Nebraska heads east this week with a chance to clean up a messy stretch, and Rutgers arrives carrying plenty of its own frustration.
The Scarlet Knights are 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Big Ten, and the program’s latest chapter under Greg Schiano has turned into a grind. Rutgers announced Tuesday that Schiano will return in 2027, even as the team continues to search for traction in his seventh season of the second stint and 18th overall at the school.
That backdrop matters because Rutgers has been stuck in the same kind of November fog Nebraska fans know too well. The Scarlet Knights have only one winning Big Ten season since Schiano returned in 2020, and while they put together back-to-back 7-6 seasons in 2023 and 2024, this year has brought a much rougher reality. The low point came in Week 1, when Rutgers lost 37-21 at home to UMass, a team that went 0-12 last season and is now 5-4.
Since then, the Scarlet Knights have taken losses to Boston College and several Big Ten opponents, with wins over Howard and Maryland mixed in. The roster has been hit by injuries, the offense has not looked like a modern Big Ten attack, and the defense sits at the bottom of the conference.
For Nebraska, the trip comes at a strange moment. The Huskers started 5-0, then dropped four straight, including a 13-point outing at Illinois last week. Still, Saturday offers a path to bowl eligibility, and it comes against a defense that has given up 37 points to a Group of Six team and 31 to Wisconsin in back-to-back weeks.
Rutgers’ offense has a few pieces that can make life interesting, but the quarterback play has been shaky. Senior Dylan Lonergan leads the team with 1,066 passing yards and 10 touchdowns in six starts, though his six interceptions are among the most in the Big Ten. He did not play in last week’s 31-10 loss at Wisconsin, and junior AJ Surace started in his place, finishing 14-for-24 for 161 yards and a touchdown while the line gave up five sacks.
Lonergan’s status for Saturday has not been confirmed, and neither has the status of standout receiver KJ Duff. If Duff is available, he changes the picture fast. The 6-foot-6 target leads Rutgers with 774 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, both at least the fifth-most among Big Ten receivers.
The Scarlet Knights also have a productive runner in junior Antwan Raymond, who leads the team with 789 rushing yards and averages 5.3 yards per carry. If Raymond and Duff are both on the field and the quarterback play holds up, Rutgers can at least make Nebraska work for it.
Defensively, the Scarlet Knights are trying to build around first-year coordinator Travis Johansen, who was South Dakota’s head coach last season and guided that team to the FCS quarterfinals. The transition to the FBS level has been rough.
Rutgers is allowing 32.4 points per game, worst in the Big Ten, and ranks second-to-last in third-down defense at 47.2% and yards allowed per game at 411.9. The unit is also tied for last in the conference with 11 sacks.
Experience has been part of the problem. Five of the 11 starters came from Group of Six or FCS programs, and true freshman JJ Conyers has started every game at defensive back. Seniors Chris Joines and Sean Allison lead the team with 24 tackles apiece, but the group has struggled to hold up against Big Ten offenses.
Nathan Thompson of The Daily Targum said the pressure on Schiano is real after the announcement that he will return next season. “Yeah, absolutely.
Fans are pissed, to put it lightly. Regardless if he’s the winningest coach in program history, or he’s the only coach who has ever gotten Rutgers to be a prominent winning team in the past, there's absolutely pressure on him because fans are just sick of it.
They’re just tired of being mediocre every year. It's not fun.”
Thompson also pointed to the offense’s lack of modern structure. “Rutgers as an offense just hasn’t particularly played modern football.
They rank dead last among FBS teams in pre-snap motion, and they are very predictable in what they do. I just feel like they’ve gone away from what works best for them, which is the rushing game.
They’ve been shying away from that when running has always been their identity.”
On Duff, Thompson said, “He means pretty much everything because most times if you’re looking to find anyone to catch the ball, it's going to be him. No one even comes close to Duff and his talent. When he goes down, which he has been out for the past few games, it really sucks because there's no real playmaker that will change the ability to get a big play.”
He added that the offense has had trouble adjusting without its top receiver: “They really just don't know what to do. They don’t pass the ball as much as they did now.
It's predictable, and that’s why KJ Duff means so much because he was the guy that would throw defenses off balance. I think they just can't get the running game going because that’s what teams expect now.”
On the defense, Thompson called it “dysfunctional and lacking talent,” while noting Johansen’s system has not had the right personnel. “I do think Travis Johansen is a good coordinator, but he doesn't have the players that works for his type of system.
Most of the players on the defense are either freshmen who were just thrown into battle or transfers from FCS schools who haven’t been able to equate their production from their previous schools. The chemistry isn’t there, and I also feel like some of the assistant coaches aren’t on the same page with their players.”
Nebraska and Rutgers meet Saturday at 11:30 a.m. CT at SHI Stadium.
Big Ten Network will carry the game. Thompson predicted a Nebraska win, 35-14.
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