Rutgers football is 3-0 and what was a pretty dire outlook from much of the national media is suddenly flipped. Rutgers is halfway towards bowl eligibility with nine games left in the season.
And suddenly, there is promise and potential for Rutgers to be .500 or better for the first time since 2014. This was also the last time that the Scarlet Knights not only won a bowl game, but were bowl-eligible outright.
According to USA TODAY’s Erick Smith, Rutgers is being projected for the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 28. They are being pegged to play Wake Forest.
Rutgers is well acquainted with the Pinstripe Bowl, having played in the annual postseason game at Yankee Stadium twice.
In 2011, Rutgers beat Iowa State in what was the last game of the Greg Schiano 1.0 era. In 2013, Rutgers lost 29-16 to Notre Dame under former head coach Kyle Flood.
It was Wake Forest, coincidentally, that Rutgers played two years ago in the Gator Bowl when the Scarlet Knights were a last-minute replacement team when Texas A&M was forced to pull out of the game.
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Wake Forest won that game 38-10.
Like Rutgers, it is a 3-0 start for Wake Forest. They beat Elon in their season opener then rattled off wins over Vanderbilt and last week against Old Dominion.
They host Georgia Tech this weekend.