Pioneers: Decade since Rutgers football’s inaugural Big Ten season
The Rutgers football team took a massive step forward as a program last season. The Scarlet Knights finished the season with a winning record and a bowl game win for the first time since 2014.
That 2014 season was also memorable, with Rutgers going 8-5 in its first season in the Big Ten.
In honor of it being that team's 10-year anniversary, we will take a look back and see what was really happening in Piscataway in 2014.
The story of the 2014 Knights begins on July 1, 2014, when Rutgers officially joined the Big Ten Conference. At the time, the move to the Big Ten was seen as a major coup for the University, as it stood to gain a substantial amount of money and status by joining one of the most powerful conferences in the country. The major question leading into the season was if the Knights could handle the new level of competition they were facing.
Rutgers had spent most of the 20th century as a minnow surrounded by the sharks of college football. But a decade under the leadership of head coach Greg Schiano proved transformative, as he gradually turned the Knights into one of the hottest programs in the country. Schiano led Rutgers to 5 wins in 6 bowl games and the program’s highest-ever ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll, finishing at No. 12 in 2006. Under Schiano, the Knights earned the jump to the Big Ten — but it was then time to prove they were not out of place.
Kyle Flood took charge for his 3rd season as head coach in 2014. After years as a Rutgers offensive staffer, Flood was chosen to be Schiano's successor in 2012, when Schiano left the program for greener pastures in the NFL. Flood's first two seasons brought mixed results, as he followed up a debut 9-4 season and a Big East co-title in 2012 with a disappointing 6-7 season in 2013. For the sake of his job security, Flood needed to get the program's first Big Ten season right.
At the start of the 2014 season, it seemed the Knights had answered every question asked of them. Rutgers started the season 5-1. Out of those initial wins came two iconic games.
In the first game of the season, the Knights outlasted Washington State in a 41-38 shootout in Seattle, Washington, as quarterback Gary Nova led the way with 281 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Rutgers would rattle off three more wins before hosting Michigan in the Knights' first-ever Big Ten game. The two teams would trade blows for all four quarters until a blocked field goal by Kemoko Turay in the dying minutes saw Rutgers secure its first conference win in the Big Ten.
After a historic win against an iconic opponent, the Knights would finish the back half of the season with just 2 wins in 6 games. Despite the rut, Rutgers finished strong as it stormed back to beat Maryland 41-38 after being down as many as 25 points in the second quarter.
The win put the Knights at a 7-5 record, which was good enough for them to earn their 9th bowl appearance in 10 years. Rutgers would face off against a 6-6 North Carolina in the inaugural Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit. Freshman running back Josh Hicks led the way, as his MVP performance of 202 rushing yards and a touchdown guided the Knights to a 40-21 win.
The bowl game win capped off an impressive 8-5 season filled with multiple classic wins. Despite finishing just 3-5 in Big Ten play, Rutgers continued its upward trajectory and showed a lot of promise as a conference member.
Sadly, much of that promise would go unrealized. The arrest of multiple football players drew a black cloud over the offseason. Disappointment would follow the team into the 2015 season, as the Knights went 4-8, 1-7, which cost Flood and athletic director Julie Hermann their jobs. This saw the start of another dark period of Rutgers football, as it went eight straight seasons without a winning record, only winning ten conference games in that time frame.
Although the 2014 team ended up being a false sunrise, it is important to still appreciate the legacy that the team left. Eleven players on that roster would go on to play in the NFL, most notably Super Bowl Champions Michael Burton and Sebastian Joseph-Day, both of whom still play in the NFL today. Although his time as the Knights' head coach did not go entirely according to plan, Flood has since seen success as an offensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons, Alabama and now Texas.
Above all, the 2014 team made many memories for Rutgers fans, whether it was the shootout against the Cougars, the first Big Ten win against the Wolverines or the bowl game triumph against the Tar Heels. As the program begins to show positive signs once again, one can only hope that it can get back to the levels it reached in 2014 as the Knights continue fighting for respect in the ever-growing Big Ten.
