Having won its fifth straight game Saturday with a 30-3 victory over Army, Rutgers became bowl eligible.
Next up for the Scarlet Knights (6-5, 4-2 Big East) is a Dec. 4 tilt with Louisville at Rutgers Stadium (ESPN). The Cardinals (5-6, 1-5) need to win this game to become bowl eligible, while Rutgers will be looking to advance to a bowl for the fourth straight season.
“I don’t know what the excitement level will be, but I do know that the way we’re going to approach it is going to be the way we’ve approached all these games this year,” said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. “It’s a one-game season, we have to prepare.
“I think it’s fun, fun for the kids and fun for the program and our fans to have a meaningful game this late in the year.”
Schiano said he hopes the Rutgers fans will turn out in large numbers to become a 12th man.
“I’m always hoping for that,” Schiano said. “And we’ve had it for I don’t know however many sellouts we’ve had. I think our fans our great. I think it will be a great atmosphere….I think it will be a great crowd.”
Asked for his thoughts on Syracuse’s shocking upset of Notre Dame, Schiano said it was good for the conference. Notre Dame is now 0-2 against the Big East this year.
“I think any time the Big East Conference wins their out-of-conference games, it’s very big, regardless of who it is,” he said. “Since Notre Dame has a connection to [the bowl setup], I know there are implications, but I haven’t sat down and worked the numbers out.”
Schiano said he watched the fourth quarter of that game and could empathize with Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, who was fired effective the end of the season.
“Any time someone’s let go in our business, every coach unanimously feels for him, especially if you’ve been there before, as I have,” Schiano said. “I was really happy for Greg and for Syracuse and for the Big East.”
