Immediately after Rutgers gifted Chris Ash a contract extension for beating three bad teams (and Purdue) during a four-win 2017 season, all eyes were on Ash's massive buyout. And as Ash drove an irrelevant program farther into the ground, our eyes never left that buyout, which was the full remaining balance of his five-year deal (2018-22). Finally, after Ash's December dismissal, the primary focus of Rutgers football isn't a coaching buyout, although more focus on actual football might not be a good thing for the Scarlet Knights.
Among Power Five teams over the last five years, only Kansas has fewer wins than Rutgers, though the Scarlet Knights were smashed by the Jayhawks in 2018…so there's a strong argument Rutgers has been the worst Power Five team since 2015. And with several poor recruiting classes in recent years, little notable experience on the conference's least-talented roster, and a coaching change during an abbreviated offseason, more dark days are ahead for new/old head coach Greg Schiano.
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He inherited a team that couldn't do anything right last year.
Literally nothing right.
Nothing.
They couldn't do anything.
They couldn't pass and couldn't run. They couldn't stop the pass and coudn't stop the run. They couldn't convert on third downs and couldn't prevent third-down conversions. They ranked 100th or worse nationally in almost every area, including giveaways (115th), takeaways (125th), scoring (129th), and yards per play (124th). It was one of the worst seasons from a Power Five team this millennium.
Rutgers, ranked 101st in the HERO Sports Preseason College Football Rankings, is 2-0 in season openers over the last two years. They're 1-21 in every other game. They'll win a third straight opener (vs. Monmouth) but, like 2018, drop their final 11 games to finish 1-11 for the second time in three years.
| Date | Opponent | Prediction |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 5 | vs. Monmouth | Win (1-0) |
| Sept. 12 | vs. Syracuse | Loss (1-1) |
| Sept. 19 | at Temple | Loss (1-2) |
| Sept. 26 | at Ohio State | Loss (1-3) |
| Oct. 3 | vs. Illinois | Loss (1-4) |
| Oct. 10 | at Purdue | Loss (1-5) |
| Oct. 17 | vs. Indiana | Loss (1-6) |
| Oct. 24 | vs. Nebraska | Loss (1-7) |
| Oct. 31 | at Maryland | Loss (1-8) |
| Nov. 14 | vs. Michigan | Loss (1-9) |
| Nov. 21 | at Michigan State | Loss (1-10) |
| Nov. 28 | vs. Penn State | Loss (1-11) |
