The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are facing off against the UCLA Bruins in a Big Ten Conference showdown in New Jersey on Week 8.
While Rutgers is favored, especially with UCLA sliding quickly, there is an interesting storyline in this game. Rutgers center Gus Zilinskas has some family ties involving the Bruins.
His father, John Zilinskas, was once a starter for the Bruins football program. Zilinskas was on the team from 1987 until 1991 and was part of the roster with Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman.
Gus spoke about the ties and mentioned his father will be at the game, per Bobby Deren of Scarlet Nation.
“He is going to be at the game and it is going to be fun to experience that,” Zilinskas told Scarlet Nation on Tuesday. “Growing up, I watched a lot of UCLA because he played there. It’s pretty cool.”
The Zilinskas family makes trips regularly to see him play, but this time it means more given it’s his father’s alma mater.
“It’s week by week but when I saw they were on the schedule,” I was excited,” Zilinskas said. “It’s going to be good to play my father’s alma mater.”
It will be an interesting battle for the Zilinskas family on Saturday.