I think what we have learned is that bringing a program like Temple or Baylor to the top of their leagues is not as challenging as bringing Nebraska to the top of the 18-team Big Ten. And those successes were pre-NIL/pay-for-play/transfer portal.
My wife also is not all that sold on Rhule. I see progress, even over last year, and we should all have known that the 2nd half of the season would be harder than the first half. This team is IMHO about a half-dozen players, mostly linemen, away from being fully competitive against the top 4-5 teams in the conference.
Assuming Penn State blows Rutgers away tomorrow, I feel sorry for the team that is their bowl opponent.
Looking to 2026, the non-conference schedule is a slight upgrade from this year and the conference schedule just shuffles the deck a bit every year, any way you deal it there will be multiple ranked teams on it.
I’m not convinced the 5-3-3 works without its architect, and it was iffy even under him. I’d expect some changes in the defensive plan for 2026. As to the offence, we’ll see what the transfer portal does to the roster.