Football ESPN FPI projects the remaining games on Rutgers Football's schedule
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
This was my immediate reaction to joining the Big Ten... that, as we are/were, without some major and lasting change in Rutgers' perception among recruits and, thus, talent level, we'd have a 1/10 chance of beating the big boys (at least one) in any given year.. and that it may take 20 years for stars to align to have a real shot at winning the Big Ten East and maybe the Big Ten itself. That is not that we WOULD win either.. but that we'd be in the game to do so come end of season.
We're about to have an 18-team league.. if the power players win it 70% of the time..
Well.. here's another way to set expectations..
The last 20 champions.. some shared with year* marked)
Iowa (2002*, 2004*)
Ohio State (2002*, 2005*, 2006, 2007, 2008*, 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Michigan (2003, 2004*, 2021, 2022)
Penn State (2005*, 2008*, 2016)
Michigan State (2010*, 2013, 2015)
Wisconsin (2010*, 2011, 2012 *note.. in 2012 Wisconsin had a 4-4 conference record.. weird)
These are the only teams in the last 20 years that had at least a share of a Big Ten Championship. More than half the time, Ohio State had at least a share. And they are in the Big Ten East... divisions disappearing may help us and other programs)
Illinois had won a championship in 2001.. so this one chance in 20 years or so might be about right for them.. and maybe us too. You miss your shot when the stars align.. there's always next decade.
But that's not how it works, really, if you climb the ladder by stepwise improvement of the program on all levels... you will be in better spot to take your shot in any given year. Maybe this year is an example of that.. though Rutgers still has a ways to go where the ceiling is the Big Ten Championship. and the CFP.
I really think we have a better chance (as of now) of beating Iowa than Maryland.
Taulia seems to get very pouty when he loses. We can only hope they continue to lose and he gets more pouty and after his receivers after drops and missed routes, etc.
It would be interesting to win 1 or 2 more just to see if that would get us out of the Pinstripe.
Should be over 50 percent chance of beating Maryland if they lost to Northwestern!... Iowa game could go either way, RU offense gave up two scores to their defense last year.. Protect the ball, run/work clock & maybe get special teams to score/set up score & we should have a very good shot.. Sill think Music City and Vegas are likely for bowl destinations. (over Pinstripe)