11/13/2020 football Edit

More on Rutgers Football's Saturday matchup versus Illinois

Craig Epstein

Rutgers.Rivals.com

Rutgers enters Saturday’s 1 p.m. matchup against Illinois in unfamiliar territory as the Scarlet Knights are favored in a Big Ten game for the first time since Nov. 14, 2014. Led by quarterback Gary Nova and a 1-2 punch of running backs Josh Hicks and Robert Martin, Rutgers ended up winning the game 45-23 behind two touchdowns from Nova and three from Martin.

“We have a tough game this week and that’s where our focus shifts immediately, we have to get ready for Illinois and it’s going to be a battle,” Head Coach Greg Schiano said in his postgame press conference after last week’s 49-27 loss to Ohio State. “So, if we can build on this then it’s all good and if we don’t, we aren’t even going to talk about if we don’t because we have to.”

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This game also marks just the second time the Scarlet Knights are favored in a Big Ten game and the first since 2019’s season opener against UMass that they are favored at all. The Scarlet Knights won that game 48-21 as well.

In addition, this is a matchup between two former NFL head coaches who have some familiarity with one another in Schiano and Illinois’ Lovie Smith.

“When I was at the University of Miami, Coach [Tony] Dungy used to allow college staffs to come to the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers and sit and watch practice. Then you could actually sit and listen to them in the coaches meetings and you are talking about one of the finest defensive staffs in the history of the game,” Schiano said. “Lovie was coaching on that staff, Rod Marinelli was coaching on that staff, Herm Edwards with the secondary coach, and Monte Kiffin was the coordinator. You talk about four of the best coaches that ever coached defense in the league and they were in one building.”

After having a positive first three weeks of the season, a loss here would be a step in the wrong direction as Illinois is not only limping in at 0-3, but coming off of an embarrassing 41-14 loss to Minnesota as well. In what is seemingly a down year for the Big Ten in terms of top teams, this is the type of game where Rutgers needs to come out victorious in order to not only feel good about where they are in their rebuilding process, but to prove they can win even when the expectations that are placed on them go beyond “just be competitive.”