The Kind of Rutgers Loss Schiano's Hiring Was Meant to Stop

September 23, 1995, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey: Penn State 59, Rutgers 34. This was the game at Giants Stadium where Joe Paterno ran up the score, and Rutgers coach Doug Graber got in his face at the end, and Penn State's jackass fans called Graber out for having no class.

November 23, 1996, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana: Notre Dame 62, Rutgers 0. Live to a national audience on NBC. Losing away to the Fighting Irish was to be expected, but 62-0?

October 9, 1997, Rutgers Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey: Syracuse 50, Rutgers 3. I was there. RU finished 0-11.

September 19, 1998, Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse 70, Rutgers 14.

October 24, 1998, Rutgers Stadium: Tulane 52, Rutgers 28. Tulane hanging 52 on us? At home?

October 9, 1999, Rutgers Stadium: Virginia Tech 58, Rutgers 20. I was there, watching Michael Vick and a swarming defense led by Corey Moore destroy the Scarlet Knights. Somehow, in my mind, this got conflated with the '98 Syracuse game, which wasn't even at home, and entered my memory as, "I saw Michael Vick and Virginia Tech beat Rutgers, 70-14." The truth was bad enough. Oddly, Rutgers beat Syracuse that season, 24-21, the only win in a 1-10 season.

September 30, 2000, Rutgers Stadium: Miami 64, Rutgers 6.

September 8, 2001, Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida: Miami 61, Rutgers 0. This was the 1st game of the Greg Schiano regime, Round 1.

September 29, 2001, Rutgers Stadium: Connecticut 20, Rutgers 19. One point, but Rutgers was not supposed to be losing to UConn. In basketball, yes; in football, no.

October 13, 2001, Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple 30, Rutgers 5. Rutgers was not supposed to be losing to Temple. In basketball, yes; in football, no.

November 3, 2001, Mountaineer Field, Morgantown, West Virginia: West Virginia 80, Rutgers 7. These games run together so much, I thought I remembered being at this game, at Rutgers Stadium. Instead, it was on the road. I know I saw Rutgers get destroyed at home by the Mountaineers at some point. This season ended 2-9, but the losses were more painful than in the 0-11 and 1-10 seasons.

August 31, 2002, Rutgers Stadium: Villanova 37, Rutgers 19. Rutgers was not supposed to be losing to Villanova. In basketball, yes; in football, no.

September 7, 2002, Rutgers Stadium: University of Buffalo 34, Rutgers 11. I was there. Rutgers was not supposed to be losing to Buffalo. In any sport.

October 12, 2002, Rutgers Stadium: West Virginia 40, Rutgers 0. Maybe this was the West Virginia loss at home I was thinking of. RU finished 1-11.

November 11, 2005, L&N Stadium, Louisville, Kentucky: Louisville 56, Rutgers 5. RU seemed to have finally turned the corner under Schiano, going 7-4 and reaching a real bowl game for the first time ever. But this was a bad loss, shown nationally on ESPN2.

November 18, 2006, Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio: University of Cincinnati 30, Rutgers 11. Coming just 9 days after the epic ESPN-prime win over Number 3 Louisville, it was like RU had fumbled the best chance it would ever have. Losing this game, and to West Virginia in double overtime 2 weeks later, cost RU the Big East title and the bid that Louisville got to the Orange Bowl.

September 7, 2009, Rutgers Stadium: Cincinnati 47, Rutgers 15. I was there. The season was over by halftime of the opening game.

November 20, 2010, Nippert Stadium: Cincinnati 69, Rutgers 38. Okay, the Bearcats had a good run. But the days when teams could score a point a minute on RU should have been long over. After the season, instead of staying to "finish the job," Schiano left, to coach the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He flopped, miserably.

October 27, 2012, High Point Solutions Stadium (the first renaming of Rutgers Stadium): Kent State 35, Rutgers 23. Rutgers is not supposed to lose to Kent State. That's why the 1st game at the rebuilt stadium, on September 3, 1994, had Kent State as the opponent. RU won that, 28-9. Not this.

October 18, 2014, Ohio Stadium, Columbus: Ohio State 56, Rutgers 17. Welcome to the Big Ten Conference, Scarlet Knights.

October 1, 2016, Ohio Stadium: Ohio State 58, Rutgers 0.

October 8, 2016, High Point Solutions Stadium: Michigan 78, Rutgers 0. Ohio State were ranked Number 2 in the country. Michigan, Number 4. And RU had to play them in back-to-back games. Refresh my memory: Why was joining the Big Ten a good idea?

September 9, 2017, High Point Solutions Stadium: Eastern Michigan 16, Rutgers 13. We're losing at home to Mid-American Conference teams now? Get used to it.

September 15, 2018: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas: Kansas 55, Rutgers 14. This is another opponent where losing to them in basketball is understandable, but not in football, and not by this much. The season ended 1-11, although 3 were by 7 points or less.

The name of the stadium was changed to SHI Stadium in 2019. Greg Schiano, Rutgers' Deadbeat Dad, returned in 2020. Things weren't going so well, but not too badly, until...

September 3, 2026, SHI Stadium: University of Massachusetts 37, Rutgers 21. UMass hadn't won a game all last season. And this was supposed to be 1 of 2 games for RU that was clearly winnable, the other being Howard at home.

At halftime, with the score 28-7, a reporter for the Big Ten Network asked Schiano what was happening, and he said, "We're just a little bit out of whack right now." Ya think, Greg?

This was the kind of Rutgers' loss Schiano's hiring was meant to stop. The 1st time, and the 2nd time.

Instead, it was just another embarrassment for the school that played and won the first college football game, and hasn't done much since.