Rutgers kept its bowl hopes alive with a 35-20 victory over Maryland on Saturday afternoon, but let’s be real, the game that truly matters for this program and its head coach is not some holiday-week trip to Detroit or the Bronx.
That game was always on the schedule, and beating up on the struggling Terrapins only adds more juice to what now looms as an even bigger opportunity for Greg Schiano and his Scarlet Knights.
The date: November 29.
The time: TBD.
The site: SHI Stadium.
The opponent: Penn @$#$% State.
Oh, yes, we are jumping ahead three weeks. Schiano might have a time-tested “24-hour rule” that allows his players to celebrate their hard-earned victories — and they deserved to do just that after their most complete performance of the season against Maryland — but the rest of us have nothing keeping us from tearing days off the calendar.
The win on Saturday guaranteed a meaningful November for the Scarlet Knights, but they didn’t need the extra incentive of a bowl trip. This will be the program’s best chance to beat the wounded Nittany Lions in at least a decade, and it would be the kind of victory that would wash away most of this team’s struggles this season.
Giving up 750 yards in a home loss to Oregon? Blowing winnable games against Iowa and Minnesota? Beat Penn State in the season finale, and most fans will sing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah straight into the winter.
And the Nittany Lions are as beatable as they’ve ever been, sitting at 3-6 and riding a six-game Big Ten losing streak. I’ve asked plenty of Rutgers fans if a win against the Nittany Lions would be less satisfying given their struggles, and as best as I can tell, most agree that it would feel like winning the regular lottery instead of the Mega Millions.
Yeah, sure, it’s not quite as good. But it’s still freakin’ awesome!
The history is not pretty. Rutgers won the first meeting between the two programs on Nov. 9, 1918, or two days before the Armistice that ended World War I. Rutgers had Paul Robeson, arguably the greatest player in their long history. Penn State had a piecemeal roster because of an outbreak of the Spanish flu. And here we thought a low NIL budget was a worthy excuse for a bad season!
The decisive 26-3 romp in State College that year gave the Queensmen a perfect record against their neighbors that stood for 32 years — or until the two teams met for a second time. Penn State has won 31 of the 32 games since, with the lone Rutgers triumph coming in 1988.
It has been a minute.
Rutgers had a great chance to beat the Nittany Lions in its first game as a Big Ten member in 2014, but five Gary Nova interceptions allowed a sanction-addled Penn State team escape with a 13-10 victory. The Nittany Lions have outscored Rutgers 282-45 in the nine meetings since, but those Penn State teams are not this Penn State team.
This version was No. 3 in the nation when it lost in double overtime to Oregon on Sept. 27 — a defeat that, taken on its own, wouldn’t have impacted the season. But after back-to-back losses to UCLA and Northwestern, Penn State abruptly pulled the plug on head coach James Franklin.
The situation has not improved. The Nittany Lions had a late lead against No. 2 Indiana on Saturday but fell in heartbreaking fashion to fall to 0-6 in the Big Ten — yes, that’s right, Rutgers is two full games about them in the conference standings. If Penn State doesn’t beat both Michigan State and Nebraska over the next two weeks, it will arrive in Piscataway already eliminated from bowl contention.
As for Rutgers? Well, the Scarlet Knights are finally showing signs of life.
Antwan Raymond had one of the best performances in school history for a running back, channeling his inner Ray Rice with 41 carries for 240 yards against Maryland. Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis had four touchdown passes, including three to receiver Ian Strong. Even the much-maligned Rutgers defense recovered from its all-too-typical breakdowns to allow just a field goal in the second half.
“We are a long ways from being what we want to be,” Schiano said, “but that looked like real defense.”
Rutgers has the benefit of a late-season bye to get some of its key players healthy before traveling to face some other Big Ten team on Nov. 22. This team, we hear, is decent.
Yeah, okay, it’s No. 1 Ohio State. Rutgers has proven that one loss doesn’t have to wreck a season, so unless the Scarlet Knights leave Columbus with a busload of injured players, the result is irrelevant.
“Man alive, are they good,” said Schiano, who spent three years in Columbus as defensive coordinator. “I was there for three years. I know the machine that they have there.
“Then, to have Penn State, obviously, the school that’s right down the road,” he said. “(They) were the reason to bring Rutgers in (for) a little more Eastern flavor in the Big Ten.”
Beating Penn State wouldn’t just put the Scarlet Knights into a bowl game for a third straight season. It would rewrite the narrative about a 2025 campaign that seemed headed for disaster.
The holiday trip would be a welcome surprise, but c’mon, a W over the Nittany Lions is the real prize. Rutgers might never have a better shot than this for a satisfying victory against their old tormentors.
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