Dumpster Fires of the Week: Rutgers
Phil Knight definitely didn’t pay for this. Rutgers gets the Dennis Franchione/Texas A&M treatment. Charlie Strong’s promotion is far from successful. The fall of Sparty continues.
Dumpster Fires of the Week: Week Six
1. Oregon's free fall
Did you know that Huskies are bird dogs? News to us, but the Washington Huskies feasted on Ducks Saturday – to the tune of 70 points.
If Mark Helfrich's seat was not warm before, it has to be smoldering right now. Lackluster offense, terrible defense, and an inability to recruit and develop a quarterback are a bad look for a former offensive genius.
Lots of questions about what Helfrich can accomplish without Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota.
2. Rutgers
Rutgers has never really been known as a football power, and the success of the Scarlet Knights' move to the Big Ten is certainly in doubt. However, on Saturday, they joined some rarefied air as a Power 5 that allowed 77 points or more. The last time I can recall a P5 team getting beat that badly was OU’s famous 77-0 wipeout of the Dennis Franchione-led Texas A&M Aggies.
Unlike that game, tough, there’s an upside for anyone willing to go to the Ann Arbor Ruth’s Chris, where patrons are being treated to 50 percent off their food. Thanks, New Jersey Knights.
3. Texas' ongoing slide
Charlie Strong has taken over control of the Longhorn defense, and like Gandalf at the Bridge
of Moria, Big 12 offenses shall not pass! Well, like Gandalf, the UT defense continues to fall down into a dark, bottomless abyss.
Unlike in past years when Strong was able to motivate his team to play its best game of the year in the Cotton Bowl versus OU, UT's defensive failures are apparently mounting with Strong’s personal involvement. The Longhorns gave up 45 points despite forcing four turnovers, and the Sooners had their first game ever with a 300 yard passer, a 200-yard rusher and a 200 yard receiver.
We’re talking historic levels of failure for Texas.
4. Michigan State’s losing streak
Sparty is very close to establishing some kind of new record, going from College Football Playoff participant to a losing record in the span of one year. This week, BYU came into East Lansing and walked out with a double-digit win.
Keep in mind, MSU hasn't played Michigan or Ohio State. Right now, you’d have to think both teams will pound the Spartans badly, giving the Spartans no margin for error the rest of the year.
5. Who will Brian Kelly blame this week?
Notre Dame’s terrible season reached perhaps its lowest point with a 10-3 loss to North Carolina State in the middle of a hurricane. The game-winning touchdown came courtesy of a blocked punt that was returned for a score.
The head leprechaun has blamed his now-fired defensive coordinator, his QB and now the rest of his team. So far, Kelly has not directed his ire towards himself.
The ugly way that he is throwing his young players under the bus can't be going unnoticed by recruits and their parents.
-Atlantasooner