Rutgers football’s bowl game destination seems clear after lopsided loss to Maryland

Rutgers will not officially learn its bowl destination for another week, but the next seven days will not be very suspenseful.

The Scarlet Knights seemingly sealed their postseason fate on Saturday, when they fell to Maryland in their regular season finale at SHI Stadium. The 42-24 blowout marked their fourth consecutive defeat overall, their third consecutive loss to the Terrapins and the final result that essentially guaranteed their spot at the Pinstripe Bowl in a month’s time.

After starting the season with six wins in its first eight games, clinching its first traditional bowl bid since the 2014 season, Rutgers (6-6, 3-6) had four cracks at earning an upset victory to propel itself up the postseason pecking order. Instead, the Scarlet Knights suffered losses to No. 1 Ohio State , No. 22 Iowa , No. 12 Penn State and unranked Maryland, sliding down into what projects to be a familiar spot when the bowl game designations are announced on Sunday, December 3rd.

With a majority of Saturday’s action concluded, the Big Ten’s bowl picture seems clear:

Bowl Eligible teams (8): Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Maryland, Northwestern, Rutgers.

Bowl Tie-Ins (in selection order): College Football Playoff, non-CFP New Year’s Six bowls (unlimited at-large bids), Orange (highest-ranked Big Ten OR SEC team), Citrus, Reliaquest (only if Big Ten team is NOT selected for Orange), Music City, Las Vegas, Pinstripe, Guaranteed Rate, Quick Lane.

Our best guess at how it shakes out:

- Soon-to-be Big Ten champion Michigan represents the league in the College Football Playoff.

- Big Ten East runner up Ohio State is ranked No. 5 in the CFP rankings, sending it to the Orange Bowl. In this scenario, the Big Ten would vacate its spot in the Reliaquest Bowl.

- 10-2 Penn State earns an at-large bid to a New Year’s Six bowl (Fiesta/Sugar/Peach/Cotton).

- Big Ten West champion Iowa heads to the Citrus Bowl.

- Big Ten West runner-up Wisconsin heads to the Music City Bowl.

- The best of the rest in the Big Ten East, Maryland goes to the Las Vegas Bowl.

- Rutgers heads to the Bronx for the Pinstripe Bowl.

- Northwestern heads to Quick Lane Bowl.

One major chaos scenario remains: Alabama does not make the College Football Playoff, but ranks higher than Ohio State in the CFP rankings. That would push the Buckeyes out of the Orange Bowl, bringing the Reliaquest Bowl back to the Big Ten. The best-case scenario for Rutgers here: the Las Vegas Bowl chooses it over a seven-win Northwestern team it defeated on Labor Day Weekend.

But barring some unlikely scenarios, the Scarlet Knights seemed destined for the Pinstripe Bowl, which is slated to kick-off at 2 p.m. on Thursday, December 28th, from Yankee Stadium. Their opponent would come from the ACC, with potential teams including Georgia Tech (6-6), Boston College (6-6), Duke (7-5), Clemson (7-4; faces South Carolina on Saturday night); it feels unlikely that Syracuse, which clinched a bowl bid on Saturday in former Rutgers assistant Nunzio Campanile’s first game as interim coach , would be selected for a second consecutive season.

No matter where Rutgers ends up, it will mark the 12th bowl game appearance in program history. The Scarlet Knights last played in the 2021 Gator Bowl as a COVID-replacement for Texas A&M, and its last traditional bowl bid was to the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl. They reached six bowl games during head coach Greg Schiano’s first stint with the program, including a program-record five consecutive bids from 2005-09.

Rutgers is 6-5 all-time in bowl games. It once earned five consecutive bowl wins (2006-09, 2011), but has lost three of its last four appearances. The Scarlet Knights are 1-1 all-time at the Pinstripe Bowl, defeating Iowa State in 2011 and falling to Notre Dame in the 2013 edition.