This week stock tracker updates. Not much movement in the standings, but Schiano continues to slowly narrow the gap between his current stock and those above him.
Bielema - moves back to the top spot on claiming a big win over Maryland. This doesn’t erase poor performance in some prior games but a manageable 3-4 record with his weaker BIG schedule suddenly puts him in better position to get to 6 wins. Combine that with what he did last year and he leads this pack for now.
Fritz - continues to win comfortably. Can he draw a brand name and knock them off in a bowl game? That’s the question. He’ll probably be a hot name for a bigger gig next year regardless. He should be careful with his choice bearing in mind the struggles of other mid-major stud coaches when they tried to up it to the next level.
Leipold - look, all I want here is for our resident fans who think this guy is the messiah of college football to accknowledge that perhaps the gap between where his program and ours currently sits may be overhyped some. He made a bowl last year - we didn’t. So yeah okay, I have the guy ahead. You like offense and yes, Kansas can put up points, but at least recognize that defense is also part of the game and perhaps it’s less prioritized in the B12 on average? Even just a little??? Kansas sits at 5-2 now. The same as us. They will fall out of the top 25, and probably didn’t belong there in the first place. A closer look at their resume suggests Illinois might be their best win. Time will tell. Perhaps Okie State is turning their season around, but regardless, losing to a team that took a 33-7 pounding from South Alabama on their home floor isn’t a great look.
Schiano - this was a statement comeback for the ages that really positions RU on the rise. Perhaps even more important, Schiano’s 30 second life lesson talk to the team following the game has gone viral and will be a useful tool to continue building our brand. Shame on those of you throwing out there that we just “got lucky”with an onside kick (Schiano called it a Sky recovery) following the defensive TD off the punt. Never mind all that went wrong for us the first 75% of the game - the more important point is RU probably didn’t even need that TD. Don’t lose sight of the game ending drive where MSU simply had no answer for Kyle. We bled 7:30 minutes of clock intentionally that drive methodically plowing into the red zone and then taking 25 yards worth of losses on kneels to burn down the clock. If we needed to punch the ball through that drive we most likely could’ve.
Hafley and Butch Jones - on bye weeks. They hold their spots from last week.
Houston - remains in the basement with another AAC loss. Following that loss, we still had at least one fan who seemed to believe their program was better positioned than ours looking ahead, despite having a down year. Most of us already knew better. Did yesterday’s win move the needle for the holdout(s)?
