Rutgers 24 TU 12

[JerseyWave]

It going to take at least two more recruiting classes to become competitive against quality opponents.

First of all, there are no moral victories from this game, you'll find them on the YOGWF board.

Rutgers is probably the best defense we'll face this year. We missed Darkwa a lot more then we missed Mackey. I don't think we missed Mackey at all.

Offense: The first drive showed some promise, but penalties and a dropped pass killed it. Sure Griffin was under pressure as expected, but even when he wasn't he made bad throws. The pick six was all on him, it had nothing to do with the protection. I was hoping to see Powell late in the game, he might have made some plays with his legs. The running game was just pathetic. Strozier and Grant played really well.

Defense: I was very pleased with the Defensive line. Mackey would not have changed the outcome. Zach Davis did just fine. The first long scoring play was deja vu from last years Houston game. Nobody home in the secondary and Shak Smith completely juked. Batiste had a nice open field tackle. Overall, I feel much better about the defense.

Special teams: Starting the game with the kick off out of bounds...I thought we had enough of this garbage from the kicking game. At least Santos reached the endzone on his other kick offs. It seems even when we scored, special teams reared its ugly head. We kick a field goal with less than a minute in the half then they get a huge kick off return to set up a field goal of their own as time expires. We finally score a TD and then have the extra point blocked!!!

Coaching: Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting

Attendance: Who cares, we have to win some games first

[Jaxwave]

From a size standpoint it was men against boys. I was afraid for our small DBs out there. Good effort, not enough talent. OL is very slow footed without agility. Griffin won't last all year if they don't step it up. Good news is that this Rutgers D might be the best we face all year. I actually was impressed with the playcalling even after it became apparent that the OL was struggling. I too feel it will take until year 3 for this coaching team to be able to have their players in place before we see much success. Was disappointed we didn't go onsides kick with 5 minutes to play down 2 scores. Have to send message to team that you play to WIN until final whistle.

[Robert1969]

I mostly agree with you, Jerseywave. The CBS Sports announcers said that Griffin wanted to duplicate Drew Brees' footwork. He needs to duplicate Drew Brees' tendency to pump fake, get corners to bite, and then hit the receiver with a big gainer. I'm surprised that Mike Neu hasn't worked with him on this. This tendency Griffin has to stare down his receivers is just awful, and a glaring weakness that needs to be fixed pronto.

Mostly, I agree with your assessment of the defense. The defense only allowed seventeen points (although the stat sheet says 24). Rutgers had a few breakaway plays, but we knew the ground game was their strength coming in.

Yes, we missed Darkwa, but the O-line MUST do a better job in run blocking. I don't think Darkwa could've done a much better job. I said it in the season prediction thread: I don't care how good your back is, if you have three defenders in the backfield the moment you get the ball there's not much any running back is going to do.

Griffin is definitely to blame for a lot of the passing game woes, but there were also some crucial drops in what could've been big plays, Marfisi's early drop, Shakelford had one as well (I think on the next play), and there were a couple other drops. Any one of those catches could've changed the dimensions of this game.

Look, we knew that Rutgers strengths were running the ball and defense. They were a 9-4 team with a bowl win last year. Tulane was 2-11. Rutgers did what they did well. We most certainly need to play better, but given the disparity in the two teams' recent performances this wasn't a bad start the Curtis Johnson era. No, it's not a moral victory. But given everyone is learning a new system, there definitely seemed to be real improvements, with the exception of Griffin's QB play.

[TU23]

Our O-Line is awful. Toledo really did a terrible job of evaluating that position group. We had no room to run and got pushed around in general. I wanted to believe that Griffin would be better, but he still makes the same mistakes. I can't wait for his tenure to end. We played ok on defense. Still not enough size. We had 2 second team LBs on the field for that long TD run. That was a little puzzling to me. Special teams is still bad but I don't think they will get much better until we have more size/speed. I hope we can do a little better next week, but I think we are looking at 0-4 unless things get noticeably better week to week.

[wavedat]

Very disappointing. Talking the talk is one thing walking the walk is another. We talked about motion and mismatches. We did it once early and the play worked great except for a chop block. The offensive line is every bit as bad as expected. Jones is a good kid and his father post so no one will say it but he has beat like a drum for four years. It's time for some one else at RT. We have to pass, pass, pass and pass some more to set up the run.

As for defense as soon as they learn it's tackle not touch they should be OK.

ST's were not special.

The only time we were good was 3rd and long.

Let's get it together.

[HSV]

Maybe I was expecting a more lopsided defeat, but I think the defense should be credited with a few things that were improvements. They seemed to be more aggressive and not flat footed. The talk of running a less complex defense that allows players to react rather than think and react I think was evident. There were some strong tackles for little or no gain. The team didn't get gashed by a big east offense --no 100 yard rusher or dominant passing attack. I mean the defense gave up only 17 points. Not too bad.

Offense. Very few bright spots but here are a few. I like the play calling when it was evident the run was not going to work. Receivers better than recent past.

I understand that RG was under pressure due to poor o-line play, but his eyes on receivers is not to be expected from a senior qb. The oline issues will most certainly see Powell on the field at some point. Either as a change of pace or due to RG getting hit too much.

Way too many penalties. Youth?

Not a moral victory but I think this team is better coached....I think there will be improvement in play as the season goes on but I stick with a three win prediction. This team I hope will learn, grow, and develop confidence for if CCJ can continue the momentum of his recruiting and keep his staff together, this program could become competitive in CUSA two years from now. Talent talent talent from a great recruiting staff is the answer but there are a few crumbs here to say this is an immediate improvement.

[Robert1969]

I mean the defense gave up only 17 points.

I only blame the defense for 14. The other three should be pinned on special teams. And while there were defensive lapses, a defensive performance like this should be good enough to win games -- but you know, there are two other units to consider: offense and special teams. The offense has to put up points and not give them away.

[tpstulane]

I mostly agree with you, Jerseywave. The CBS Sports announcers said that Griffin wanted to duplicate Drew Brees' footwork. He needs to duplicate Drew Brees' tendency to pump fake, get corners to bite, and then hit the receiver with a big gainer. I'm surprised that Mike Neu hasn't worked with him on this. This tendency Griffin has to stare down his receivers is just awful, and a glaring weakness that needs to be fixed pronto.

Mostly, I agree with your assessment of the defense. The defense only allowed seventeen points (although the stat sheet says 24). Rutgers had a few breakaway plays, but we knew the ground game was their strength coming in.

Yes, we missed Darkwa, but the O-line MUST do a better job in run blocking. I don't think Darkwa could've done a much better job. I said it in the season prediction thread: I don't care how good your back is, if you have three defenders in the backfield the moment you get the ball there's not much any running back is going to do.

Griffin is definitely to blame for a lot of the passing game woes, but there were also some crucial drops in what could've been big plays, Marfisi's early drop, Shakelford had one as well (I think on the next play), and there were a couple other drops. Any one of those catches could've changed the dimensions of this game.

Look, we knew that Rutgers strengths were running the ball and defense. They were a 9-4 team with a bowl win last year. Tulane was 2-11. Rutgers did what they did well. We most certainly need to play better, but given the disparity in the two teams' recent performances this wasn't a bad start the Curtis Johnson era. No, it's not a moral victory. But given everyone is learning a new system, there definitely seemed to be real improvements, with the exception of Griffin's QB play.

+1 (highlited above) As has been said. I didn't have us winning this one but I thought had we not had so many penalties we could have been there at the end.

[wavedat]

Have to add that Tulane students really suck as fans. You don't cheer when we are on offense and at the line of scrimmage. You don't chant USA. You chant TU. You don't leave at half time. Of course they won't be there the rest of thew season so it doesn't matter.

[DrBox]

Size, schmize.
TCU won a rose bowl with an undersized defense.
We went 12-0 with an undersized OL.

We have one unit this year that ISN'T undersized: and it's the weakest unit on the field: OL.

We're going with speed over size, which is the right call. Guys who are 6-1 that can run like Monroe go to Alabama, USC and LSU.
We also lack size at WR and we don't really have the speed there to offset it.

That our OL is weak is no surprise - we struggled there for years and probably 75% of our OL were 1AA recruits on paper.
Gotta clean up the mistakes and keep improving.
C-USA looks horrendous this year, so wins are attainable. We may start out 0-4; we may start out 0-6, but we shouldn't. And even if we do, there are Memphis, Rice, UAB, ECU and Houston waiting for us (I'm replacing UTEP with HOuston, in honor of UTEP's outstanding effort this evening).

[AugWave]

My observations: (If I missed something, it's because I'm "dizzy")...

CLIFF NOTES: That damn pick-6 killed it.. *facepalm*

O-line needs work (already knew that though). But, they did get a tad better as the game went on. Need to continue to develop so our RB's can get some space and QB can have time.
Defense surprised me. We were flying around. TACKLE THOUGH!!
Shak is the weakest link in the defensive backfield. Our corners will be beasts once they get some good experience. Today was good experience going up against Rutgers' big receivers.
That freshman punter is legit.
Special teams still needs help, but you gotta get better players to execute.
Didn't miss Mackey that much.
Orleans Darkwa is not the reason we couldn't run. I wish people would stop acting like he's the second coming of Matt Forte. It's getting kind of aggravating.
Ryan Griffin still makes those bonehead interceptions. He would've had two pick-6's had the db caught the first one.
Wideouts need to dig in some sand because the dropped balls hurt me.
Glad I'm an alum now because that student section is putrid. You make noise on offense, get quiet on defense and leave with an even game going? The f*** was that?!


Now, lets also understand that Rutgers WAS the better team. We didn't beat Rutgers the last game, they made a lot of mistakes. Rutgers made no mistakes this go around, well at least any crucial mistakes. I see a lot of people acting like we were just horrible out there. We lost 24-12 to a better team. Could have beat them had. THE TEAM DIDN'T QUIT LIKE LITTLE GIRLS OF THE PAST! With recruiting we'll get better and better. I still feel pretty positive about this season though. Let's see what happens next game.

Tomorrow, I shall watch my Purple Knights restore order against "Dirty 5"...

Roll Wave.

[Houma de Wave]

Have to add that Tulane students really suck as fans. You don't cheer when we are on offense and at the line of scrimmage. You don't chant USA. You chant TU. You don't leave at half time. Of course they won't be there the rest of thew season so it doesn't matter.

++++++1>. I think that all of us could have predicted that they would depart at the half. And, they are clueless about the game of football and how to act.

The Game: we hung with a 20-point favorite. We must show significant improvement from Week 1 to Week 2; hence, next week's effort vs. Tulsa could give us a hint of how this season may end up.

[RWR]

T-P:

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/20 ... -12_i.html

[DrBox]

THE TEAM DIDN'T QUIT LIKE LITTLE GIRLS OF THE PAST!

That's the truth.

[Dupergreenie]

I'm ready to see what Tulane does next week. If Tulane can keep the penalties down next week who knows what can happen. O-line is what it is and we knew that. RG..... maybe it was the beer but sometimes it seemed as if he played well and then he went back to his old ways. Curious to see this team against C-USA teams.

[wave runner]

-O-line is awful needs a ton of work. Also if the Center can't snap the ball, he cant be a center.
-Griffin had good and bad plays, he gets in trouble when he feels a little pressure and check/zones in on one wideout. Which if the O=line makes serious improvement could help with that.
- Darkwa would not have changed anything tonight if he played. There was no where to run end of story which goes back to O-line.
-Mackey would not have change much either, but I do think he was missed more than Darkwa. Mackey is a tackling machine and our linebackers did miss tackles tonight. Davis played well though in his absence.
- Offensive scheme... I like it, did remind me of the saints.
-Students are pitiful why even go if you leave at halftime.
- Still think we are looking at 5 -6 wins

Overall I like the scheme on both sides of the ball, our freshman DB's are good. O-line MUST improve!

[wave to em]

-O-line is awful needs a ton of work. Also if the Center can't snap the ball, he cant be a center.
-Griffin had good and bad plays, he gets in trouble when he feels a little pressure and check/zones in on one wideout. Which if the O=line makes serious improvement could help with that.
- Darkwa would not have changed anything tonight if he played. There was no where to run end of story which goes back to O-line.
-Mackey would not have change much either, but I do think he was missed more than Darkwa. Mackey is a tackling machine and our linebackers did miss tackles tonight. Davis played well though in his absence.
- Offensive scheme... I like it, did remind me of the saints.
-Students are pitiful why even go if you leave at halftime.
- Still think we are looking at 5 -6 wins

Overall I like the scheme on both sides of the ball, our freshman DB's are good. O-line MUST improve!

Big +1.

[Wave QB]

Good play calling most of the night by CJ and his staff. The defense made mistakes, but they played very well. The offense has to find away to score points if they want to win. If the offense could have least scored one TD in the first half, the score would have been 10-10 at the start of the 4th. I really thought Griffin was going to look better and do more tonight. But he is the same old heavy footed kid who puts up passing numbers with no touchdowns to show for it. Griffin just doesn't get the job done. It just kills me when he only looks for one WR everytime he goes back to pass. I really wanted CJ to put Powell in the game after the 3rd. If you aren't going to redshirt him, then throw him in the game if your main guy isn't getting the offense in the endzone.

My question to CJ is this: Why in the hell didn't we go for 2 after we scored that last TD? We could have made it a 10 point game. Also, why didn't we kick an onside kick after the last TD? Rutgers proved that their running game was tough, so we should have tried to recover the kick. We had nothing to lose with less than 5 minutes in the game.


My hat goes off to the true freshmen who played tonight. We have some kids who really want to playand win games for Tulane. I really can't wait to see how many games we can win this season because their were many teams who didn't look anywhere on Rutgers level tonight on our schedule. I really feel that we are going to win some games this season.

[glennc]

Let's tell it like it is . Our Offensive line would have trouble blocking their grandma. This bunch is pathetic. They are so stiff we could put cardboard cutouts on the field and be better off.

[DrBox]

My question to CJ is this: Why in the hell didn't we go for 2 after we scored that last TD? We could have made it a 10 point game. Also, why didn't we kick an onside kick after the last TD?

WE didn't go for 2 for the same reasons that coaches rarely go for two when they score 6 to pull within 9. They kick the point for 8 and save the 2 for when they have a chance to tie it. The next TD, we would have gone for 2. Really doesn't make a difference either way.

I would have onsides kicked it too. But again, we held, had time to score then kick and onside kick and score again to win the game.

A note on special teams: punting game much improved.

[NOLABigSteve]

WE didn't go for 2 for the same reasons that coaches rarely go for two when they score 6 to pull within 9. They kick the point for 8 and save the 2 for when they have a chance to tie it. The next TD, we would have gone for 2. Really doesn't make a difference either way.

But if you go for 2 twice, then make a field goal, you win the game vs. playing to tie it.

[NOLABigSteve]

Either way, there was no sense of urgency from the team tonight until it was just about too late.

Our O-Line is horrendous. They couldn't block for our runners and the QB. We won't win if we cant score points.

[Bigschtick]

Biggest disappointment for me was to hear that the some students split at halftime. What is wrong
with these kids? Do they even care that we have a team? Plays right into Cowen's plan.

[JerseyWave]

Final score 24-12. Margin of defeat was 12 points.

1. The long kickoff return with under a minute in the first half set up Rutgers field goal as time expired. It should have been 7-3 instead of 10-3 at the half = 3 points

2. Griffin's pick six, totally inexcusable for a fifth year senior with his experience = 7 points

3. After we finally score, the extra point is blocked. What if we converted a two point conversion instead = 2 points

3+7+2=12 points.....Ballgame

[AugWave]

WaveProf just gave the students props for their showing at the game last night...