If Butgers cannot put together some representation of a real football product on the field soon, they need to be replaced in the B1G. I always thought it was great to have fellow eastern schools in the conference, but Butgers is pathetic and embarrassing on a regular basis. Conversely Maryland has been ok in football and of course has the basketball tradition. We need to look south for a replacement. Even Temple would be an upgrade.
Rutgers needs to go....
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Maryland has looked good this season except for last weekend's inexplicable loss to Temple. They play hard and have some very good athletes. It will continue to be an uphill battle for them in the East, but assuming the program doesn't implode entirely in the wake of the McNair findings, they will not be a conference bottom feeder for long IMO.
As for Rutgers, a post on their forum says it all: "Buffalo was paid $900,000 to kick our ass.". At some point, they need reevaluate football and determine if it is worth continuing. Can you imagine the money they must be hemorrhaging every year just to prop up football and all of the other sports?? They don't get a full share of the BIG revenue pie (thank God), and the money has to be coming from somewhere. They are beyond pathetic.
As for Rutgers, a post on their forum says it all: "Buffalo was paid $900,000 to kick our ass.". At some point, they need reevaluate football and determine if it is worth continuing. Can you imagine the money they must be hemorrhaging every year just to prop up football and all of the other sports?? They don't get a full share of the BIG revenue pie (thank God), and the money has to be coming from somewhere. They are beyond pathetic.
If this is a serious comment, then you don’t understand the financial impact of having a football program at this level. It’s the equivalent of PSU fans that somehow think dropping men’s basketball would be a good move.
Maybe you could explain "the financial impact of having a football program at this level."
Rutgres is serving exactly the role they were intended to fill....
Easy win for the conference big boys
Put NYC TV market in the conference footprint for BTN
Recruiting opportunities in NJ for Big Ten big boys.
No one cares how bad Rutgres is. They're exactly what the BIG wanted them to be.
Easy win for the conference big boys
Put NYC TV market in the conference footprint for BTN
Recruiting opportunities in NJ for Big Ten big boys.
No one cares how bad Rutgres is. They're exactly what the BIG wanted them to be.
Which is why as an alum and season ticket holder I wish RU never made the move in the first place. Listen, it's great for the non-revenue sports. Wrestling (while not Penn State level good but who is?) is thriving, women's soccer, LAX, field hockey...those programs have all benefited in the B1G. I'd also love for RU to try and put together the resources for a varsity hockey team. I watch you guys play and it seems like a lot of fun. Basketball doesn't matter...we could go back to the "new Big East" with Villanova and build a strong program, although I guess B1G hoops will be cool once we are back to the level we really should be at. But the B1G is, always has been and always will be about football and RU just doesn't belong.
For that to happen Delany and the presidents of the member schools who invited Rutgers in would be making public admission of a major error. From those folks? Never happenin'.
If you believe this to be true, you really should take the time to read this series of Bloomberg articles from last year.
Baloney BK.
Rutgers is never going to be UM, OSU or PSU in football, but there is no reason you can't be a Northwestern type program with your resources.
Be competitive with the 2nd tier Big teams. Occasionally knock off one of the big boys when the stars align. Stop getting your doors blown off by the likes of Kansas and Buffalo.
Quit crying about partial BTN share. You're making more than you were pre Big Ten.
Pony up and hire a decent coach and start caring about your football program.
Yep. More than half of the schools playing "power 5 football" don't belong playing power 5 football. In the B1G, it makes sense for Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and MAYBE Iowa since they have no pro football market nearby. That's it.
I agree 100% with you dude. I've always said "just be competitive". No one is expecting us to be PSU, OSU or UM (well maybe some are but those people are usually a##holes). I said it when Schiano was hired and I said it when we went into the B1G. I agree we can and should be a Northwestern type program. Not even saying as good as the Cats have been of late. Just be competitive and pull off one "shocker" (not to be confused with sexual innuendo) each season. The problem is what I put in bold. The university and the politicians in the state don't have the stomach to spend more than the bare minimum on a legitimate football coaching staff. They will certainly take the B1G's money though. I feared this was going to happen when we got the invite and sadly I'm being proven right.
I'm personally not one who cries about the partial revenue share by the way. It's going to be spread out for nonrevenue sports anyway and not earmarked for football so it doesn't matter.
Ouch. I get it. If you're going to take big boy money, but not spend big boy money, you're going to get crushed.
Oh well. Hang your hat on improving Olympic sports.
On an accounting basis, most schools allocate conference revenue sharing to football and basketball only. On a cash basis, the non-revenue sports are beneficiaries of it. In Rutgers' case, which is rare, the football and basketball programs will also be beneficiaries on a cash basis. Pretty good reason to terminate the retirement-in-place arrangement with Barchi.
I would add Wisconsin to that list. Over the next 25 years, I believe we will see a monumental shift with many programs dropping down a level and others dropping the sport entirely. Everybody here loves college football, but the fact of the matter is the sport is dying a slow death - at least how we know it today. The gap between the haves and the have-nots will continue to grow and it's only a matter of time before more schools in the latter category begin crying Uncle.
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Football is a southern game. The northeast and Midwest teams can’t compete at the level of the top SEC teams. Out west Texas, OU and USC are the only programs that can compete on that top level.
The reason is that many of the best athletes in the Northeast and Midwest play hockey. In addition parents and the system push kids to focus on one sport year round. Football involves too much hitting at too young of an age. There is no year round development of football skills. When you have national TV ads featuring an ND mom encouraging other moms to let their kids play football, you know you are in trouble!
The reason is that many of the best athletes in the Northeast and Midwest play hockey. In addition parents and the system push kids to focus on one sport year round. Football involves too much hitting at too young of an age. There is no year round development of football skills. When you have national TV ads featuring an ND mom encouraging other moms to let their kids play football, you know you are in trouble!
BTW Rutgers was never this bad. They need to hire a very good coach to turn their program around. A good coach and a good QB and things can change in 2-3 years.
There were times in the past when Rutgers was this bad. They had long losing streaks and were pretty much a joke on a national level.
It really comes down to the power of TV money to B1G football. Nothing else.
Rutgers was intended to deliver the NY market, and Maryland was intended to deliver the Baltimore-Washington DC market. That's it in a nutshell.
Follow the money....
Rutgers was intended to deliver the NY market, and Maryland was intended to deliver the Baltimore-Washington DC market. That's it in a nutshell.
Follow the money....
Buffalo would be an upgrade, plus a benefit to the footprint.
Exactly. Not everyone in the Big ten East can be a monster. Rutgers was pure market and brand extension into NY/NJ
There are multiple issues that handicap Rutgers. For starters, they have a fanbase that's divided, literally polar opposite. The older alumni & fans treat the football program like parents treated children during the gilded age, "the football team should be seen but not heard". In other words, too much success is not welcome as it would draw too much attention and resources. Now the younger fanbase naturally want a more competitive football program and would love nothing more than to compete. By the way, Boogieknight was always a realistic poster who understood early on that that the B10 invite was nothing more than a money grab for our former governor Chris Christie and of course Rutgers University. Something that's lost in the conversation is that in order to make Rutgers a more attractive teaching institution to Jim Delaney and the Big Ten Chris Christie dismantled NJ's medical school (UMDNJ) and handed Rutgers the most lucrative components, a move that caused 4000 NJ residents to lose their jobs. Go to a municipal, county or state building and ask what they think of Rutgers football and you will find most answers to be rather cold and sobering. The product you're seeing on the field today is karma my friends. Chris Christie is now on the political unemployment line and the football program may not win a game this year.
They had 11 losing seasons in a row from 1995-2004 and that was before Christie. They had a history of being bad other than a brief blip on the radar when they were in the crappy Big East. Rutgers is just not a good football program.
More of the horseshit that academics play a big role in the selection of Big Ten expansion candidates. Notre Dame and Nebraska prove otherwise.
Christie could have cared less what the impact of ceding large parts of UMDNJ to Rutgers had on the Big Ten's view of the school. He was not the first governor who attempted to dismantle UMDNJ. Both McGreevey and Corzine tried. If Fat Christie was trying to appeal to anyone, it was George Norcross, not Jim Delany. Finally there were good reasons to blow UMDNJ to the wind: it was corrupt and inefficient.
While still very popular here in the South, football is not as strong as it was even a decade ago. It is slowly dying here as well. There are many more high school boys no longer going out for the football team. A lot of gravitation towards baseball and even basketball. Heck, here are even lacrosse teams popping up here in Alabama.
It just seems to be slower here than in the rest of the country. Part of that (at least in my area) is the dominance of Alabama, which keeps popularity up with kids wanting to be like their "heroes." The high school associations in this state have tried very hard to show positives of making the game safer. And, being a primarily rural state with lower economic standing, some kids play in hopes of the proverbial "way out."
But make no mistake, parents are holding kids out of youth programs and encouraging other interests. I live in a county with four strong high school teams (at their level). Three have won state championships and played for several others. All have won multiple area championships in recent history. All have seen a significant drop in number of kids coming out for teams- even though the county is football crazy. Conversely, baseball has seen a big uptick.
We were this bad when I was a student in the late 90's ('97-'00). I knew we'd have a rough time in the B1G, but I figured it would be like it was in 2014 and 2015 where we'd at least be competitive most weeks our first 2 years in. I never thought it would come full circle back to this.
I too hate the academic horseshit when trying to justify this stuff. It's an athletic conference. You don't see MIT, Rennselaer and Stevens Institute forming a conference for physics. Yes, academically and from a research standpoint, Rutgers shares a lot in common with Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc. But this is about money and sports. Nothing else.
Rutgers will always be at the bottom of the conference. The BTN needs to add 2 more teams to further improve their TV footprint. U Conn would love to join.
UConn blows chunks. And I dunno what it is with you guys and the "BTN" and its ""footprint." For an addition to be non-dilutive it has to bring in more than $51mm p.a., which is over 40% of the current value of the BTN media rights deal.
They might be better in bringing TV viewers, especially for basketball. And it expands the NY viewership into New England where other than BC, there is no competition. It’s also more realistic than Syracuse. BTW, I didn’t say I was for it, only that UConn would be for it.
I wonder if this could have been accomplished with Syracuse. Although a private school, they are very good in basketball and have a decent tradition, at least, in football. Not sure where they are in the other sports, though.
There really is no excuse for Rutgers to be this pathetic throughout its history and particularly now. There is a lot of good high school football talent in New Jersey and now those kids have a chance to play major college football in their home state. Yet they still leave for PSU and the rest of the conference. Great for us and I really hope it continues, but it shows how dysfunctional the State University of New Jersey - Butgers really is. I think we have quickly learned to despise their fans as they are among the most vile in the conference. I say drop them and pick up literally just about anybody else on the eastern seaboard.
