It's fortunate that after such a draining game, the team had a week and a half to prepare for North Carolina. They returned to the practice field yesterday.
Fred Hill has made some new hires.
Adam Helfgott has a bone to pick with Greg Schiano and John McNulty's coaching. I think he raises a very good point about the pre-scripted drives, which is something I've picked up on as well. I don't agree with his overall assessment of McNulty (nor with his pessimism about the rest of the season), but there are a lot of people that do. Rutgers fans had the same criticisms of the last offensive coordinator, Craig Ver Steeg. At what point is an offensive coordinator subject to the demands of his head coach?
Keith Sargeant (edit: I mistakenly said it was Paul Franklin earlier) responded to Helfgott:
For all those ripping McNulty based on the offense scoring just one touchdown in the loss, ask yourselves 3 questions:
1) How many offenses in NCAA history have had a 3,000-yard passer, a 2,000-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season? Answer = 1, Rutgers in ‘07.
2) In the grand scheme, doesn’t the offensive coordinator deserve some of the credit for that?
3) Why would Alabama coach Nick Saban interview and, according to several reports out of Tuscaloosa, offer McNulty the Tide’s offensive coordinator position last January if he didn’t possess play-calling acumen?
I'm still in the pro-McNulty camp. As for points 1 and 2, that's true, he deserves some credit. As a writer for The Home News Tribune, Keith Sargeant has more access to the Rutgers football program than the fans in the stands, but a personal familiarity with players and coaches does have the potential to create bias (and I'm not passing judgment as to whether it did, just commenting on the potential). Is McNulty the primary architect of RU's recent offensive success? It would be very difficult to precisely single out the most important factors. You have to ask yourself counterfactuals (call the Rutgers philosophy department) like "where would the team be if it it had someone else calling plays?"
Likewise, citing Nick Saban's interest in McNulty has some merit. All that ultimately means though is that, for better or worse, Saban thought that McNulty was the best realistic hire he could make during the last offseason. Maybe he would have brought in Vince Lombardi's ghost if he could.
Josh Spielman of the Daily Targum calls for the NCAA to change its rules regarding pass interference.
RU's budget crunch has resulted in (once again) record enrollment, as every additional tuition bill adds up.