Fun fact and an aside. My great-grandfather, Oliver Mann, was one of the first head football coaches to lead the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Safe to say he watched the product Greg Schiano put on the field on Thursday night and rolled over in his grave. In fact, when the zombie apocalypse happens, instead of eating brains, Mann will just be picketing the athletic department’s offices in Piscataway with a “Fire Schiano” sign. Assuming Schiano isn’t fired later tonight.
That’s how bad Rutgers’ performance against UMASS was in both teams’ season openers. It’s not just that they lost at home to a bad MAC team. It’s that Rutgers lost to a bad MAC team that hadn’t beaten anyone since October of 2024. That year isn’t a typo. The Minutemen went 0-12 in 2025. Before Thursday night, they hadn’t beaten an FBS team since 2023. They’ve never beaten a Power 4 team. Now they have a 37-21 win over a Big Ten school.
What does all this have to do with Nebraska? Assuming Greg Schiano is still the head coach on November 14, a game that looked a little scary during the offseason suddenly looks far more winnable…