The group think on this board is a very interesting subject.
For many issues there develops a conventional wisdom that becomes SyracuseFan.com law.
I think the perception of Rutgers on this board falls into that category.
There is Rutgers Myopia that is quite remarkable.
Most on this board seem to want to view Rutgers as if time stood still during the Graber/Shea years.
What most fail to recognize is that even during those years heavy investments were being made in the Rutgers Program. And those investments were more much bigger than the investments that were being made in the Syracuse Program.
I was there for the SU game in 1987 when Rutgers Stadium was pretty much a glorified high school stadium.That changed during the Graber years. The stadium was renovated and was pretty impressive. I recall thinking that it looked like a mini-Giants Stadium. And the investments in practice facilities educational support and recruiting continued during those years.
Remember - Greg Schiano arrived in Piscataway twelve years ago.When he arrived the investments became bigger and bigger.
So, right now the investment in the Rutgers program has been going on for nearly 20 years.
The investment in our program has been going on for about eight years.
It should not be surprising then that Rutgers is ahead of us.
Now, I do not purport to be an x and o guy - I don't know football strategy beyond the basics that most fans know. But, I was an athlete my whole life and I feel I have a decent ability to assess athletic ability.
I was at the game last week in NJ. I was lucky enough to sit a few rows off the field. I saw both teams up close.
I can assure you, the Rutgers team is far more physical and more athletic than our team. They are taller, stronger, and faster. From my vantage point - despite our strong effort - both of our lines were out-muscled during the game. Our WRs were blanketed by the the Rutgers LBs and DBs. The Rutgers defense hit hard - much harder than our defense hit. That's why we turned the ball over and Rutgers didn't. Nova was simply not exposed to the pressure that Nassib was forced to face through the entire game.
On the offensive side, the Rutgers WR, Colemen - the 6' 6" 220 pounds - is a physical freak - a dominant player - whom we could not cover. We were frankly lucky that Nova missed him by inches a few times. And he is not the only one of those kinds of players on the Rutgers roster. They have a bunch of them. The Rutgers TE - 6' 5 and 250 pounds played like a WR last week - he has speed, strength and agility.
I suspect that if you review the two teams carefully you will learn that Rutgers has more four star players than we do - that Rutgers has more highly rated players out of HS than we do - and that Rutgers has recruited more of those kinds of players than we have for many years now.
Don't get me wrong. Take away the mistakes - many caused by the pressure applied by Rutgers - and we obviously have a chance to win the game.
And don't get me wrong, we are investing and are getting better and better and have a better product to sell - the great Syracuse University Football Tradition.
But the presumption that many have on this board seem to have and have had for awhile now - that we have as much talent as Rutgers - is the essence of a social network myopia.