Rutgers opens the season with ESPN’s Football Power Index slotting the Scarlet Knights at No. 68, which places them in the lower reaches of the Big Ten alongside Purdue, Maryland, Northwestern and Michigan State. That ranking leaves Rutgers in the neighborhood of a bowl hopeful, but only barely, with 82 FBS teams projected to reach a postseason matchup.
The offense gives Rutgers a real chance to climb. ESPN’s FPI factors in roster strength, recruiting, returning production, coaching and schedule, and the Scarlet Knights can point to three All-American candidates on that side of the ball: receiver KJ Duff, running back Antwan Ryamond and offensive lineman Kwabena Asamoah. Even with that kind of talent, though, the defense is what keeps dragging the overall outlook down.
Last season’s unit, run by co-defensive coordinators Robb Smith and Zach Sperber, was rough in a way Rutgers fans know too well. The Scarlet Knights allowed 432.8 yards per game, a figure that ranked worse than all but nine teams in the country. Greg Schiano responded by ripping up the defensive staff, hiring two former head coaches to help fix the mess: Travis Johansen from South Dakota to run the defense and Joe Woodley from Drake to coach the edge rushers.
After a 2025 season that left players looking lost, missing assignments and failing to set the edge, the hope in Piscataway is simple enough: a major defensive jump and a return to bowl eligibility. But for Rutgers, that still may not be enough to call the season a success.
A 6-6 finish and a holiday bowl would satisfy a lot of fans, but that kind of one-win bump from a 5-7 season does not exactly scream progress for a coach entering his seventh season in his second Rutgers stint. Schiano is under pressure, and the bar for “successful” has to be higher than just scraping into the postseason.
For this program, success in 2026 means more than beating preseason projections that mostly have Rutgers at 5-7 or 6-6. It means doing something the Scarlet Knights have not done since 2009.
That year, Rutgers beat No. 23 South Florida 31-0, and then the slide began.
The Scarlet Knights followed that ranked win with 43 straight losses. That stretch includes the infamous matchup against a ranked Illinois team, when Schiano chose to ice a kicker attempting a field goal into 40 mph winds in freezing conditions.
After the timeout, the kick missed badly, Illinois coach Brett Bilema sent the offense back out, and the Illini finished the game with a stunning touchdown pass in the final seconds.
The schedule should give Rutgers chances. A ranked opponent could arrive quickly, with USC coming to SHI Stadium on September 19th. Later in the season, the Scarlet Knights are also likely to see ranked Indiana, Michigan and Penn State, with Indiana listed as the reigning national champs in the source material.
If Rutgers wants to convince its fans that the program is actually moving forward, it needs to beat one of those powers. That may sound like a lot to ask, but for a team and a coach trying to climb out of the Big Ten basement, one signature upset would say more than a hollow .500 season ever could. And after all these years, Scarlet Knights fans would probably welcome the chance to storm the field at SHI Stadium and finally celebrate like the giant-killers for once.
In Other News...
Rutgers Womens Golf Has A Real Chance To Climb Sunday
Rutgers spent Saturday in a solid position at the Boilermaker Classic in West Lafayette, Indiana, with Grace Lu and Joline Truong both staying inside the top 30 individually as the Scarlet Knights worked through the opening day of the event. Lu and Truong gave Rutgers the kind of steady scoring it needed to keep itself in the hunt against a strong field, while Miami (Fla.) set the pace at the top of the team standings.
The Scarlet Knights are eighth out of 16 after two rounds at 25-over-par 601, which leaves them close enough to make a move if they can tighten things up Sunday. Truong also gave Rutgers an encouraging start with a one-under 71, and with the leaderboard still crowded behind the leaders, the final round offers a real chance to climb before the trip ends. [Read more 🡒]
Robert Longerbeam Gets Another NFL Shot After Tough Start
Robert Longerbeam is getting another NFL opportunity after a difficult start to his pro career. The former Rutgers cornerback, drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad after Baltimore waived him, giving him a fresh landing spot less than a year after his draft-day rise.
Longerbeam spent the 2025 season on injured reserve because of a knee injury, then got back on the field in the 2026 preseason. His move to Philadelphia also makes him the second former Rutgers player to land on an NFL practice squad following cutdown day, a small but meaningful step for a player still trying to turn draft pedigree into staying power. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Gets An Early Chance To Make A Statement At SHI Stadium
Rutgers will get an early chance to set the tone for 2026 when it opens the season at SHI Stadium against UMass on Thursday, Sept. 3. The non-conference matchup gives the Scarlet Knights a home-stage opportunity right out of the gate, with the game set for Big Ten Network coverage and local radio. It also gives fans a familiar name on the other sideline, since UMass enters the season with a coach who knows Piscataway well.
The Minutemen and Scarlet Knights have met five times before, and Rutgers has had the upper hand in the series. Games like this do not usually carry the weight of a league opener, but they can still say plenty about where a team stands when the calendar flips to September. For Rutgers, it is the kind of early test that can build momentum, sharpen a roster, and give SHI Stadium an immediate sense of what the fall might hold. [Read more 🡒]