Sitting at 4-4 and given their remaining schedule, Rutgers football faces an uphill climb if they are going to be bowl-eligible this season. At one point this season, all four of Rutgers’ remaining opponents were either ranked or receiving votes.
Such is life in the Big Ten’s Eastern Division, one of the toughest divisions in college football.
On Saturday night, Rutgers (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) will host Michigan (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten). In this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, the first of the season, Michigan checked in fifth overall.
The tough schedule, coupled with their struggles on offense (see Saturday’s 31-0 loss at Minnesota) leaves Dave Wannstedt and Joshua Perry thinking bowl eligibility is a bridge too far this season for Rutgers and head coach Greg Schiano.
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Wannstedt, a former head coach in the NFL and in college, points to last week’s loss to underscore the difficulty Rutgers faces in coming up with two more wins for bowl eligibility.
“It’s gonna be tough. I mean, last week I was disappointed that the one thing that I thought they could do is stop the run, right?” Wannstedt said. “And they couldn’t do it against Minnesota. It’s gonna be a challenge. Greg got his work cut out.”
Wannstedt and Perry were on the Big Ten Network this week and one of the topics they discussed was bowl eligibility for Rutgers.
Perry, a former standout linebacker at Ohio State, broadened the point further to include the remaining schedule for Rutgers, which isn’t easy to say the least.
“I just don’t know if they have the offense. Like I look at three of these teams up here, Michigan, Penn State and Maryland and say that they’ve got offenses that can put up some points,” Perry said.
“And I’m not sure Rutgers can match. That’s the biggest question to me is can Rutgers match the offense some of the teams that they’re going to see here at the end of the year?”
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