Rutgers (6-4, 3-4) hosts Illinois (7-3, 4-3) on Senior Day.
Rutgers hosts No. 24 Illinois in Piscataway on Saturday in a game that it could set multiple program marks. The Scarlet Knights have never won three straight Big Ten games, have never won four Big Ten games in a season and have not beaten a ranked team in 15 years, losing their last 40 meetings with teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Head coach Greg Schiano’s team impressed after the bye week, earning back-to-back wins over Minnesota and Maryland to lock in a second consecutive bowl bid. Rutgers is playing for seeding now, and defeating the Illini would go a long way in improving their postseason résumé. Illinois might be ranked but the Illini are very beatable. They are, statistically speaking, quite mediocre in nearly everything — total offense , total defense and scoring offense . The key will be forcing quarterback Luke Altmeyer into making mistakes, which he hasn’t done much this season with 18 touchdown passes and just three interceptions, and containing a running game that has moved the chains even against the likes of Oregon and Michigan.
It’s not ridiculous to think this game will be won by the better quarterback. While Luke Altmeyer has been consistent, accurate and generally a revelation for Illinois, the same can be said about Athan Kaliakmanis and his Rutgers resurgence. Kaliakmanis has been more than a game-manager, he’s been excellent in the second half of the season — even carrying Rutgers while its defense slumped. After putting together a complete game last week, Rutgers parlays the success to a third straight win.
Over the past two weeks, Rutgers has looked like the team we thought it could be in the preseason: a solid defense, an improved offense and strong coaching from two qualified coordinators. After barreling through a better Minnesota team and a solid Maryland team, the Scarlet Knights will have plenty of momentum and a lot of emotion behind them against a good-not-great Illinois team.
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