Rutgers bowl game projections: Where could the Scarlet Knights be heading?
In order to make a bowl game this season, the Rutgers football still has work to do.
Or does it?
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According to CBS analyst Jerry Palm, he is pegging Rutgers as one of three teams along with Illinois and Missouri to make a bowl game with a 5-7 overall record. Right now, the Scarlet Knights are 5-5 with two games to go.
In the past, the NCAA has previously allowed teams with strong Academic Progress Rating scores to go to bowl games if they are 5-7 and there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill each game.
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Per Palm's projections, there will be 11 bowl-eligible teams in the Big Ten, which would mean Rutgers would head to a bowl game that is not reserved for the Big Ten. Palm has Rutgers facing Kent State in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
"When the season starts, you would never, at least I would never sign up for this," Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said on if he say this team being 5-5 at this juncture. "But it's where we find ourselves. We try to make the most of it."
In other predictions, ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura both have Rutgers playing Texas Tech from the Big 12 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, AZ. Chase Field is the same site the Scarlet Knights broke a 27-year bowl drought when it lost a tight contest to Arizona State in the then-Insight Bowl. Schiano was the coach then in 2005 and he's the coach now in 2021.
Actionnetwork.com also lists Rutgers for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, this time going up against an old Big East rival, West Virginia.
Other projections have Rutgers essentially on the bubble and on the outside looking in with Maryland getting the nod instead. Both teams are 5-5 and meet in the regular season finale at SHI Stadium in two weeks.
Current Big Ten bowl-eligible teams are Ohio State (9-1), Michigan State (9-1), Michigan (9-1), Penn State (6-4), Wisconsin (7-3), Iowa (8-2), Minnesota (6-4), and Purdue (6-4).
Teams other than Rutgers that have a chance at six wins are Illinois (4-6) and Maryland (5-5).
Two other likely bowl game options for Rutgers include the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit and the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
Being bowl game talk out there and in the back of the player's minds, focusing on the task at hand that is Penn State this Saturday is the No. 1 priority.
"That's their choice. You know, I've educated them that there's no such thing as multitasking," Schiano said. "People who believe they can do that, you're just average tasking. You're doing two things sort of sort or. We may not be good enough to win the game. I don't know that, but we're gonna find that on Saturday. But I know we're not good enough to be watching that and watching that. That doesn't work. So I hope they trust me and believe that what I'm telling them is the truth and that our whole focus has to be on Penn State."
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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