12/24/2023 football Edit

Quick Look at the Miami Football team ahead of the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl

Dylan Grabowski

Staff Writer

After making their first legitimate bowl game in nine years, Rutgers Football will look to finish the 2023 campaign strong as they travel to Yankee Stadium to face the Miami Hurricanes in the Pinstripe Bowl.

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GAME DETAILS....

Television: ESPN

Where: Bronx, New York

Time: December 28th, 2:15 p.m. ET

Stadium: Yankee Stadium (Official capacity of 46,537)

Odds: Miami -125 Favorite (-1.5 point spread), over/under is 41.5pts

MAIN STORYLINES....

Season of disappointment

After starting 4-0 with a win against Texas A&M who was ranked at the time, the Miami Hurricanes are not where they thought they’d be to end the year. Their season started to spiral when they lost to Georgia Tech back on October 7th in dramatic fashion after they fumbled with under 30 seconds left instead of just kneeling the ball.

Following that Georgia Tech game Miami lost 4 of their last 7 games and finished the regular season with a 7-5 record. After controversially coming to the Hurricanes from Oregon ,the Miami native Mario Cristobal is trying to win his first bowl game for the U. He will be trying to do this without three year starter Tyler Van Dyke who announced he’s transferring to Wisconsin this week. Sophomore Jacurri Brown is expected to make his first career start for Miami.

First year defensive coordinator Lance Guidry has turned around a defense that was in shambles after last year. Guidry was a finalist for top assistant in the country this year for his part in fixing the defense. Although they’re still not exactly where they need to be after allowing 30 ppg in their 5 losses on the season. Guidry loves to bring pressure which could cause Rutgers young quarterback Gavin Wimsatt to make a mistake.

Miami’s inexperience at quarterback could be an advantage for Schiano and the Scarlet Knights as their top defense looks to end the season on a high note.

A One sided Series...

Miami has dominated Rutgers historically in games between these two programs. Both schools were in the Big East conference from 1993-2003 and within that time period the Hurricanes were 11-0 against the Scarlet Knights. During their 2001 National Championship season the schools faced and Miami beat Rutgers 61-0.

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano has a history with the Hurricanes as well. He was the defensive coordinator there for two seasons posting a record of 20-5 before his first stint as head coach of the Scarlet Knights.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal also has a history with RU and Greg Schiano. Cristobal had his first college coaching job on Schiano's staff as an Oline and tight end coach from 2003-2006.

The two former colleagues will look to put their history aside on December 28th as they’re both trying to finish on a strong note

A chance to finish strong

As unbelievable as it sounds the Scarlet Knights haven’t won a football game since October 21st when they beat Indiana 31-14. That means when it comes game time on December 28th RU is looking for its first win in over two months. While that seems like a huge let down Rutgers could still have their most wins to finish a year in nearly a decade.

The key for the Scarlet Knights is the same story that’s been haunting them during this losing streak which is getting the offense going. Besides their last game in which they gave up their most points of the season to Maryland in a 42-24 defeat, the defense has carried them the entire season. Wimsatt will need to do better than completing 38% of his passes and Kyle Monangai will need to carry the offense and get into the endzone at least twice if Rutgers wants to secure this bowl win.

Greg Schiano is looking for his first bowl win as Rutgers head coach in 12 years and he must defeat his old team if he wants that accomplishment. If the Scarlet Knights want to win the Pinstripe bowl they must do something that's never been done in school history: beat Miami.