I’m sure the players and coaches are taking Rutgers seriously. I am concerned about this game, because I am sure of nothing at this point.
The media, however, is having a hard time generating serious energy about this.
The Scarlet Knights have not had a winning season in more than a decade, have not won at least eight games in a season since 1979 and have not finished with more than two Big East Conference wins since 1992. And Rutgers has never been to a bowl game outside of its home state of New Jersey — and even then, it only managed to qualify for the Garden State Bowl once in the four years the bowl existed.
The past six seasons, Rutgers has won a total of four Big East games and has gone winless in the conference three times. In fact, Rutgers somehow managed to finish behind Temple in the Big East standings four times in the past six seasons — yet it was the Owls who got kicked out of the conference for, in large part, football incompetence.
Despite all of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the refrain from those who follow or support the Rutgers program, or the opponent that is preparing to play the Scarlet Knights, annually goes something like this: “Rutgers is getting better, this is indeed the Scarlet Knights’ year to turn it around.”
Although Rutgers rarely shows much improvement, every season opens with Rutgers and its opponents talking about a new improved Scarlet Knights.
Tonight Pitt (1-3) plays at Rutgers (2-1) in the Big East opener for both teams. Naturally, it is the Panthers turn to tell the world what an underrated powerhouse the Scarlet Knight are.
Rutgers is expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Big East this year. This has as much to do with expectations of some new teams being worse than them, than Rutgers being that much better.
Now that Temple has been kicked out of the Big East, Rutgers is the reigning doormat of the conference.
Sure, Cincinnati and South Florida likely will battle the Scarlet Knights for that title, although USF raised its stock with a win against Louisville last week, but Rutgers has a lot of work to do to erase its sorry history.
But when Pittsburgh faces the Scarlet Knights tonight in Piscataway, N.J., the Panthers believe they won’t face the same team they pummeled last year.
“They’re not the old Rutgers,” Pitt defensive end Chris McKillop said. “Rutgers has made huge strides in making their program a lot better. In the past, Rutgers wasn’t as good, but in the present and future I think they’re doing a lot to build their program.”
The Panthers should be too much for Rutgers to handle on offense, while the Scarlet Knights have just a few offensive weapons. Quarterback Ryan Hart has 30 career starts and has completed 60 percent of his passes this season for 719 yards and five touchdowns. He has not been picked off. Hart was 31-for-57 for 351 yards against Pitt last year.
Pitt’s offense may be a little deeper at positions like RB, TE and WR; but the Rutgers starters at those spots are close to equal if not a little better. And they seem to have a good offensive line. A line that opens space for FB Brian Leonard to barrel through, but has protected their QB very well. Allowing only 3 sacks in 3 games.
Still, there are things that make you start to think, yes Pitt will still win this game because their coach could very well be that dumb.
And then there is, of course, another more recent trend the Scarlet Knights need to stem tonight, one they should accept a bit more culpability for. Of the 14 wins Schiano has at Rutgers, only one has come after his team has had an off-week.
In fact, in going 1-7 following bye weeks, the Scarlet Knights have suffered some of their most disturbing defeats when they’re in the position they are today. Schiano said he studies procedure every year and every year he polls new staff members for their experiences. But neither led to any wholesale preparation changes this year. Quite frankly, he said, he thinks his team has played well coming out of byes.
“We don’t necessarily win them, but relative to what we had been playing, we played good football,” he said. “I don’t think we come out of byes and are just horrible.”
To repeat: Rutgers is 1-7 after a bye under Coach Schiano, and he doesn’t see much of a problem. He’s still seeing “moral victories” in that the team didn’t really play badly, they just lose.
Honestly, the attitude from Schiano makes me feel better about Pitt’s chances than anything else.
