The 2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

during the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 150th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. The Scarlet Knights played their home games at

SHI Stadium SHI Stadium is the football stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse, and women's lacrosse use the venue for home games. It is located on the Busch Campu ...

Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway ( ) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley. As of the 2020 United ...

and competed as members of the East Division of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They were led by fourth-year head coach

Chris Ash Christopher Ash (born December 24, 1973) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He served as the head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 2016 to 2019, and defensive coordinator of ...

. On September 29, 2019, Ash was fired after 3 seasons as head coach. He posted an overall record of 8–32 and 3–26 in Big Ten play.

Nunzio Campanile Nunzio Campanile is an American football coach. He is currently the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse University. Campanile served as the interim head coach at Rutgers University for the final eight games of the 2019 season. He was elevated to that ...

was their interim head coach for the remainder of the season. They finished the season 2–10, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the East Division.

Offseason

Andy Buh was hired as defensive coordinator on January 21, 2019. He had previously served in the same position for three years at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Henry Baker, who served as cornerbacks coach for Rutgers in 2017 but coached at

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in 2018, was hired back as cornerbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll

Although the Big Ten Conference has not held an official preseason poll since 2010,

Cleveland.com ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a ''de facto'' preseason media poll since 2011. For the 2019 poll, Rutgers was projected to finish in last in the East Division.

Schedule

Rutgers' 2019 schedule began on August 30 with a non-conference game against UMass, a football independent. The Scarlet Knights' other non-conference games were against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

and

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

, also an independent at the time. In

play, Rutgers played all members of the East Division as well as

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

from the West Division. Source:

Game summaries

UMass

At Iowa

Boston College

At Michigan

Maryland

At Indiana

Minnesota

Liberty

At Illinois

Ohio State

Michigan State

At Penn State

Roster and Coaches

References

{{Rutgers Scarlet Knights football navbox

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football seasons

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football program represents Rutgers University in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Rutgers competes as a member of the Big Ten Conference. Prior to joining t ...