Unbelievable:The Indianapolis colts former head coach Chris Ash has offofficially announced his return to the team.
Rutgers remained competitive for long parts of the Boston College game on Saturday, but they made far too many mistakes to have any chance of taking the lead in the second half. They had two weeks off to prepare, yet they still had a -2 turnover margin and 11 penalties for 100 yards. Three punts were made from hostile area. It wasn’t even close, even though quarterback Artur Sitkowski threw for nearly 300 yards and looked impressive at times, against a Kansas club that was humiliated the previous weekend. All Rutgers supporters could anticipate after more than three seasons under Chris Ash was more of the same.
In actuality, Rutgers hasn’t changed all that much from the previous season, and there is no longer any reason to hope for a big improvement. They needed this game to advance the program and demonstrate that genuine progress is being made. A change is warranted. The Ash Era should come to a formal end now.
It is hard to think that anything will change for the remainder of the season after losing to Boston College, an ACC team that is, at most, in the middle of the pack, 30–16. It’s just more of the same for Rutgers—their seventeenth straight loss to a power five team.
In the 40 games that Chris Ash has managed Rutgers over the last three or more seasons, keep the following information in mind:
8–31 record;.205 percentage of wins
Thirteen losses in a row to Big Ten opponents and fifteen straight losses to power five opponents
Ninety plus points separates those losses.
During the 15-game P5 losing run, the average score was 34-10.
Nine times in 39 games, the offense has scored 20 points or more, which is the fewest in FBS since 2016. Illinois, which has exceeded that point total 12 more times than Rutgers, is the second-worst Big Ten team.
More times than all the other Big Ten teams combined, the offense has been shut out seven times.
The passing attack has passed eight times for fewer than fifty yards.
11 times, the defense has let up more than 40 points.
In 12 of the games Rutgers has played under Ash, they have lost by 30 points or more. That is 31% of the total.
Even though they’ve only played three games so far this season, the writing is clearly visible in vivid fluorescent hues. This team is far from making a big step forward this autumn. In actuality, this club is arguably worse than it was last season and hasn’t progressed at all. I have had enough, and the Chris Ash period needs to end. We are living in a time of joyless football, and there is no end to sight with him in charge.
The longer Chris Ash leads the Rutgers football team, the longer the program will suffer long-term harm. Indeed, he took over a program in disarray due to the off-field indiscretions of the previous head coach, Kyle Flood. Yes, there wasn’t enough quality or depth on the roster to compete in the Big Ten at a high level. Yes, there was a need to change the culture and the facilities were behind schedule. I have stated on several occasions in the past that Ash should have been given five years to turn the program around. But there are a number of reasons why it’s time to end that timeline and let Ash go.
