2007 should’ve told us everything … All 11 on D played Professional Football

Completely different- in 07 - we lost a ton of players from 06. The offense was able to survive the loss of guys like Brian L. because of Rice and Britt, Underwood and Brown were just coming into their own. There was a little bit of a learning curve on the OL with the loss of Stapleton and Stephenson but having experienced bookends like Zuttah and Sosa helped there. The real issue was the Defense- we lost a lot of top players from 06 and then had key injuries to starters. We just never had depth back in those days for something like that.

That is completely different then this mess.

RU was overrated going into the 2007 season. RU was preseason #16 and expectations were not realistic based on where we were as a program. Did not have the quality depth to just reload. As usual, the pollsters weighted the prior season too heavily. The two best defensive teams RU has had were 2006 and 2012. They both were loaded with 4th and 5th year players who had started multiple years. The 2007 team had a lot of younger, less experienced players on defense. Because of a light early season schedule , the team wasn’t really tested to about game 5 when a major conference Maryland team visited. They had a big offensive line and some big talented RBs. They ran the ball down our throats and won fairly easily.

They weren’t NFL players in 2007. We replaced most of our defense with young players, the offense was good and talented. The defense was young and inexperienced, hence 8-5. I’m not making excuses for GS whose time has run out, I’m trying to explain why the team wasn’t better in 2007.

RUnotentertained said:

19 NFL players isn’t enough ??

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In 2007 - the only players that had a real impact in the NFL that left in 2007 were Rice and Zuttah. All the other you mention were still very young.

Greg leads the country in people making excuses for him

2010 is where the wheels came off the Schiano wagon.

The OL was awful and Savage was a mess with concussions and arm injuries. There was a QB debate over Dodd vs Savage. Savage looked lost between his ears and Dodd won BE Offensive Player of the Week. Tom's parents weren't happy and piped-up in media.

Then EL got hurt and and season went to hell. GS was in hospital every night. Some players (like Lefeged) were tentative about still playing football, RU won the Army game but that was it - lost every game for rest of season. RU set a D1 record for sacks allowed (64 I believe). I thought Greg was really exhausted by the 2010 season (which began with RU student jumping off GW bridge and college was a mess). Losing Savage was huge because he was RUs best QB recruit in years and elected to All-American Freshman Team by the Football Writers Association of America.

Greg looks a bit distant in 2011. He had another QB controversy with Dodd and Nova. Nova would often make INTs when pressing. By USF game crowd was booing Nova (because Greg kept him in when everyone knew he was lost) and Dodd had to come in and win the game with circus play to Sanu. Then GS was talking to Bill Belichick a lot.

I wasn't surprised when GS left and I saw GS liked idea of not having to worry about "kids" and playing Father Gregory. When GS left I stopped watching most games. I knew Flood would scuff and Ash seemed out of place. For me the GS Train ended in 2010 and 2011 was just a wind down.

RUnotentertained said:

EDIT …..Look at these names
There has to be 100’s of plays this season where EVERY ONE on the field on defense played professional Football and maybe all 11 played in the NFL

Tons of NFL talent
Several guys played in NFL Preseason
Few others played in CFL

8-5 beat no one in or above our weight class
beat a fake #2 USF that finished season 3-4

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/rutgers/2007-roster.html

Mccourty twins jr and soph
Greene JR
Lefeged FR
Westermann JR
Foster SR
Renkart SR
George Johnson SO
Malast JR
D’imperio SO
Girault SR
Munoz JR

freeney
Noonan
Silvestro 3 freshmen

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Not 1 guy now is on that 2 deep

RUnotentertained said:

19 NFL players isn’t enough ??

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19 of them didn’t play in the NFL. Some were preseason cuts

RUnotentertained said:

Count again !!!! That’s what the NFL logo means next to their name

didn’t count
Teel Seahawks
Corcoran team ?
Noonan eagles

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I stand corrected

just goes to show how’d far we’ve fallen on talent and that 2007 underachieved

bac2therac said:

Greg leads the country in people making excuses for him

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It’s a cult.

It became obvious Greg couldn't coach when we were in the old watered down BE days. Mulcahy pumped virtually every dollar the department had in to football. Greg had more resources than our peers and still couldn't get it done.

Louisville, south Florida, Cincinnati after Miami, va tech left for the acc...if Miami, va tech stay in the Big East there is no magical season. This man never did anything coaching wise..Rutgers should be beating those teams if Rutgers is serious about football.

Even after Miami and Va Tech left the Big East, the conference was not a bad league. No one would confuse it with the SEC, but it was all right.

The thing about it, though, was that it had so few members that everyone played five nonconference games every year, which distorts Schiano's overall record. In the league, he was not good. I get he had to be given grace for the time it took to build the team up from when he took over, and it's undeniable that he made it a respectable situation. In that aspect, he did an incredible job. And that 2006 team was loaded. The Louisville game should have been program-defining. It seemed like it was, actually. But beginning the next week, Schiano was just 17-21 in Big East games before he bolted to Tampa Bay. To me, that is the most damning number. Rutgers should've been happy to see him off, happy to be out from under its obligation to him. The fact that Flood bungled his own opportunity and then Rutgers followed that up with the most disastrous hire possible doesn't burnish Schiano's stature. It's just an indictment of leadership. And then they hire him again. Unreal. And then to pay him what they did even though they were competing against exactly no one at all for his services. Unbelievable.