PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Four years into his first tenure with Rutgers football, Greg Schiano thought he had turned a corner with the program. A loss to a lower-level opponent saw that all crash down around him, a feeling that Schiano remembers all too well nearly two decades later.
It was Sept. 11, 2004, and Rutgers had just come off a 19-14 win over Michigan State to kick-start their season. This was supposed to be the year that Rutgers went to a bowl game, what with the talent level in the program at an all-time high.
Instead, a Week 2 loss to New Hampshire, then a 1-AA program in what is now currently considered the FCS, derailed everything that Schiano had built that season.
The Scarlet Knights finished the 2004 season 4-7 with five straight losses to end the year. And with FCS program Wagner coming to SHI Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it is clear that Schiano isn’t going to take this one for granted.
When asked about his plans to heavily rotate his team for what is a supposed big win by Rutgers, Schiano on Wednesday had none of it. He didn’t want to talk about getting his depth players into a game that he says is by no means a gimme.
“You know that – as a coach I don’t know. No, I don’t know that, you know, to assume that would be…I probably thought that that night I took the field against New Hampshire – how I was going to do all that,” Schiano said of planning for a big win.
“And I stood underneath the fireworks in the skylight and we just got beat and I had to listen to the fireworks, right? So when it’s time, if it’s time then we’ll do it. Right now. It’s about being ready to play and win this game.”
Following a weekend loss at No. 2 Michigan, Rutgers is currently 3-1 (1-1 Big Ten) with two Power Five wins already on their resume.
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Last year, Rutgers beat Wagner 66-7 to improve to 2-0 at the time. It was a game where a number of players up and down the roster got a chance to play.
This year, however, Wagner is indeed a far better product on the field. Last week, they had three players named to the weekly conference accolades.
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They are 2-2 and are deeper and overall more talented than the team that struggled last year at Rutgers.
“Wagner is a much improved football team. They are on a two-game winning streak. They sit on top of their league,” Schiano said.
“We need to take care of Rutgers, that’s what we need to worry about. We had enough mistakes in the game and practice that we just need to keep working on us and eventually, we’ll get to be a good team.”