Rutgers football did much more on Saturday than simply gain bowl eligibility. The Scarlet Knights, with their Big Ten win over Indiana, validated the direction of the rebuild under head coach Greg Schiano.
And in doing so, they underscored their existence in the Big Ten.
In a sports world where what have you done for me lately? is mattering more and more, Rutgers football suddenly matters. A 31-14 win at Indiana puts Rutgers at 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) and makes the Scarlet Knights relevant in a blue-blood conference in what is the toughest division in college football.
And they didn’t have to steal any playcalls to do it. Sorry.
But not sorry.
The jokes about Rutgers seem a tad bit outdated now. While it is foolish to think that Rutgers has arrived and is suddenly ready to take down the big boys of the Big Ten, it is certainly not out of the realm for even the critics to look and see that Rutgers has taken a significant step this offseason.
One that makes them no longer a punching bag. In fact, Rutgers might be throwing a few of their own punches in the coming weeks.
Schiano said it
For the past year, very quietly and yet firmly, Schiano said that he could see the end of the pipeline. That the Rutgers football rebuild. so long waited and hoped for by fans, was ready to start flowing with talent. And while this rebuild is made harder by playing in the Big Ten, Rutgers has now beaten conference rivals in consecutive weeks.
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What this shows is that Rutgers no longer has just potential. It has the chance to start regularly competing in the Big Ten and making bowl games.
It also means that lazy fans around the country need to stop the nonsense. Rutgers belongs in the Big Ten. There can be no doubt, not anymore.
Rutgers belongs in the Big Ten and they keep proving it.
Having suffered the indignity of seeing James Gandolfini in Michigan State green two weeks ago was enough. Someone’s aunt probably went missing for that one.
And there are now plenty of other accomplishments Rutgers has made in other sports under athletic director Pat Hobbs. Rutgers men’s basketball has made the postseason the last three years in the toughest conference in college basketball. Wrestling is nationally ranked on an annual basis. Men’s and women’s soccer both made the NCAA Tournament last year. Men’s and women’s lacrosse and field hockey are perennial NCAA Tournament teams. Baseball is on the cusp of a breakthrough and women’s rowing is one of the best programs in their sport.
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That’s a lot of winning for a punchline athletic department, isn’t?
All that is sneered out in favor of the lazy argument about only football mattering.
Which, as a retort, never made sense. But now isn’t even viable. Rutgers football is now heading in the right direction.
The butt of the joke is now getting in its own laughs
Being reasonable and realistic about where Rutgers is as a football program is the first step in understanding why the Scarlet Knights belong in the Big Ten.
There are plenty of Big Ten programs that aren’t Michigan and Ohio State, Penn State or Wisconsin. There are good solid programs out there and Rutgers can be one of them. Iowa, Minnesota and Maryland, for starters, are very much within the grasp of where Rutgers wants to be headed.
No one says those three programs don’t belong in the Big Ten, now do they?
The last four games of the season could see Rutgers win a game or two…or lose all four. But they’ve already proven that they belong in the Big Ten with their three conference wins and bowl eligibility.
Remember that in 2020, the COVID-19 year, Rutgers went 3-6 in its first season under Schiano 2.0. Had Rutgers been able to play a non-conference schedule, it could well have gone .500 that season and made a bowl game.
The next year, Rutgers went 5-7 in the regular season and was the proverbial ‘next man up’ to step into the Gator Bowl when Texas A&M had to back out. Fans around college football laughed then at Rutgers backing into a bowl.
True, it was unconventional. But Rutgers was the next best team based on the criteria and they stepped up to play in the program’s most prestigious bowl game to date. That is something.
What it shows is that while Rutgers may not be a powerhouse program, it is no longer what it was. Gone are the days of 78-0 home losses. Rutgers is tough and determined under Schiano, and they are committed to winning.
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And now, they’ve proven to the rest of the Big Ten that yes, they do belong.
Perhaps it is because we’re from New Jersey that we always feel like we have a point to prove.
We don’t pump our own gas. Thomas Edison called our state home. The Boss is from here. So too are the best pizza and bagels. College football? It was birthed here too. But Jersey is done proving a point. It is done. It is settled.
Rutgers belongs in the Big Ten. All the other nonsense? Fuhgeddaboudit.