Bowl Predictions and placements are already beginning to be released and Rutgers had their name called several times in the predictions that have been released. Rutgers went 7-6 last season (3-6 in Big Ten play), winning their first bowl game in nine years with a 31-24 victory over Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl held at Yankee Stadium.
Rutgers is expected to do even better this season with the off-season improvements made at quarterback and wide receiver. Another reason why Rutgers is expected to do well is the fact that they are returning most of their well-performing production and talent from last year and they only lost one major contributor (Max Melton) to graduation.
The Bowl Predictions
The first prediction came from sporting news. Sporting News predicted that 12 out of 18 Big Ten schools would clinch a postseason birth with four of them presumably making the newly expanded, 12-team college football playoff. This prediction was made by the highly respected Bill Bender, a very popular figure in the college football media landscape. Bender has Rutgers playing in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on December 26th. This game is played at Chase Field in Arizona which is the home of the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Their opponent is forecasted to be the Mountaineers of West Virginia.
If Rutgers does end up slated to play against West Virginia it would be another chapter in a rivalry that was broken up with the fall of the Big East.
Rutgers has played in this game before as a matter of fact, and so has Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. Back during his first stint with the Scarlet Knights, the first bowl that Schiano had led his team to was the Insight Bowl in 2005. Rutgers would lose that game in a shootout with Arizona State 45-40. That game is the same game as this one, played in the same arena, the only reason why the name changed is because the company that owned the naming rights to the game changed.
Another prediction for the Scarlet Knights, this time coming from Athlon Sports, has Rutgers making the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina. This game will be played on Jan. 3 at Bank of America Stadium which is home to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Their predicted opponent in this bowl game is former Big East rival Louisville.
Athlon Sports also has 12 other Big Ten schools featured in their bowl predictions with three of them making the newly expanded, 12-team college football playoff.
Just like West Virginia and Rutgers, Rutgers, and Louisville, despite only being rivals for a short time in the grand scheme of college football’s existence they have a storied rivalry deep in the history books for both programs. One of the marquee wins in the history of Rutgers football came against the No.3 ranked Louisville Cardinals in 2006.
Throughout much of the 2000s, especially the latter half, Rutgers Louisville, and West Virginia often went back and forth for the title of Big East champion. Anytime when one of them tried to secure the Big East crown they would have to go through the two others to get it. Rutgers never ended up capturing the honor but they were a consistent threat for it under coach Schiano.