For the first time in nearly a decade, Rutgers football is going bowling.
The Scarlet Knights (6-2, 3-2) clinched their first traditional bowl bid since 2014 on Saturday, earning a 31-14 win over Indiana (2-5, 0-4) at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The result guarantees they will finish with a non-losing record for the first time in that span.
The trip will mark the 11th bowl game in program history and the second of head coach Greg Schiano’s second stint — Rutgers played in the 2021 Gator Bowl as a COVID replacement for Texas A&M.
Rutgers is 6-5 all-time in bowl games, including a 5-2 record under Schiano.
| Year | Bowl | Opponent | Result | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Garden State Bowl | Arizona State | L (34-17) | Frank Burns |
| 2005 | Insight Bowl | Arizona State | L (45-40) | Greg Schiano |
| 2006 | Texas Bowl | Kansas State | W (37-10) | Greg Schiano |
| 2007 | International Bowl | Ball State | W (52-30) | Greg Schiano |
| 2008 | PapaJohns.com Bowl | North Carolina State | W (29-23 | Greg Schiano |
| 2009 | St. Petersburg Bowl | UCF | W (45-24) | Greg Schiano |
| 2011 | Pinstripe Bowl | Iowa State | W (27-13) | Kyle Flood |
| 2012 | Russell Athletic Bowl | Virginia Tech | L (13-10, OT) | Kyle Flood |
| 2013 | Pinstripe Bowl | Notre Dame | L (29-16) | Kyle Flood |
| 2014 | Quick Lane Bowl | North Carolina | W (40-21) | Greg Schiano |
| 2021 | Gator Bowl | Wake Forest | L (38-10) | Greg Schiano |
Here are the bowl games Rutgers can earn a bid for, ranging from least to most likely:
Impossible:
- Rose Bowl (Monday, Jan. 1, Pasadena)
- Sugar Bowl (Monday, Jan. 1, New Orleans)
With two losses on their record, it would take a miracle for Rutgers to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals. Yes, even if it wins its final five games — which include top-10 teams in Ohio State and Penn State — the Scarlet Knights would almost certainly not be chosen as one of the top four teams in the nation. It’s a tough party to get into.
Highly unlikely:
- Fiesta Bowl (Monday, Jan. 1, Glendale)
- Peach Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 30, Atlanta)
- Cotton Bowl (Friday, Dec. 29, Arlington)
- Orange Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 30, Miami)
The New Year’s Six bowls are reserved for the best teams in the sport, usually taking teams ranked no lower than 15th in the CFP hierarchy. Rutgers could theoretically reach that threshold if it wins four of its next five games, but that seems incredibly unlikely considering it still has to host Ohio State and travel to Penn State and Iowa.
Possible, but still work to do
- ReliaQuest Bowl (Monday, Jan. 1, Tampa, Big Ten vs. SEC)
- Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (Monday, Jan. 1, Orlando, Big Ten vs. SEC)
These are the mid-tier bowl tie-ins for the Big Ten, where the teams just below the national title contenders and top-20 teams end up playing.
The Citrus Bowl hosted last season’s Big Ten West winner and Big Ten title game loser Purdue (8-5, 6-3) against LSU. The ReliaQuest Bowl hosted the Big Ten West runner-up and the conference’s surprise team Illinois (8-4, 5-4), who faced Mississippi State.
There is an important caveat to note in this bunch: if a Big Ten team is selected for the Orange Bowl — the criteria of which pits the highest-ranked non-playoff-bound team from the Big Ten, SEC or Notre Dame in the CFP rankings against the ACC champion — then the conference vacates its spot in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Most likely
- Pinstripe Bowl (Thursday, Dec. 28, Bronx, vs. ACC).
- Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Tuesday, Dec. 26, Phoenix, vs. Big 12).
- Quick Lane Bowl (Tuesday, Dec. 26, Detroit, vs. MAC).
- Las Vegas Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 23, Las Vegas, vs. Pac 12).
- Music City Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 30, Nashville, vs. SEC).
The bowls in the bottom-rung of the Big Ten tie-ins are familiar to the Scarlet Knights. Their last bowl appearance came in the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl, their first bowl appearance under Greg Schiano was in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl (then known as the Insight Bowl) and they have twice played in the Pinstripe Bowl. The only one to knock out on the list is the Las Vegas Bowl, which will be hosting a Big Ten team for the first time in its 31st edition.
Assuming Rutgers finishes the season as expected with one or no more wins, this is the range of games it will fall into; last season’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl hosted a 6-6 Wisconsin team against Oklahoma State, while the Music City Bowl hosted a 7-5 Iowa team against Kentucky.
But even an 8-4 record might not be enough to bump Rutgers out of this range. The Golden Gophers, led by former Scarlet Knights assistant PJ Fleck, played in last December’s Pinstripe Bowl despite finishing with an 8-4 record that had them tied for second place in the Big Ten West.
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
