Football Rutgers Football adds Wagner to 2022 schedule

[yesrutgers01]

I felt good about scheduling Wagner until the nj.com article reminded me that they have lost twenty straight. Is it really good for us to play an obvious doormat like that? I remember when my alma mater, Cal, would play San Jose State each year. It was pretty much a guaranteed win, but the game was competitive, and there was always the chance for an upset. Here we're going to look bad if Wagner stays with us even for a quarter.

NO ONE will remember the game if we get a 6th win and go bowling. Even if it is tied at half. This game means nothing except for a win that will count on our record.

 

[mdk01]

A number of people have said this, but I don't think there are many schools scheduling opponents less than 5% of their size that have lost twenty games in a row.

You'd be surprised. Georgia played Charleston Southern. I actually looked that one up, 2700 students. Alabama played Mercer. I don't know about 20 game losing streaks, and they might not know when the games are scheduled, but the student bodies are at a whole different level.

 

[retired711]

You'd be surprised. Georgia played Charleston Southern. I actually looked that one up, 2700 students. Alabama played Mercer. I don't know about 20 game losing streaks, and they might not know when the games are scheduled, but the student bodies are at a whole different level.

Mercer has close to 5000 undergrads, and Alabama has 31,000 in Tuscaloosa, the main campus. That's not Rutgers-Wagner proportions -- we have 36,000 in NB/Piscataway as compared to their 1750 -- but I get your point.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Student enrollment size is irrelevant when evaluating a revenue generating athletic program. Wake Forest has less than 5500 undergrads and won the ACC championship.

 

[retired711]

You'd be surprised. Georgia played Charleston Southern. I actually looked that one up, 2700 students. Alabama played Mercer. I don't know about 20 game losing streaks, and they might not know when the games are scheduled, but the student bodies are at a whole different level.

Part of my problem is that I think games like this hurt college football. It is bad enough to have blowouts between conference opponents, and it's much worse for schools to be paying doormats to get blasted. The less competitive the games, the less the sport will attract viewers and fans. (This is why the NFL came up with a TV formula that allows it to say credibly that "on any given Sunday . . .") But I do understand that everyone does this, so I guess we should, too.

 

[retired711]

Student enrollment size is irrelevant when evaluating a revenue generating athletic program. Wake Forest has less than 5500 undergrads and won the ACC championship.

Wagner isn't Wake Forest by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Wagner isn't Wake Forest by any stretch of the imagination.

Correct. But my point remains.

 

[retired711]

Correct. But my point remains.

But it's irrelevant given how bad the Wagner program is. It is very possible for a small school to have an outstanding program (another example is Gonzaga in basketball -- it has less than 5000 undergraduates) but it is extremely unusual, and it is not true in this case. Generally, it's the big boys who win.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Wagner’s defensive coordinator Darrell Wilson has Rutgers and Big Ten ties.

Darrell Wilson - Assistant Coach / Wide Receivers - Football Coaches - Wagner College Athletics

Recruiting Areas: New Jersey (Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Salem, Somerset counties), Philadelphia (Chester,

wagnerathletics.com

Wagner’s offensive line coach was Gus Edward’s high school coach.

Jim Munson - Special Teams Coordinator / Linebackers Coach - Football Coaches - Wagner College Athletics

Recruiting Areas: New York City | New Jersey (Ocean, Monmouth) | Junior College/Prep – (Lackawanna, Myrtle Beach, Sussex, Monroe, Nassau) Jim Munson, a

wagnerathletics.com

 

[LetsGoRUwrestling]

I now Wagner is not good right now..But were going to play against 65 athletes that are on full scholarships that will treat this game as their Super Bowl..If Wagner plays well RU will win by 20/25...If they play bad by 40+..I think its a great pick up playing a 1-AA school...Get the W...We don't want to schedule James Madison or North Dakota State

 

[Dpgru]

Even with Wagner on our schedule you could argue that Ru does not have the easiest OOC slate in the BIG next year. RU plays BC (sag #78), Temple (sag #172) and Wagner (sag #255), (average sag 132), but two of the three are away games. Michigan plays Col St (sag #107, Hawaii (sag #99), and UCONN (sag #190), ( average sag 132, the same as RU) and all three are at home and no p5 opponent. RU is the only BIG team with two away games. Eight have all three at home and the other five have two home/ one away. Maryland plays Buffalo and SMU at home with Charlotte on the road, no p5 opponent. Wiscy plays Wash St (p5 sag #38), New Mex St (sag 182), Illinois St (sag #160), average sag 127, 5 below RU, but all three at home. Purdue plays Cuse away (sag #83), and Indy St (sag #167), and FAU (sag #117) at home, average sag #122, 10 below RU. Granted, Wagner is the weakest OOC opponent in the BIG. But there is more to it than just that one game.

 

[Mr_Twister]

One of the lesser Florida programs would have been good. Games with Tennessee and/or New Hampshire would have interesting storylines.

 

[e5fdny]

One of the lesser Florida programs would have been good.

I like that idea but only if your going down there to play too. Because what’s the point with playing a FL school unless your in front of them, right?

So IMO that eliminates FAU and FIU as neither is worthy of a series. I doubt Florida State would do one while Florida says their white uniform is only for SEC games and as for Miami, been there done that.

That leaves USF or UCF. Fine with either down the road.

 

[Southern Gentleman]

Well said.
See that the Hogs open up wih Cincinnati next year. That should be interesting.

I am nervous enough about Penn State already! Especially since our top player decided to opt out!
But Cincy next year, Notre Dame the following year I think!

 

[Shelby65]

The two issues:

1. Why was it necessary to schedule such a weak FCS ? Wagner isn’t just below average. Wagner can’t even win a game against other FCS. Seems like scheduling scared.

2. The view here that we had no choice this late is no excuse. It was intentional. If we are scheduling scared, ok. If We need a confidence boosting win with a new QB and we can’t risk playing even a low level but not rock bottom FCS, admit it.

 

[rurichdog]

Wagner won the D3 National Championship back in 1987. Did they chase D1 dreams of money & prestige?

 

[e5fdny]

Wagner won the D3 National Championship back in 1987. Did they chase D1 dreams of money & prestige?

They probably caught up in the change by the NCAA that said all sports at a school had to be the same division.

Anyone remember 1AAA?

I think only Johns Hopkins still has an athletic program across multiple divisions. But I could be wrong.

 

[mdk01]

They probably caught up in the change by the NCAA that said all sports at a school had to be the same division.

Anyone remember 1AAA?

I think only Johns Hopkins still has an athletic program across multiple divisions. But I could be wrong.

Ivies are FCS for football and D1 for everything else. I think only Hopkins is D1 in 1 sport and D3 in everything else.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Ivies are FCS for football and D1 for everything else. I think only Hopkins is D1 in 1 sport and D3 in everything else.

I think it is more common than that.

Lock Haven in PA is D2 is most sports, but D1 in field hockey and in wrestling, where they compete in the A10 and the MAC respectively.

BTW, FCS is D1.

 

[colbert17]

The two issues:

1. Why was it necessary to schedule such a weak FCS ? Wagner isn’t just below average. Wagner can’t even win a game against other FCS. Seems like scheduling scared.

2. The view here that we had no choice this late is no excuse. It was intentional. If we are scheduling scared, ok. If We need a confidence boosting win with a new QB and we can’t risk playing even a low level but not rock bottom FCS, admit it.

You've made both of these points before in this thread. I think everyone is 100% clear on where you stand on this.

 

[Scarlet Craig]

vvv*I don't remember saying this?*vvv

"It has everything to do with efforts to put Rutgers on a higher national platform. I understand that there is no direct causation between a decision several years ago and now; however, we want to be competitive with the big boys, yet we make little boy scheduling plans. Playing Wagner will be sure to help our recruiting eff"


The only thing I said in this thread was how bad a team Wagner has been the last 3 years, and how a game like this won't get fans back in the stadium. Wimsatt or Simon could get video game like numbers in a 83-3 type win and still won't get any national attention or improve recruiting. I didn't even know Buffalo beat Wagner 69-7 this year. I doubt Alabama uses 59-3 win over NM St for recruiting. You needed a "name" school home win to get attention off the bigger home losing streak. Temple and Delaware wins didn't do it, neither did Liberty, UMass or Texas St in 2019 or 2018. Rutgers is 4-31 at home in the B1G, 19 game B1G home losing streak, 9 of them his. He HAS to end that streak next year, and even then it will be national attention in a 50/50 good/bad way until the 2nd B1G home win happens. I think getting a full house back will help the overall play of the home team. Wagner will not accomplish that for the first B1G home game in 2022.

OK, but my point was we did just fine with recruiting playing Howard or Norfolk State winning 56-7 and that was with a way weaker conference schedule. So we’re playing Wagner. Who cares. Don’t worry so much.