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Rutgers Football: Wishlist for the Scarlet Knights’ 2019 season

By Luke Feliciano

PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 10: Strength and conditioning coach Kenny Parker (L) for the Scarlett Knights talks with quarterback Artur Sitkowski #8 against the Michigan Wolverines during the fourth quarter at HighPoint.com Stadium on November 10, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Michigan won 42-7. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 10: Strength and conditioning coach Kenny Parker (L) for the Scarlett Knights talks with quarterback Artur Sitkowski #8 against the Michigan Wolverines during the fourth quarter at HighPoint.com Stadium on November 10, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Michigan won 42-7. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)
(Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images) /

5. A bowl game

Bowl invites (and wins for that matter) were abundant when Greg Schiano/Kyle Flood were the head coaches of Rutgers football.

After three consecutive losing seasons, Ash had yet to vault the Scarlet Knights to a bowl game as the program’s negative trend of missing postseason action persisted.

Rutgers has not appeared in a bowl game since 2014 when it defeated North Carolina in the Quick Lane Bowl.

For many Scarlet Knights’ fans, this seems like it happened ages ago. Since then, much has happened. Ash was named the new head coach and Pat Hobbs was hired as the new athletic director. Rutgers also entered the Big Ten soon after this game occurred.

This season was projected to be the best in the Ash era –– Rutgers had both a favorable schedule in both its in-conference and out-of-conference schedules.

Therefore, a six-win season seemed plausible enough at the beginning of the season to suspect that Rutgers might be in a good position to reach a bowl game for the first time in five seasons.

Instead, the Scarlet Knights suffered defeat to teams that it could have definitely beat. For instance, the embarrassing blowout loss on the road to Kansas and a home loss against a feisty Buffalo team.

Even the Big Ten schedule wasn’t all that daunting when considering the down seasons that preseason ranked Wisconsin and Michigan State had.

While a 1-11 season was an eyesore on paper, there were some positives to glean, especially later in the season.

For instance, Rutgers took the eventual Big Ten West division champion Northwestern down to the wire in a game it lost by a field goal. The Scarlet Knights also gave Michigan State a run for its money in a low-scoring, 14-10 affair.

While the prospect of a bowl game was a point of discussion prior to the season, doubt set in early as Rutgers dropped matchups it needed to win in order to find itself in a bowl game. This ultimately doomed the Scarlet Knights’ chances of making it past the regular season.

For Rutgers, the goal should stay at a .500 season. This way, a bowl game appearance could still be attained. This would be an indication that the program is moving in the right direction.

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