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With their first Big Ten win of the season on Saturday at Illinois, Rutgers football not only broke a four-game losing streak but also revived their bowl ambitions.
Rutgers is now 4-4 (1-4 Big Ten) and with a far more manageable backend to the schedule, the Scarlet Knights do have a legitimate shot at 6-6. Of their remaining four games, they are favored only in their season finale, a home game against Maryland. But the game at Indiana is looking more and more favorable for Rutgers, as ESPN FPI illustrated with their weekend update.
The Hoosiers are 2-6 on the year and have yet to win a Big Ten game.
Over the past three weeks, Rutgers has seen the bowl buzz gradually diminish with a tough start to conference play, but Saturday’s win has reinvigorated that talk. 247 Sports, in their latest projections, has the Scarlet Knights heading to the Quick Lane Bowl. Their opponent in Detroit would be Northern Illinois.
It would represent a big first step in the program’s rebuild. A bowl game in their second season of a total roster overhaul would be impressive.
This is the second season that Rutgers is under the direction of head coach Greg Schiano, who is back for his second stint with the program. The 4-4 record shows continued progress
The last time that Rutgers made a bowl game was in 2014 under then-head coach Kyle Flood, who took over the Scarlet Knights following Schiano’s departure for the NFL. The game? The Quick Lane Bowl.
Rutgers beat North Carolina 40-21 in the first edition of the game.