COLUMN: Rutgers football's collapse is even worse than fans might think
Fans of the Rutgers football team should have known that the 2024 season would trend downward as soon as the Associated Poll rankings were released two days after the Scarlet Knights (4-4, 1-4) defeated Washington in an electric 21-18 win under the Friday night lights at home on September 27.
It wasn't because Rutgers wasn't on the list. And why should it have been? Sure, they were 4-0 at the time, but the Knights' first two wins — though dominations — came against lower-level opponents in Howard and Akron. The Virginia Tech win on the road in the third week was cool, but what wasn't cool was how Rutgers almost blew it in the second half.
The Washington game could have been a statement. It was another commendable victory. The score was too close to pique voters' interest, as it came down to a last-second missed field goal that favored the Knights.
No, the reason that the September 29 poll was a sign of an incoming Rutgers avalanche was because the Knights' biggest rival in the Big Ten Conference was featured on it. Indiana, after outscoring its first four opponents 202-37, defeated Maryland 42-28 in its first conference matchup of the season. The fans were ignited at Memorial Stadium as the Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0) showed voters why they deserved a number before their name in Week 6. Their prayers were answered with a lucrative No. 23 ranking.
At the time, it didn't mean a whole lot to the Rutgers faithful, who were coming off a high. They were elated that their team started a season 4-0 for the first time since 2012.
But since Indiana's remarkable season has continued, the Knights' season has taken a turn for the worst.
After the Washington game, Rutgers' offense fell flat in a 14-7 loss at Nebraska. The following week, the Knights got embarrassed and downright demolished against Wisconsin at home to the tune of a 42-7 defeat. Rutgers failed to score in the first three-quarters of both of those two games.
With their backs to the wall and with what seemed like a bounce-back game on the horizon, the Knights lost to a UCLA team, which was 1-5 at the time, by a score of 35-32 on Homecoming, as the defense was ripped to shreds.
It would not get easier from there. Rutgers had to fly across the country to face off against USC in a short week. The defense was torched again in that Friday night affair, and the Trojans cruised to a 42-20 victory.
If you're counting at home, that's 119 points given up by the Knights in three weeks combined against the Badgers, Bruins and USC.
It gets even worse. Rutgers allowed 1,470 yards in total during those three games. Proof to the pudding, it was evident the Knights were in a rut secondary-wise.
Rutgers now enters its second bye week of the season in the dog house while the Hoosiers run carefree around the backyard.
With a 5-0 record in tow, Indiana walked into Northwestern's trap and took over its trap with a 41-24 victory.
A bye week gave the Hoosiers time to gameplan before a huge test against a talented Nebraska team. In its biggest statement of the season, Indiana crushed the Cornhuskers at home 56-7, as its defense, unlike its New Jersey rival, intercepted former five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola three times.
It continued from there as the Hoosiers defeated Washington 31-17 on October 26 and polished an even brighter sparkle on a clean 8-0 record.
Indiana shot up the rankings after its eight straight victories. It currently stands at the No. 13 spot. What makes it so intriguing is how all of this is happening under first-year Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti who had to reshape a program that went 3-9 in 2023. As Greg Schiano struggles to keep his squad afloat in the fifth year of an underwhelming second term at Rutgers, Cignetti is thriving at his new Midwest digs.
The epitome of Indiana's success compared to the Knights' bungles can be seen in a college football tradition. Every Saturday morning college football is being played, ESPN has its weekly College GameDay show where its commentators talk about the upcoming action at a designated college location.
If ESPN College GameDay is at your doorstep, you have a noteworthy season ahead of a noteworthy game. Before the Hoosiers' game against the Huskies, anyone who flipped to ESPN's channel from 9 a.m. to noon that day would see the show in the Hoosier State.
It is an honor Rutgers has never had, as the show has never occurred outside of SHI Stadium on Busch campus. In fact, the Knights are 1 of 6 Power Four schools not to have Lee Corso speak on stage just a short distance from their home field.
Watching ESPN College GameDay that day put everything in perspective regarding Indiana and Rutgers' painfully different trajectories.
Unfortunately for Knights fans, the Hoosiers are on top of the mountain while Rutgers is trapped under mounds of snow at the bottom.
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