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Michchamp
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Well... time for the come-down after a wild weekend last week...
Michigan plays Rutgers, Saturday, November 5, 2022
Kickoff is 7:30 PM Eastern (a night game for some dumb reason)
And this will be on BTN, so I can't watch
Line: UM -25.5; o/u 45.5
Sagarin Predictor: UM by 25
About our Opponent
(I have no idea what's going on here)
First question on everybody's mind: Why is The State University of New Jersey called Rutgers?
It's a very unappealing name in the English language, a "rut" having three different meanings, none of them particularly positive or upbeat.
Rutgers was founded in 1766, making it the eigth-oldest college in our crappy country. (link) It was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church and originally named "Queen's College," which is a generally more prestigious-sounding name than "Rutgers," but fell out of fashion when we decided we didn't want to be ruled by royalty.
Henry Rutgers was descended from a landowning Dutch family in New York. He fought in the Revolutionary War, and later donated $5,000 (real money in those days) from his fortune to fund the school, as it had closed due to financial problems.
This part is good:
Rutgers is lousy this year, 4-4 overall (1-3 in conference), but not all bad: Schiano is a somewhat-competent coach, and so they have a decent defense, considering how lousy they are on offense. But that may be a function of how few good teams they've played so far... their SOS is not much different than ours. Their only Big Ten win is against Indiana, and they even lost at home to Nebraska. They played crappy OOC opponents, and barely beat two of them.
On Defense, Rutgers ranks 19th against the Run, and 23rd in Pass Efficiency Defense.
On offense, they maybe have some semblence of a run game (66th), but their passing is awful (126th !!! in Passing Efficiency Offense)
Overall, though they're a sloppy team: 80th in Turnover Margin (only -2, but they've turned it over a lot), and 120th in # of penalties/game.
And get this! You know how we're worried about our red zone offense? Rutgers is DEAD LAST in the FBS in Red Zone defense, ranking 130th out of 130. Tied with ND, LOL. They've only allowed 18 trips to the Red Zone, but opponents have score 15 TDs and kicked only 3 FGs there.
Michigan is 7-1 all time against Rutgers, and you-know-who was responsible for that single loss:
We've since won seven (7) straight.
We should win this one easily, but their defense might play well & put up some fight, and if we make some mistakes, it could be an uglier win than we'd like. Hopefully we don't have a let down after our emotional win last weekend.
So go ahead and make your picks, post some analysis if you so choose, but leave the woofing and the barking for other threads!
Michigan plays Rutgers, Saturday, November 5, 2022
Kickoff is 7:30 PM Eastern (a night game for some dumb reason)
And this will be on BTN, so I can't watch
Line: UM -25.5; o/u 45.5
Sagarin Predictor: UM by 25
About our Opponent
(I have no idea what's going on here)
First question on everybody's mind: Why is The State University of New Jersey called Rutgers?
It's a very unappealing name in the English language, a "rut" having three different meanings, none of them particularly positive or upbeat.
Rutgers was founded in 1766, making it the eigth-oldest college in our crappy country. (link) It was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church and originally named "Queen's College," which is a generally more prestigious-sounding name than "Rutgers," but fell out of fashion when we decided we didn't want to be ruled by royalty.
Henry Rutgers was descended from a landowning Dutch family in New York. He fought in the Revolutionary War, and later donated $5,000 (real money in those days) from his fortune to fund the school, as it had closed due to financial problems.
This part is good:
In gratitude, and hoping the college would be remembered in the Colonel's will, the trustees renamed it Rutgers College on December 5, 1825. (Colonel Rutgers left nothing to the college upon his death.)
ah well, nevertheless they kept the name. But Old Henry wasn't the best guy:
Rutgers supported the American Colonization Society, arguing against abolitionists that free people of color should be removed from the United States rather than allowed to grow as a population. He was himself a slaveowner, like many of his relatives.
HEY STICK TO SPORTS, ASSHOLE... WHO CARES? WHAT ABOUT THE FOOT BALL TEAM?
Rutgers is lousy this year, 4-4 overall (1-3 in conference), but not all bad: Schiano is a somewhat-competent coach, and so they have a decent defense, considering how lousy they are on offense. But that may be a function of how few good teams they've played so far... their SOS is not much different than ours. Their only Big Ten win is against Indiana, and they even lost at home to Nebraska. They played crappy OOC opponents, and barely beat two of them.
On Defense, Rutgers ranks 19th against the Run, and 23rd in Pass Efficiency Defense.
On offense, they maybe have some semblence of a run game (66th), but their passing is awful (126th !!! in Passing Efficiency Offense)
Overall, though they're a sloppy team: 80th in Turnover Margin (only -2, but they've turned it over a lot), and 120th in # of penalties/game.
And get this! You know how we're worried about our red zone offense? Rutgers is DEAD LAST in the FBS in Red Zone defense, ranking 130th out of 130. Tied with ND, LOL. They've only allowed 18 trips to the Red Zone, but opponents have score 15 TDs and kicked only 3 FGs there.
Michigan is 7-1 all time against Rutgers, and you-know-who was responsible for that single loss:
We've since won seven (7) straight.
We should win this one easily, but their defense might play well & put up some fight, and if we make some mistakes, it could be an uglier win than we'd like. Hopefully we don't have a let down after our emotional win last weekend.
So go ahead and make your picks, post some analysis if you so choose, but leave the woofing and the barking for other threads!
