Watch the Rutgers football team host the first Scarlet Walk of the season
The Rutgers football team hosted its first Scarlet Walk of the 2024 season, which began with Greg Schiano welcoming interim athletic director Ryan Pisarri.
This game had great potential to determine the course of the Rutgers football season.
Not that a win would make the rest of the schedule easier for the Scarlet Knights, or that a loss would be a major blow to Rutgers’ campaign.
It’s way too early for any of these things to happen.
But a win at Virginia Tech? To make the season record 3-0?
This is significant.
Rutgers passed the test.
Playing against a Power 4 opponent for the first time this young season, the Scarlet Knights faced their toughest challenge yet, beating the Hokies 26-23 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg after Jai Patel kicked a 24-yard field goal with two minutes left and Robert Longerbeam threw a game-winning interception to thwart Virginia Tech’s final drive.
There was hardly anything easy about this game for Rutgers.
For a while, however, it was.
Greg Schiano’s team had a comfortable 16-point lead – a lead that could have been even larger if the Scarlet Knights had been able to capitalize on some key opportunities and not missed a 36-yard field goal early in the game.
Then the Hokies scored two straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter—converting the two-point attempt each time—tying the game and driving the Rutgers fans’ nerves crazy.
“You learn from it,” Schiano told reporters after the game. “You really go at someone and then it all turns around. It’s very, very difficult. Especially in their stadium, it’s difficult to come back from a deficit and win the game. We did that.”
Then came Patel’s field goal and Longerbeam’s pick.
Then came Rutgers’ victory and every Scarlet Knight fan could breathe a sigh of relief.
And then everyone can look at the standings and see that Rutgers did exactly what it needed to do in three games.
The Scarlet Knights easily defeated two inferior opponents at home in Howard and Akron.
Then they went on tour as underdogs and won – as close as it may have been – at Virginia Tech for the first time in program history.
And that created perhaps the best home atmosphere the Rutgers football team has experienced in over a decade when it hosts Washington at SHI Stadium on Friday.
Primetime. Under the spotlight. National television.
And perhaps most importantly, they have a beatable opponent in the Huskies.
Washington reached the national championship game last season, losing to Michigan, but this year it’s a much different team. It has a new coach, Jedd Fisch of Livingston, New Jersey, after Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama. It has a new quarterback after Michel Penix Jr. left for the NFL — although Will Rogers, who transferred from Mississippi State, isn’t a bad player, to say the least. It also has a defense led by the son of Bill Belichick — former Rutgers long snapper and lacrosse player Steve Belichick.
The Huskies rolled over the struggling Northwestern on Saturday night, winning 3-1.
Regardless, Rutgers is in a good position that would be further strengthened by a win over Washington, which would put the Scarlet Knights two wins away from bowl eligibility before October.
Rutgers has the most manageable Big Ten schedule since joining the conference a decade ago, and it still has plenty of games to win.
Sure, the Scarlet Knights narrowly missed out on Virginia Tech.
But what matters is that they did it.
“In many ways, this game will help us get through this experience together,” Schiano said.
Three games. Three wins.
So far, the season is going well for Rutgers.
And now the challenge for the Scarlet Knights? Keep it up.
