Could The Scarlet Knights Make A Similar Turnaround To The Hoosiers?
Could Rutgers football experience an Indiana-like turnaround? Legendary football coach Urban Meyer, who won two championships with Florida and one with Ohio State, seems to think so.
On Wednesday’s edition of the Triple Option podcast, host Rob Stone posed this question to Meyer, “Give me three programs that could be the next Indiana, meaning teams that are used to losing, have really bad records and can somehow rise from the ashes to become national champion.
Meyer responded, “Rice, Rutgers, and Wake. I have no idea about Rice, no idea about Wake, but I’m going to throw them out there because if Indiana can, they can,” Meyer said. “But I will say Rutgers because Greg Schiano — who I’m biased, he’s a great friend and a great football coach — he had him in the top five in the country at one point in ‘06.”
Out of the three teams he selected, it seems that Meyer threw Rice and Wake Forest out of a hat, because if Indiana could do it, anyone could. But he seems to have a lot of confidence in Rutgers, particularly because of Greg Schiano, who served under Meyer as his defensive coordinator for three seasons in Columbus.
On top of that, he has confidence in Schiano’s track record, particularly in the 2006 season, in which Rutgers got as high as #7 in the AP Top 25 and #6 in the BCS standings. The Scarlet Knights started the season 9-0, highlighted by the win over #3 Louisville that will be forever remembered as “Pandemonium in Piscataway.”
Rutgers finished that season 11-2 and #12 in the AP poll, defeating Kansas State 37-10 in the Texas Bowl for their first bowl victory in program history. However, we are long removed from those days, and the Scarlet Knights underwent a long rebuilding period that they are still climbing out of.
Indiana unlocked lightning in a bottle with elite coaching, talent evaluation, and the NIL money to bring those players to Bloomington to create a contender in two years. Their turnaround from among the worst Power Four teams in the country to the undisputed best has never been seen before, but it proves that in this day and age, success is not limited to the traditional powers or big brands.
This poses the big question. Can Rutgers take a monumental step towards title contention, or will our rebuild continue to be slow and painful as it has been? Let us know in the comments.
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Category: General Sports
