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For the first time since Kyle Flood was their head coach, Rutgers football received votes in a national poll. With the Tuesday release of ‘The Week 1 AFCA USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll,’ signs of Rutgers’ rebuilding effort are becoming nationally apparent.
The jump into Top 25 contention comes after the Scarlet Knights beat Temple 61-14 on Saturday, an emphatic win to start the program’s second year under head coach Greg Schiano.
Rutgers didn’t receive any votes in the preseason poll. They also ranked No. 24 in the FoxSports poll released on Sunday.
The news is big for Rutgers football but also sobering. A total of four Big Ten teams were among the poll’s top 25 teams in the nation led by No. 3 Ohio State. Then there is Iowa, fresh off an impressive win over Indiana, who jumped six spots to No. 12. Penn State, who gutted out an equally impressive road win at Wisconsin, moved up seven spots to No. 13 in the poll.
After knocking off Clemson, @GeorgiaFootball moves up behind @AlabamaFTBL to give the SEC the top two teams in this week’s AFCA USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Check out all the highlights from this week’s poll. https://t.co/9hAU1LOztw pic.twitter.com/3Yvksn509h
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) September 7, 2021
With the loss, Wisconsin fell two spots to No. 17.
In addition to Rutgers, several Big Ten teams are knocking on the door of the poll’s top 25. Michigan had the second-most votes (99) of any team not in the top 25 (Auburn was the proverbial first team out with 123 votes).
Indiana (58 votes received) fell out of the poll entirely. Meanwhile two rising teams from Week 1, Rutgers and Maryland (9), round out the Big Ten’s representation among teams receiving votes that did not crack the poll proper.
Rutgers has an important game at Syracuse this week followed by Delaware the following week. The Scarlet Knights open their Big Ten schedule on September 25 at Michigan, a program that could well be ranked by the fourth week of the season.
They then face the Big Ten’s highest ranked team, Ohio State on October 2.
The other two ranked teams from the Big Ten are scheduled to play Rutgers later in the season: Wisconsin (November 6) and Penn State (November 30).