Rutgers’ win over USC gave the season a jolt nobody saw coming, and it forced a full rethink of what this team might be.
Before Saturday, the expectation around Rutgers was pretty grim. Nobody on the OTB staff had the Knights winning, and apparently nobody had them even hanging around. That’s why the result hit so hard: Rutgers didn’t just survive, it showed a version of itself that looked tougher, more resilient, and a lot more alive than the team that showed up against UMass and BC.
The bigger question now is what actually happened. Was Rutgers simply playing above itself for one afternoon?
Did No. 12 USC come east with one eye already on Oregon?
Is USC overrated? Does a cross-country trip matter that much?
Maybe it was all of that at once.
An ESPN writer even backed Rutgers to cover, pointing to USC’s struggles outside the Pacific Time Zone and the Trojans’ looming home game against Oregon. The logic was straightforward: USC only needed to escape Piscataway healthy, while Rutgers, under Greg Schiano, had every reason to make life ugly.
That part happened.
The Knights came out with a different edge than they’d shown earlier this season. They were tough.
They were scrappy. They had some fire.
That drew plenty of reaction afterward, including this from reader JeffreyPalm:
“Something happened to Rutgers. And yes, I do believe in moral victories!
I believe Rutgers is going [to] win some games. I believe Every Big Ten team better get serious about coming to Piscataway.”
That kind of response says a lot about how quickly the mood can change after one game. A week ago, Rutgers looked like a team headed for a long, bleak year. After Saturday, the conversation shifted toward how many games it might actually win.
Before the season, the outlook ranged from optimistic to dire. The idea of Rutgers finishing 6-6 was on the table, though with some hesitation.
After the UMass game, that changed to 2-10, with Howard seeming like the only obvious win. Now the picture is murkier again.
A bowl trip still doesn’t look likely, but five wins? That’s at least back in the discussion.
The comments reflected that swing in emotion. Reader Jcomp wrote:
“Great effort by Rutgers, we’ll win some games and Schiano will remain the coach”
That sparked pushback, including this response from Zanily:
“Howard is the only reasonable game that Rutgers should win. As for Schiano, he has been overmatched in the Big Ten since his return. He is done.”
That coaching debate isn’t going away, even after a result like this one. Before the USC game, there were plenty of people wondering whether Schiano should still be there at all.
The first two games did nothing to quiet that noise. Saturday didn’t erase the issue, either.
It just complicated it.
There was also a longer back-and-forth about what this means for the rest of the season. Jcomp pointed to possible Big Ten wins against Maryland and Michigan State, arguing Schiano isn’t going anywhere. The counterpoint is simple enough: if Rutgers beats Maryland and Michigan State, that’s two conference wins, which would still amount to the same number of Big Ten victories as 2025.
So yes, Rutgers got a result that changed the tone. But it didn’t solve the bigger questions.
It did, however, show that the players and coaches were still willing to fight after a rough start. They could have folded.
They didn’t.
That matters.
Give the whole sideline credit for that, Schiano included. After the first two games and all the outside noise, Rutgers had every excuse to go through the motions. Instead, it came out and made USC earn everything.
In Other News...
Rutgers Unleashed A Hidden Weapon Against USC Fans Didn't See Coming
A special teams wrinkle helped Rutgers flip a tense game against USC, and Jakob Anderson was right in the middle of it. The Rutgers punter uncorked a 40-yard pass on a fake punt that kept a drive alive and set up a key touchdown march, a reminder that even the most routine phase of the game can suddenly turn into a big-play opportunity.
Anderson, who grew up playing Australian rules football, has been refining his passing touch with special teams coordinator Eddie Allen, and the staff has clearly been willing to trust the work. Greg Schiano praised that effort afterward, noting the two-year grind Anderson has put into developing the skill, which made the gamble feel a lot less like a surprise and a lot more like a weapon Rutgers had been waiting to use. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Freshman Is Raising Expectations At The Perfect Time
Rutgers field hockey freshman Lauren Iaccio is making her presence felt at just the right moment, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors after a strong stretch that included a major role in the Scarlet Knights defense and a key goal in a win against Colgate. For a first-year player, starting all eight games this season is already a notable sign of trust, and Iaccio has backed it up with steady, two-way impact.
Her latest recognition also fits into a broader trend for Rutgers, which has now had a second player collect a Big Ten weekly award this season. For a program looking to keep building momentum, Iaccios emergence gives the Scarlet Knights another young piece to lean on, and it raises the question of how much more she can add as the season moves forward. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got A Big Reminder What That LSU Win Means
Trinidad Chambliss performance against LSU already had Ole Miss looking like a team worth taking seriously, and the ripple effects keep showing up around college football. In the same stretch of early-season games, USCs defensive problems in its Big Ten opener against Rutgers offered another reminder that conference play can change a teams outlook fast, while Louisvilles win over SMU added yet another result worth watching as the national picture starts to settle.
For Rutgers, that USC game matters because it was the kind of conference-opening test that can expose whether a team is ready to handle the physical week-to-week grind. And with the Big 12 also starting to take shape in the background, the broader message across the sport is the same: September results are already hinting at who belongs in the playoff conversation, and who still has work to do to prove it. [Read more 🡒]