By Jimmy Allinder
The prospects have certainly changed for the Rutgers University football team (0-8 Big Ten, 2-9 overall) since the season began.
Back on Sept. 3, the Scarlet Knights opened the 2016 season with a trip to Seattle to face the University of Washington and were led by new head coach Chris Ash.
An outwardly confident man with a tough demeanor, Ash arrived at Rutgers after an impressive stint at Ohio State University. Along with him came a slew of energetic assistants brimming with fresh ideas, and many thought the new regime would transform the program into a winner immediately.
That was until Rutgers made the 3,000-mile cross-country trip to play at Husky Stadium — one of the most hostile environments for opponents in the country.
Rutgers’ inadequacies were exposed on both sides of the ball in a 48-13 whipping by the Huskies (10-1), who are now ranked sixth in the nation and just might qualify for the NCAA national championship playoffs.
The sentiment about Rutgers suddenly went from figuring out when the Knights would become bowl eligible (a minimum of six wins) to wondering if that was even possible. As losses piled up, it was obvious Rutgers would be staying home during the postseason, and people began to question whether the Knights could even win against a Big Ten opponent.
The final opportunity to do that comes Nov. 26 at the University of Maryland (2-6 conference, 5-6 overall), and the chance of Rutgers escaping with a victory is unlikely. Meanwhile, Maryland has the incentive of becoming bowl eligible if it wins.
At this point, the Knights are playing for pride and the seniors who will don a scarlet uniform for the last time, Ash said during a late-night press conference following a 39-0 loss to Penn State University Nov. 19.
“The good thing is we have one more opportunity for this group of individuals to go out and play the game that they love together one more time,” he said. “[We’ll] keep trying to find a way to let these seniors enjoy a moment together here at the end of the season.”
The immediate priority for Rutgers after this forgettable campaign ends is finding a way to put points on the scoreboard. Winning a conference game would be a plus, too. The week before the Penn State debacle, the Knights traveled to Michigan State University (1-7 conference, 3-8 overall), and the result was also an embarrassing shutout, 49-0. In eight Big Ten games, the Knights have been shut out four times.
It wasn’t a shock when Ash was questioned if his players just weren’t good enough to compete.
“There’s a combination of things,” he said. “Like I’ve said before, I’m never going to make an excuse. I’m not going to ever say it’s about players. It’s about us coaching and executing and finding out what our players can do, and we’ve got to do a better job of that.”
Most disconcerting is how the team’s performance has deteriorated as the season winds down, perhaps a sign the team has thrown in the towel. Ash said that’s not the case.
“Look, I came here with a plan, came here with a vision,” he said. “Go back to the opening press conference I had standing right here in this room (December 2015). I never told anybody it was going to be easy. It’s going to be difficult; we’ve got a lot of challenges that lay ahead, but we’ll get there. And I’m not going to make any predictions on when, but we’ll be there. I can promise you that.
“We’re going to be swinging really hard. We are developing the players that are on the roster, the younger players right now. We are going to be recruiting really hard. Those things will never change. Our goals are not going to change. The vision is not going to change. The plan is not going to change.”
The final question was one that’s probably being asked by most who follow Rutgers: Is the job of rebuilding Rutgers into a winning Big Ten program bigger than Ash thought when he took the head coaching job?
“I knew there were going to be a lot of challenges,” he said.
That response spoke volumes of the task ahead.