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With a win on Saturday at Illinois, Rutgers football is once again trending in the right direction for a return to a bowl game.
ESPN FPI has updated to show the Scarlet Knights at 5.5 wins to close out the season, putting them within reach of their first bowl game since 2014. Rutgers pulled off a strong 20-14 win at Illinois on Saturday, improving their record to 4-4 (1-4 Big Ten).
Per the projections, Rutgers projected win total is up to 5.5 wins from 5.1 wins two weeks ago (the Scarlet Knights were on a bye last week). Rutgers remains favored in just one of their remaining four games (Maryland at 64.2 percent (up from 63.1 percent two weeks ago).
(Don’t forget to check out the photo gallery from Saturday’s Big Ten win for Rutgers)
This Saturday, Rutgers is at 31.6 percent to win at home against Wisconsin according to ESPN FPI, a number that is down slightly following the Badgers solid home win over Iowa this past Saturday. Then the Nov. 13 game at Indiana jumped up for Rutgers to 42.6 percent from 32.4 percent two weeks ago, the result of Rutgers weekend win and Indiana’s 38-35 loss to Maryland. The Hoosiers are struggling this season after a magical campaign last fall; Indiana is currently 2-5 (0-5 Big Ten).
The game at Penn State on Nov. 20 saw a slight uptick for Rutgers from 11.1 percent to 14.9 percent but still remains an obvious longshot.
Rutgers has a 1.4 percent chance of closing out the season with four wins.