Rutgers Football: Excuses Won't Fly in 2011

Last season, didn't you get tired of hearing Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano insist that Rutgers was a young team?  The Star Ledger's Steve Politi did.  He wrote, "Sometimes I think Rod Stewart wrote 'Forever Young' just for him."

It's a good thing Politi is a sports writer and not a rock critic.  Stewart made the song a hit, but Bob Dylan wrote it. However, Politi made his point.

In 2010 Rutgers wasn't as young as Schiano would like you to think.  They returned six senior starters on defense and two Freshman All-Americans on both sides of the ball, including the quarterback.  Can you name one other team in the country that returned four Freshman All-Americans?  I didn't think you could.

Now no one knows what effect the Eric LeGrand injury had on last year's team, but honestly Rutgers was a huge disappointment before it happened.

Rutgers never got out of the gate in the opener and only put up six points in the first half against FCS Norfolk State.

In the second game, Rutgers struggled to a 19-14 win over FIU while entering the game as a huge favorite.  Against an unmanned North Carolina team, Rutgers lost 17-13 at home, and the next week it lost at home to Tulane as a three-touchdown favorite.

Rutgers played its only good game of the year when it beat UConn, but in the game where LeGrand suffered his injury, the Scarlet Knights squeaked out a 23-20 win over Army.

What was the excuse in 2007?  Coming off an 11-2 season in 2006, Rutgers was ranked No. 12 in the 2007 preseason polls. 

Twelve members of the 2007 team are currently on NFL rosters, and nine others have played in the NFL at one time or have signed free agent contracts.  Three players on the 2007 team (Ray Rice, Kenny Britt and Devin McCourty) are NFL stars.

This team finished 3-4 in the Big East that year and needed a win over Ball State in the International Bowl to finish a dismal 8-5.

What was the excuse in 2008 when Rutgers had the whole summer to prepare for Fresno State and got soundly beat 24-7 at home in the opener?

What was the excuse for losing five of their first six games in 2008, ruining what could have been a great season because they won their last seven games?

And what was the excuse in 2009 when Rutgers had all summer to prepare for the Cincinnati spread offense, an offense they saw the previous year, and lost 47-15 in the opener at home?

Schiano has run out of excuses.  Rutgers has given him everything he's asked for.  The university expanded his stadium, built an outdoor bubble and an indoor track.

Rutgers has has paid him well.  He is one of the highest paid coaches in college football and the highest paid public employee in the state of New Jersey.

Rutgers took a chance on Schiano when it made him the youngest head coach in major college football upon his hire in 2001.  The Scarlet Knights were patient with him when he had a 12-34 record after his first four years, and they stuck by him while his record against other teams from BCS conferences, since the "miracle" year of 2006, has become 14-19.  His Big East record during this time is 12-16.

The fans are tired of the excuses and of the schedule being padded with some of the weakest non-conference teams in the country.  They're not impressed with the minor bowl games Rutgers has prided itself on from 2005-2009.

Don't get me wrong, Schiano has resurrected a program that became the laughing stock of college football under prior Rutgers coach Terry Shea, and everyone should be greatful for the real leadership he's shown in handling the tragic accident that befell Eric LeGrand.   

The college football world also knows what an outstanding recruiter Schiano is and he's developed his players.  He's sent a huge number of them to the NFL. 

These accomplishments not to go unnoticed, but Greg Schiano has not won a Big East Championship.  It's been ten years.  Do we give him 15? 20?

It looks like Rutgers is going to have a truly outstanding recruiting class in 2011, maybe its best ever.  It looks like Schiano made a great move when he recently hired former Pitt coach Frank Cignetti and made him his offensive coordinator.

Cignetti is bringing with him a number of 4-star recruits that have de-committed from Pitt because of the coaching changes at that school.

Four-star recruits are certainly going to help, but if this coach can't prepare his team better than he's done for the last couple of years, it's not going to make a big difference in the win column.

If he can't make better decisions than he did against USF this past season when Rutgers took a safety on a screen pass out of its own end zone, once again it's not going to make a big difference in the win column (Rutgers lost USF 28-27).