Rutgers lost 288-40 to the Big Ten East in 2016. Let’s track RU’s progress in ‘17!

Let’s see how many points the Scarlet Knights can improve this margin by. (Things are looking up!)

In 2016, Rutgers went 2-10. The Scarlet Knights were 0-9 in the Big Ten, including 0-6 in their half of the conference, its East division. The results of those East games:

• Ohio State 58, Rutgers 0
• Michigan 78, Rutgers 0
• Indiana 33, Rutgers 27
• Michigan State 49, Rutgers 0
• Penn State 39, Rutgers, 0
• Maryland 31, Rutgers 13

In sum: East opponents 288, Rutgers 40, an average margin of 48-7.

Now Rutgers is back for another exciting season of Big Ten East play.

In this post, we’re going to track Rutgers’ progress in the East this year, compared to last year. The results so far;

• Ohio State 56, Rutgers 0
• Michigan 35, Rutgers 14
• Maryland 24, Rutgers 31
• Penn State 35, Rutgers 6
• Indiana 41, Rutgers 0

The Scarlet Knights’ final East game this season is Nov. 25 against Michigan State.

The Michigan loss represented real progress. UM’s win in Piscataway last year was one of the most comprehensive routs in FBS history. The Wolverines’ won by so many points that an Ann Arbor steakhouse had to cap a discount that was based on UM’s margin of victory. Jim Harbaugh stopped by anyway. This year, just a three-TD margin!

Last year’s Penn State rout produced one of the year’s most depressing images:

Rutger’s win against Maryland was yet another example of improvement. Overall, they’ve done better, but it’s still not great.

Rutgers’ current status vs. last year:

• Its 56-0 margin vs. Ohio State was two points better than last year’s.
• Its 35-14 margin vs. Michigan was 57 points better than last year’s.
• Last year’s total margin of defeat against the East was 248 points. Rutgers is on pace for a margin of defeat of 231 points. That would be improvement!
• Its 35-6 margin vs. Penn State was 10 points better than last year’s.
• Its 41-0 margin vs. Indiana was 35 points worse than last year’s.