Big Ten releases updated 2021 football schedule
The Big Ten announced an updated 2021 football schedule on Friday. The Rutgers football team will maintain its same scheduled matchups from the original 2021 schedule, but its conference schedule will be played in a different sequence in order to accommodate games in the Big Ten that went through a location change during the 2020 season.
The Scarlet Knights will open their season at home against Temple on Sept. 4, followed by their next two non-conference games at Syracuse and at home against Delaware. Rutgers was slated to play both the Owls and the Orange in 2020, but those games were canceled after the Big Ten chose to cancel all non-conference games for the season.
After the non-conference schedule, the Knights will travel to Ann Arbor on Sept. 25 to take on Michigan. Rutgers will then have a two-game homestand against Ohio State and Michigan State before its next away game against Northwestern.
Following a bye on Oct. 23, the Knights will close out their conference schedule with two more home games and three more road games, including a two-game road trip against Indiana and Penn State and a season finale at home against Maryland.
Rutgers’ schedule features three opponents that were ranked in the top 15 to close out the 2020 season in the Hoosiers, the Wildcats and national runner-up the Buckeyes.
The Knights finished 2020 with three Big Ten wins, tying its program record set in 2014. Ending the condensed season with a 3-6 record, Rutgers lost three of its games by just one score, with one of those losses coming in overtime.
The Knights come into this year with a recruiting class that ranks 41st in the nation and ninth in the Big Ten, according to 247 Sports. This is the highest Rutgers' recruiting class has ranked since 2017 when the class was ranked 42nd in the nation.
"I'm very excited with what lies ahead," said head football coach Greg Schiano. “The direction we are going is the way we need to be going and eventually we are going to get there doing that.”
For updates on the Rutgers football team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
