Too Big For Their Britches

For the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football program, they will always be able to stake their claim to participating in the first ever college football game in 1869. But unfortunately for Rutgers, that is one of the few things that they have going for them. Rutgers has spent most of its football life as an independent until they joined the Big East Conference in 1991. And the Scarlet Knights indoctrination into the Big East would see them consistently taken behind the woodshed by powerhouses in the conference such as the Miami Hurricanes and Virginia Tech Hokies.

Rutgers would get a reprieve in 2004 when Miami and Virginia Tech left the Big East in favor of the Atlantic Coast Conference. And without these national powers in the Big East, Rutgers was able to become respectable on the gridiron.

From 2005-2009, the Scarlet Knights would make five consecutive bowl games while they also contended for the Big East Title. Rutgers would make two more bowl appearances as a member of the Big East before the conference ceased its football operations in 2012, while their new found success on the gridiron would carry over to their one year in the American Athletic Conference as well as the school’s inaugural season in the Big Ten Conference. But all of that is now a distant memory in Piscataway.

Over the last three years Rutgers has only managed to win ten games as they’ve become the whipping boys of the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights have only been able to win four games within the Big Ten over the last three years, and any hopes of them turning it around in 2018 are fading fast.

Through four games here in 2018, the Scarlet Knights are 1-3 and for their head football coach Chris Ash, there aren’t any positives for him to build off of. On September 8, Rutgers lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes 52-3 which was not a surprise being that the Buckeyes are expected to contend for a spot in the College Football Playoff. But Rutgers would follow this up by being on the wrong end of a 55-14 beat down at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks who themselves have one of the worst football programs in the nation. And to add insult to injury, the Scarlet Knights were humiliated this past Saturday at home by the Buffalo Bulls of the Mid-American Conference 42-13.

There are some who want to see Rutgers move on from Ash, but unless someone on the level of current Alabama Crimson Tide head football Nick Saban is coming to New Jersey to lead this program, we won’t see any miracles take place.

We are seeing the results of Rutgers getting too big for their britches as the success that they enjoyed in the watered down version of the Big East got to their heads. Rutgers had the chance to help keep the Big East afloat, but they instead opted for the big payday that the Big Ten offered. And instead of being a big fish in a small pond, the Scarlet Knights are now a tiny fish in a giant sea.

The Big Ten only wanted Rutgers for its close proximity to the New York City media market which would give them an opportunity to tap into the money there as well as expanding their brand. The Big Ten could care less about the history of Rutgers as there really isn’t too much to speak of.

The State of New Jersey has plenty of high school talent, but the top players from the Garden State are lured to Big Ten powers such as Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, which doesn’t give Rutgers too much to work with as they are back to what they were during their early days in the Big East which is to be a glorified homecoming game for the big boys of the conference.

Rutgers is the epitome of what happens when you overestimate your hand. Rutgers earned some respectability by going to second and third-tier bowl games that most people do not care about. But those days are now long gone as making a bowl game anytime soon as a member of the Big Ten will be a long shot for Rutgers; especially as they play in the Big Ten East with Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State as you can pencil in four losses for the Scarlet Knights even before the season starts. And it does not stop there for Rutgers as other powers within the Big Ten such as Wisconsin and Iowa are improving, while programs such as Northwestern can never be overlooked.

So as the Big Ten has backed up the Brinks truck to the doorstep of Rutgers, they’ve taken the money in exchange for forfeiting any chance at success on the gridiron. And for anyone who believes that I am merely blowing hot air, the Scarlet Knights last five games here in 2018 are against Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State which is a tall task for any team in the nation, much less a team in the case of Rutgers who is 126th in the nation in total offense, while being 105th in total defense.

Rutgers can take that Big Ten money and put as much as they can into upgrading their facilities. But adding to High Point Solutions Stadium will only make things better for the visiting fan bases who outnumber the Rutgers faithful in the stands.