy can do to improve the rate at the moment.

To illustrate, would we be having this discussion if Ray Rice were injured and we had ricky ponton or even plancher?  No.  USF would have won the game.  Sometimes that's how it goes.  Hats off to the coaching staff in this game, who called a much better game than they did in kansas.  Key turnovers and a missed FG burned us, but we at least look like a bowl team.

[Bullish]

Thanks for checking on the FL players maybe it was 69 during his coaching stint then.

I also know that it is not a topic that most on a USF board will agree with but after winning RU has passed USF by in 06. For the long haul, time will tell but Coach Schiano has proven to me that he has what it takes to win for a long time.

USF still has to prove to me that they can win consistantly - just look at how USF has played in 04, 05 and 06, wins have been ugly (except for a few) even against poor teams, loses have been uglier because of mistakes that are correctable (Seems like the fans and the coaching staff have been making the same excuse for the last 5 years).

[usfgrad84]

Although it's a bit early to talk about 2007, I do agree that Schiano has done a great job of building Rutgers.  They may have won the game last night and may be ranked right now, but I don't see where they are so far ahead of us.  they were certainly beatable last night and we still have 6 games left in the BE and we will have our running back and #1 DE back in two weeks.  So I'm not sure they have passed us at all.  Let's revisit that at the end of the year.

Looking ahead to 2007 when Rutgers has graduated 8 of their offensive starters including the best TE in the country and best Fullback (and leading receiver on the team) and we return just about everyone on both sides of the ball will you be thinking that USF will need to pass RU to be in that elite group?

Let's put things in perspective about USF.  We lost last night on a 53 yard field goal and a dropped 2 pt conversion to a team with 8 senior starters.  We were playing with a RS freshman QB in only his 5th game and first conference game.  We were missing our #1 and # 2 RBs.  We were missing a couple of starting O lineman.  The starting center went out in the middle of the game,  we are still missing our #1 DE and our starting DT (Clebert) was out.  On offense we started 5 Sophs and 1 RS Fresh and we still almost pulled off a win.  

My feeling is this team is coming together quickly and is  being built to be a BE powerhouse for years to come.  I think you are looking at something exciting developing here.  It will be very interesting and I think, fun, to see what happens when we can actually field something close to a healthy, complete team.

Yes, I agree, Schiano and the long suffering Rutgers fans deserve the accolades they are getting right now and being in the NY market, I think it's great for the BE, but don't underestimate what is developing here at USF because I think that would be shortsighted.

[windbane]

did UConn pass us by last year?  no.

[windbane]

Although it's a bit early to talk about 2007, I do agree that Schiano has done a great job of building Rutgers.  They may have won the game last night and may be ranked right now, but I don't see where they are so far ahead of us.  they were certainly beatable last night and we still have 6 games left in the BE and we will have our running back and #1 DE back in two weeks.  So I'm not sure they have passed us at all.  Let's revisit that at the end of the year.

Looking ahead to 2007 when Rutgers has graduated 8 of their offensive starters including the best TE in the country and best Fullback (and leading receiver on the team) and we return just about everyone on both sides of the ball will you be thinking that USF will need to pass RU to be in that elite group?

Let's put things in perspective about USF.  We lost last night on a 53 yard field goal and a dropped 2 pt conversion to a team with 8 senior starters.  We were playing with a RS freshman QB in only his 5th game and first conference game.  We were missing our #1 and # 2 RBs.  We were missing a couple of starting O lineman.  The starting center went out in the middle of the game,  we are still missing our #1 DE and our starting DT (Clebert) was out.  On offense we started 5 Sophs and 1 RS Fresh and we still almost pulled off a win.  

My feeling is this team is coming together quickly and is  being built to be a BE powerhouse for years to come.  I think you are looking at something exciting developing here.  It will be very interesting and I think, fun, to see what happens when we can actually field something close to a healthy, complete team.

Yes, I agree, Schiano and the long suffering Rutgers fans deserve the accolades they are getting right now and being in the NY market, I think it's great for the BE, but don't underestimate what is developing here at USF because I think that would be shortsighted.

well said.   put it all together nicely.