Three-Point Stance: Rutgers, Miami-FSU aftermath, Texas

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with today’s look at Rutgers' big recruiting weekend, the implications of the FSU-Miami battle and how everyone is making excuses for Texas coach Charlie Strong.

PREVIOUS THREE-POINT STANCE: Brian Kelly's blame game

Ok, I’m not going to pile on poor Rutgers.

It’s all been said this week by pretty much everyone with some even saying Rutgers is now the worst FBS football program in the country. Obviously I wouldn’t go that far at all (it beat New Mexico at least), but let’s just say the back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Michigan have been rough. But I digress. What I really don’t understand is why so many recruits were at the 78-0 loss to Michigan.

I know in most cases you don’t turn away recruits who want to visit your campus, but certainly you can discourage them from attending in some way when you know you’re going to get blown out of your own stadium, right? And when the opposing coach is a guy who wants to make a statement in New Jersey and continue stealing your recruits, you have to get creative and keep some of them away. There was little doubt Jim Harbaugh was going to pulverize Rutgers, especially after Ohio State did the same thing the week before. And there was little doubt he was going to use this game as a showcase to any and all New Jersey prospects who he might consider offering (not many at all in 2017, but for 2018, 2019 and beyond).

So when I heard there would be more than 200 recruits on hand, I was a bit taken aback. Of course the 200 on hand weren’t all blue-chippers and many likely won’t even get an offer from Rutgers much less Michigan, but the experience for the in-state kids must have been awkward to say the least. Losing 78-0 is bad enough, especially following a drubbing against the Buckeyes, but to do so in front of so many recruits might set recruiting back.

You have to feel for coach Chris Ash so far, though as Rutgers has played three of the nation’s top five teams just six games into his tenure. It can only get better from here, right?

Miami looks like a different team than the one under Al Golden. The defense looks fast and aggressive, and there is more young talent than I’ve seen in a long time on that side of the ball. The offense needs more playmakers, but Mark Richt will address that with good recruiting and perhaps next year this will be a team to reckon with nationally, even if the Canes are breaking in a new quarterback when Brad Kaaya leaves for the NFL. I know what I saw against Florida State impressed me. But the Seminoles impressed as well.

Deondre Francois showed toughness, Dalvin Cook showed he wasn’t going to be denied another win in his old stomping grounds and DeMarcus Walker showed he’s just a special player who makes big plays no matter what the situation. No, this wasn’t Miami-FSU of the 1990s and early 2000s like the clips showed a hundred times leading up to the game, but it was a thriller nonetheless. There have been some close games (2011, 2014 and 2015) since Miami’s last win in 2009, but something about this game felt different.

Miami lost in a very (recent) Miami way with the blocked extra point, but this game and the way the Canes are playing this year will help close the gap in recruiting, a gap that has been widening every year since Jimbo Fisher took over in Tallahassee. FSU won the game, but Miami took a step forward in recruiting nonetheless.

The big money donors and fat cat alumni are to blame for all the problems at Texas. The president(s) and athletic director(s) have to be the reason Texas can’t win. The powers-that-be have never supported Charlie Strong or given him what’s needed to be successful in Austin.

These three statements, being thrown around by everyone from major talking heads to parrots on the radio, regarding the failures of Texas football are missing one thing – Strong hasn’t been a good coach since he arrived at Texas.

Now I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of the politics surrounding Texas football. I don’t know the power brokers, I don’t have sources on the board and I am far from an expert on everything Longhorns from the inside out. But I do know one thing – football. And I know bad football when I see it. And what Texas has played under Strong has been bad football.

So after yet another loss last weekend, an expected one to Oklahoma, where nothing changed at all despite Strong taking over the defensive duties, the excuses seem to be short of reality. Let’s make this clear -- Strong is a very good football coach and smarter than me. I was impressed with his abilities as a defensive line coach at Notre Dame when I first started covering football and football recruiting. I was impressed with the job he did at South Carolina and at Florida as the defensive coordinator and of course impressed with what he did as a head coach at Louisville.

But the job he’s done at Texas has been poor. He’s made poor decisions with assistant coaching hires, with game plans and during games. While some coaches are thriving with young talent, Strong is still struggling despite recruiting some top players to Austin. Strong has recruited pretty well, he’s developed players marginally and he’s coached poorly. And guess what? None of that has to do with boosters or bosses.

Yes, he was left with less talent than you’d expect at Texas, but was the talent bad enough to lose to BYU, Cal (twice), Iowa State and Texas Tech, not to mention some Big 12 teams that Texas used to regularly beat like a drum (TCU, Baylor, West Virginia)? Was the talent bad enough to go 9-11 in Big 12 play so far in his tenure? Was the talent bad enough to have the worst record through 29 games in Texas history since 1940 when someone named D.X. Bible was the head coach?

What people seem to be missing is that there are many different programs where things are difficult when it comes to dealing with boosters/alumni/president/athletic director situations. Lately there has been this narrative that Strong hasn’t been given the proper chance to win at Texas and I would buy into that if only things were getting better. But they’re not.

Mack Brown was a great coach at Texas until he wasn’t, and then he had to go. Strong hasn’t been great at anything yet and, like it or not, he’s on his way out the door. Texas will find a better fit.