The 2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented

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

in the

2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2016 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). The regular season began on August 26, 2016 and ended on Dec ...

. It was the Scarlet Knights' third season as a member 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 athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, and a member of the East Division. The team was led by Chris Ash, who is in his first season. Rutgers played its home games at

High Point Solutions 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 at ...

Piscataway Piscataway may refer to: *Piscataway people, a Native American ethnic group native to the southern Mid-Atlantic States *Piscataway language *Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community *Piscataway, New Jersey, a township *Piscataway Creek, Ma ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. They finished the season 2–10, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the East Division.

Schedule

Rutgers announced its 2016 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2016 schedule consists of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Scarlet Knights will host Big Ten foes

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

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the 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: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, and will travel to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the 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; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

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 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. The team will host two of the three non–conference games which are against

Howard Bison The Howard Bison and Lady Bison are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. The Bison compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s and Division I Footba ...

from the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

, the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athle ...

from the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

, and

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

from the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

(Pac-12).

Game summaries

At Washington

Howard

New Mexico

Iowa

At Ohio State

Michigan

After its game against Ohio State, Rutgers returned home to face Michigan in Michigan's first road game of the season. Michigan defeated Rutgers 49–16 in the previous meeting. Michigan won in a historic blowout, 78–0. Michigan opened the scoring in the first quarter via a four-yard touchdown run from Ty Isaac. Michigan added to its lead via a 30-yard touchdown pass from Speight to Chesson. Michigan added 29 points in the second quarter via a seven-yard touchdown run from Peppers, two one-yard touchdown runs from Hill, a two-point conversion Garrett Moores rush, and a four-yard touchdown run from Peppers, which made the score 43–0 in favor of Michigan at half-time. Michigan added 14 points in the third quarter via an 11-yard touchdown pass from

John O'Korn John August O'Korn (born November 22, 1994) is a former American football quarterback. After attending St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he led his team to the 2012 FHSAA 7A state high school title, O'Korn chose ...

to Hill, and a 15-yard touchdown run from Karan Higdon. Michigan added 21 points in the fourth quarter via a 13-yard touchdown run from Bobby Henderson, a 44-yard touchdown run from Higdon, and a 34-yard touchdown run from Isaac. The game was a statistical domination for Michigan. Michigan accumulated 600 yards of offense and eleven touchdowns (nine rushing, two passing); the nine rushing touchdowns tied for the most in modern program history. Khalid Hill recorded three touchdown scores, making him the first Michigan player with three or more scores since Chesson had four in 2015 against Indiana. Michigan improved to 6–0 for the first time since

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and recorded its first shutout since the previous season against Northwestern. Michigan's defense held Rutgers to only 39 total yards, two first downs, 14 three-and-outs and 0-for-17 on third down. Michigan recorded its largest margin of victory—during either conference or non-conference play—since it defeated

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

85–0 in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

. This was also the largest margin of victory in any Big Ten game since the same Michigan victory over Chicago. The defeat was Rutgers' worst loss since an 82–0 loss to

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

in 1888.

Illinois

At Minnesota

Indiana

At Michigan State

Penn State

Penn State piled up 39 points despite the game taking place during an ice storm and limited Rutgers to 87 yards, 5 first downs, and 1-14 third down conversions, managing only 1 yard in the entire second half.

At Maryland

Roster and staff

Awards and honors

Weekly All-Conference

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 was a ...

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. ...