World Cup Recaps and Previews, Wednesday June 24: Time to Win or Go Home
For some teams, this is the end of the line
Maybe 2025 was an aberration for the Schiano experience? Or maybe this is the harbinger of things to come for the #Chop crew. Since returning to the Raritan in 2020 from parts unknown, Schiano has gone 3-6, 5-8, 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, and now 5-7. That's a slow, gradual progression from the 1-11 and 2-10 days of Chris Ash to something approaching relevance, or at least some respect. But 2025 was a clear decline, both in the headline numbers and the eye test. Let's take a trip to SHI Stadium and review.
So, how'd it go?
What were the highlights?
MaximumSam: An opening win over, uh, Ohio! Sure, they were tied in the fourth quarter with a MAC team, but the Bobcats went to a bowl game. So Rutgers had a win over a bowl team.
Transient Buckeye: Rutgers' best win of the season was their opener against the Bobcats. They ran through the rest of their non-conference schedule with ease, and picked off Big Ten bottom-feeders Purdue and Maryland in conference play. They had a fourth-quarter lead against a pretty good Iowa team. Unfortunately, that was it for the good news.
Kind of...: Gee, I'm sorry. I could've sworn it was Miami (OH), not Ohio, who advanced to the MAC title game!!! Fine, they lost the rivalry game to Ohio and had the worse overall record...let's split the different and just acknowledge that Rutgers might have been good enough to win the MAC. And they beat Maryland, which allowed them to finish T-14th in the B1G instead of T-16th. Way to own the Eastern Seaboard division of the B1G, Scarlet Knights!!!
HoustonBoiler: Well, Rutgers has been playing football for 111 seasons and has 511 overall wins, which means an average season is roughly 5 wins. Congratulations on an average season!
AlmaOtter: Taking the double MAC wins to lead off was probably the high-water mark, but the win over Maryland was clutch, like KO pointed out above. The Big Ten crab bucket comes for us all eventually.
And the lowlights?
MaximumSam: Losing a combined 98-19 to Oregon and OSU just shows how far away Rutgers is from anything.
Transient Buckeye: Remember that fourth-quarter lead against Iowa? The Hawkeyes scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes of the game, and won by ten. Rutgers also gave up very winnable games against both Minnesota and Penn State. A victory in any one of those three contests would've gotten the Scarlet Knights to bowl eligibility. After the Iowa game, Rutgers got slapped silly by every team with a pulse that they played.
Kind of...: The scoring defense was 118th in the nation (out of 136). Needing everything in the bag to beat Purdue is not a praiseworthy thing.
HoustonBoiler: I agree with Transient Buckeye that losing very winnable games with Minnesota and particularly Penn State, unrivaled and all, has to be a low light. Beating Purdue was not noteworthy as Purdue was terribad and basically gave Rutgers the win - see Kind Of...'s response below.
BoilerUp89: Watching the Purdue/Rutgers game! Oh, you didn't mean the lowlights from this Purdue fan's perspective. Seriously though, that game was infuriating. Rutgers was bad last season.
AlmaOtter: Man, that four point loss to Penn State at the end of the season really is the one that got away. Could have stolen their third win ever over the Nittany Loins and their first since 1988. Getting throttled by Oregon and Ohio State probably sucked too, but that's expected.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: It wasn't particularly memorable, but the decision to go for two after scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown against Ohio State to cut OSU's lead to 35-9 is Peak Schiano. The two-point conversion pass was intercepted, OSU's backups tacked on a garbage-time touchdown, and the comeback attempt fizzled.
Kind of...: They win over Purdue, really. Rutgers kicks a FG to tie it at 24 with just over a minute to play. Purdue fumbles their first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive. Rutgers gains 15 yards or so and wins it at the gun. Absurd B1G action. The 40-36 loss to PSU to end the season was memorable...for PSU.
Give us your best gif to summarize the season.
Transient Buckeye:
Kind of...: It's more of a "summarize Greg Schiano generally" gif than summarize last season, and I couldn't find a good version...so any gif you want to provide of Schiano's Buccaneers blitzing the victory formation of other teams, or a good gif of Tom Coughlin telling Schiano what a POS he is, is welcome here.
HoustonBoiler:
AlmaOtter:
