The 2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented

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

during the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. The regular season began on August 24, 2019, and end ...

. 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 Campus ...

Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway () is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. At the 2010 United States Census, the population was 56,044, an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) f ...

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) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

. They were led by fourth-year head coach

Chris Ash Chris Ash (born December 24, 1973) is an American football coach who is the defensive backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). A coaching veteran of 24 years, Ash previously served as the head coach at Rutge ...

. 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 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.

Previous season

The Scarlet Knights finished the 2018 season 1–11, 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 shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

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

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

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 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 Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

of the Atlantic Coast Conference and

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, 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 Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

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

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football seasons

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers University in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Rutgers competes as a member of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. ...