There is no way to “sugar coat” it: Rutgers not only beat the Spartans, but the Spartans were coconspirators, enablers if you will!
Let’s frame the Rutgers narrative: Rutgers has a 1st Year Head Coach; they lost 21 consecutive Big Ten games; they won just 3 games in the past two years; and last year they scored a total of 51 points in 9 Big Ten games (or 5.6 PPG) and yet yesterday, the Spartans yielded 7 Turnovers, and 38 Points and the Spartans suffered their first opening home loss in the past 21 seasons.
Is this what we waited for?
Rutgers last victory came on Oct 26, 2019 when they beat Liberty (yes Liberty) 44-34. Thereafter, Rutgers lost consecutive Big Ten games to Illinois (10-38), Ohio State (21-56), Michigan State (0-27); & Penn State (6-27) and if you are keeping score at home, that’s a cumulative losing score of 37-148 in 4 Big Ten games, and yet the Spartans yielded 38 points to Rutgers in a single game?
Where are the fundamentals?
The Spartans committed 6 Fumbles (lost 5); committed 6 penalties for 72 Yards; and pitched 2 Interceptions, for a grand total of 7 Turnovers!
The most important job of coaching is ensuring that fundamentals are in place. Fundamentals are where football starts: blocking, tackling, ball security and so on. And if fundamentals are in place, then, and only then does a team have a chance to win, but given the fact the Spartans committed 7 deadly Turnovers, it is abundantly obvious that fundamentals have not been properly coached.
Let’s just say, 7 Turnovers can best be described as enabling the opponent to win!
The Spartans legitimize Greg Schiano as Rutgers new Head Football Coach.
Rutgers looked purposeful.
Think about that? Given the fact Rutgers lost 21 consecutive Big Ten games, and given they only won 2 nonconference games last season, putting the words “Rutgers” and “purposeful” in the same sentence would have been an oxymoron last year, yet this season, Greg Schiano took Rutgers on the road and beat Michigan State in the Spartans home stadium
Greg Schiano demonstrated how a program can be transformed under the guidance of a competent head coach, a coach with championship credentials. On the other hand, I’ll let you make your own judgement regarding the Spartans new Coaching staff, but from my perspective as a stakeholder, other than Mike Tressel and Ron Burton, the new coaching staff left me wondering…where in the world is this headed?
Let’s call out Jay Johnson, Chris Kapilovic and William Peagler:
And when I say, let’s call out Jay Johnson, Chris Kapilovic and William Peagler…I don’t mean for an award.
I have written about each of the preceding coaches on multiple occasions, and perhaps a few Spartan partisans thought I was nitpicking, but if you are so inclined you can check out the following articles that date back to last April:
Can Jay Johnson deliver a “High Octane” Offense?
Can the Spartans new coaching staff fix a feeble Rushing Offense?
Spartan Football and the moment of truth
Can Jay Johnson resurrect the Spartans Offense?
Can Chris Kapilovic reestablish a Championship run game at Michigan State?
The information I put forth in the preceding articles, underscores that numbers don’t lie, and there is nothing in the credentials of the preceding coaches that alerts me they will suddenly “catch lightning in a bottle” and build a Championship, ground pounding Rushing Offense. History is the best predictor of the future, and in the preceding articles, I politely pointed out a lack of championship credentials, and let’s make this clear, coaches don’t come to the Big Ten for on the job training.
Let’s remember, Jay Johnson is Offensive Coordinator, Chris Kapilovic is Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator, while William Peagler is Running Back Coach, and yesterday, in their debut, they collectively proved they are not ready for Big Ten Prime Time. Exhibit A: last year, Rutgers Defense yielded an average of 200 Yards Rushing per game, but yesterday, the Spartans Rushing Offense posted a miserable 60 Yards Rushing, on 38 attempts for an humiliating average of just 1.6 Yards per attempt.
Rutgers defense took control of the Line of Scrimmage!
The opponent yesterday wasn’t Alabama, or Clemson, or Ohio State, rather it was Rutgers who held the Spartans to just 60 Rushing Yards. If someone could point out a glimmer of hope in the Running Game then please drop me a note.
And while Rutgers has improved dramatically under the guidance of Schiano’s staff, nevertheless, Rutgers will probably only win 2 more games: perhaps Illinois which lost to Wisconsin (7-45) and perhaps Maryland which lost to Northwestern (3-43), but that’s about it. And yet Rutgers, a team that is clearly in the rebuilding mode, a team that will arguably win 3 games max in 2020, humiliated the Spartans at Spartan Stadium.
The gauntlet going forward:
Things only get more difficult from here on out.
For the next two weeks, the Spartans play on the road at Michigan, and on the road at Iowa before they host Indiana, and let’s be mindful that Indiana beat Penn State 36-35 yesterday in OT. The Spartans may have a chance to beat Maryland, but if they don’t, the unthinkable will happen, and you can fill in the blanks regarding number of victories (or the lack thereof).
At the bottom line:
As a stakeholder, I would like to write a joyful message of how the new coaching staff is transforming the Spartans: how the future looks bright and Big Ten Championships are on the horizon.
But, if yesterday is a precursor to the future, then the road only gets more difficult. The Spartans have some nice pieces on Offense and Defense, and the Spartans certainly have more talent than Rutgers, but the Spartans coaching didn’t put players in the best position to win, and there were so many things that went wrong with the Rushing Offense, it’s hard to identify where to start as they try to “fix” the problems.
Yet, Spartan coaches are getting paid amongst the Top 15 coaching staffs in the country, so they need to step up their game and prove they deserve to be paid amongst the best.
Next up is Michigan, and Harbaugh won’t hesitate at running up the score if the Spartan coaching staff don’t fix the problems!
Thanks you for reading.
