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Rutgers and Tennessee enter the penultimate week of the college football regular season both with 5-5 records, but there is a very different feel to the identical record held by each program.
Outside of some occasional out-of-conference games over the past couple of decades, there are few things outside of Jared Guarantano that connect the Rutgers and Tennessee football programs.
But the turn of events surrounding the hiring-not-hiring of Greg Schiano nearly four years ago by Tennessee has largely led to this uptick in Rutgers football’s development over the past two seasons.
The events don’t need to be rehashed by anyone who follows college football but the decision by the Tennessee athletic department to succumb to public pressure and not hire Schiano, then defensive coordinator at Ohio State, turned out to be a monumental decision for Rutgers. Schiano, who left Rutgers in 2012 to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, returned two years ago to Rutgers and has seen steady growth since.
ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum told ‘Rutgers Wire’ this week that he isn’t necessarily surprised by the growth of Rutgers or conversely, the struggles of his alma mater on the football field.
“I’m a big fan of Greg Schiano, I think he’s done a really good job of Greg Schiano in resurrecting a program that was comatose,” Finebaum told ‘Rutgers Wire.’
“I’ve become a bigger fan of Schiano today than before because of what happened at Tennessee…I’m an alum – I thought that was one of the great travesties in modern college football history. I’m not an expert on karma but karma has definitely had an effect on what happened there.”
In 2018 while at Ohio State, Schiano was named the 247Sports Recruiter of the Year in the Big Ten and was ranked second in the nation for recruiting.
When Finebaum talks, the college football world listens.
Finebaum, an immensely popular and influential personality on ESPN’s multiple platforms including the SEC Network and his own nationally syndicated radio show, provided further evidence of what he saw as a botched hiring process by Tennessee when Schiano was signed, sealed and delivered to take over the program.
(Does the outcome of Rutgers at Penn State affect recruiting?)
“They hired Jeremy Pruitt who went down in disgrace, the program is under NCAA investigation. How did that work out? You had an angry mob led by some people on social media who destroyed a man’s chance to get a job and without not one scintilla of evidence,” Finebaum said.
“It was totally preposterous. And Tennessee as well, they made the man an offer, they should have stood by it.”
Tennessee, after losing to Georgia last week, is looking to rebound with a home game on Saturday against South Alabama. Following a 38-3 win at Indiana on Saturday, Rutgers plays a very good Penn State team on the road. Penn State, following a tough 21-17 loss to Michigan over the weekend, is out of the top 25 but still receiving votes in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.