2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

The 2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers University during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Scarlet Knights played their home games at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey and competed as members of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by fourth-year head coach Chris Ash. On September 29, 2019, Ash was fired after 3​¹⁄₃ seasons as head coach. He posted an overall record of 8–32 and 3–26 in Big Ten play. Nunzio Campanile was their interim head coach for the remainder of the season. They finished the season 2–10, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the East Division.

2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
	East Division
2019 record	2–10 (0–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Chris Ash (4th season; first 4 games) Nunzio Campanile (interim; remainder of season)
Offensive coordinator	John McNulty (2nd season; first 4 games) Nunzio Campanile (remainder of season)
Defensive coordinator	Andy Buh (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Noah Joseph (2nd season)
Home stadium	SHI Stadium (Capacity: 52,454)
Uniform

2019 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 3 Ohio State xy$^		9	–	0					13	–	1
No. 9 Penn State		7	–	2					11	–	2
No. 18 Michigan		6	–	3					9	–	4
Indiana		5	–	4					8	–	5
Michigan State		4	–	5					7	–	6
Maryland		1	–	8					3	–	9
Rutgers		0	–	9					2	–	10
West Division
No. 11 Wisconsin xy		7	–	2					10	–	4
No. 10 Minnesota x		7	–	2					11	–	2
No. 15 Iowa		6	–	3					10	–	3
Illinois		4	–	5					6	–	7
Purdue		3	–	6					4	–	8
Nebraska		3	–	6					5	–	7
Northwestern		1	–	8					3	–	9
Championship: Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 21
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Scarlet Knights finished the 2018 season 1–11, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the East Division.

Offseason

Andy Buh was hired as defensive coordinator on January 21, 2019.[1] He had previously served in the same position for three years at Maryland. Henry Baker, who served as cornerbacks coach for Rutgers in 2017 but coached at North Carolina in 2018, was hired back as cornerbacks coach and passing game coordinator.[2]

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll

Although the Big Ten Conference has not held an official preseason poll since 2010, Cleveland.com has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a de facto preseason media poll since 2011. For the 2019 poll, Rutgers was projected to finish in last in the East Division.[3]

Media poll (East Division)
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Michigan	222 (20)
2	Ohio State	214 (14)
3	Michigan State	156
4	Penn State	154
5	Indiana	86.5
6	Maryland	82.5
7	Rutgers	37

Schedule

Rutgers' 2019 schedule will begin on August 30 with a non-conference game against UMass, a football independent. The Scarlet Knights' other non-conference games will be against Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Liberty, also an independent. In Big Ten Conference play, Rutgers will play all members of the East Division and draws Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois from the West Division.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:15 p.m.	UMass*	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	W 48–21	40,515
September 7	12:00 p.m.	at No. 20 Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	FS1	L 0–30	61,808
September 21	12:00 p.m.	Boston College*	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	L 16–30	32,217
September 28	12:00 p.m.	at No. 20 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	BTN	L 0–52	110,662
October 5	12:00 p.m.	Maryland	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	L 7–48	30,185
October 12	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	BTN	L 0–35	37,055
October 19	3:30 p.m.	No. 20 Minnesota	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	L 7–42	22,429
October 26	12:00 p.m.	Liberty*	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	W 44–34	23,058
November 2	3:30 p.m.	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 10–38	35,632
November 16	3:30 p.m.	No. 2 Ohio State	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	BTN	L 21–56	33,528
November 23	12:00 p.m.	Michigan State	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ	FS1	L 0–27	24,641
November 30	3:30 p.m.	at No. 10 Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	BTN	L 6–27	98,895
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 5) released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Source:[4]

Game summaries

UMass

	1	2	3	4	Total
Minutemen	21	0	0	0	21
Scarlet Knights	7	31	3	7	48

at Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	0	0	0	0	0
No. 20 Hawkeyes	7	13	7	3	30

Boston College

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	10	7	6	30
Scarlet Knights	7	6	0	3	16

at Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	0	0	0	0	0
No. 20 Wolverines	14	10	14	14	52

Maryland

	1	2	3	4	Total
Terrapins	7	20	21	0	48
Scarlet Knights	0	7	0	0	7

at Indiana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	0	0	0	0	0
Hoosiers	21	0	14	0	35

Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Golden Gophers	7	7	7	21	42
Scarlet Knights	0	0	0	7	7

Liberty

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	14	7	3	10	34
Scarlet Knights	7	14	17	6	44

at Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	0	10	0	0	10
Fighting Illini	10	0	21	7	38

Ohio State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Buckeyes	21	14	14	7	56
Scarlet Knights	7	0	7	7	21

Michigan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	10	7	3	7	27
Scarlet Knights	0	0	0	0	0

at Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Scarlet Knights	3	0	0	3	6
No. 10 Nittany Lions	7	0	6	14	27

Roster and Coaches

2019 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 1 Isaih Pacheco So RB 2 Raheem Blackshear  Jr QB 3 McLane Carter  Sr RB 4 Aaron Young Fr WR 5 Paul Woods  Fr WR 6 Mohamed Jabbie  Jr WR 7 Hunter Hayek Jr QB 8 Artur Sitkowski So WR 9 Tyler Hayek  So TE 10 Matt Alaimo  Fr TE 11 Johnathan Lewis  So WR 12 Jalen Jordan  Fr WR 13 Prince Taylor  Jr WR 14 Everett Wormley Jr WR 15 Shameen Jones  So QB 16 Cole Snyder Fr QB 17 Johnny Langan  Fr WR 18 Bo Melton Jr QB 19 Austin Albericci  Fr RB 20 Elijah Barnwell  So WR 21 Eddie Lewis So RB 22 Kay'Ron Adams Fr RB 33 Parker Day  So TE 35 Jonathan Pimentel  Fr RB 40 Joseph Hayford Jr TE 42 Jake Malaney Fr TE 45 Brandon Myers  Fr TE 48 Ryan Cassidy  So TE 49 Kyle Penniston  Sr OL 50 Owen Bowles  So OL 51 Jamaal Beaty  So OL 54 Kamaal Seymour  Sr OL 55 Michael Maietti  Jr OL 57 Zach Miseo  So OL 59 C. J. Hanson Fr OL 60 Omari Cooper Jr OL 61 Mike Lonsdorf  Jr OL 63 Jim Onulak  Jr OL 64 Jason Lavigna Fr OL 66 Nick Krimin  Jr OL 70 Reggie Sutton  Fr OL 71 Raiqwon O'Neal  Fr OL 72 Manny Taylor  Sr OL 74 Sam Howson  Jr OL 75 Zach Venesky  Sr OL 76 Matt Rosso  Fr OL 77 Sam Vretman Jr OL 78 Liam Flite  Fr OL 79 Anton Oskarsson Fr WR 80 Monterio Hunt Jr WR 81 Rich McDonald So WR 82 Christian Dremel Fr WR 83 Isaiah Washington Fr WR 84 Cole Murphy  Sr WR 85 Daevon Robinson So TE 86 Cooper Heisey Fr WR 87 John Guaimano Fr WR 88 Stanley King Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 2 Avery Young So LB 3 Olakunle Fatukasi Jr DB 4 Tim Barrow  So DB 5 Kessawn Abraham So LB 6 Rashawn Battle  Jr DL 7 Elorm Lumor  Jr LB 8 Tyshon Fogg Jr LB 9 Tyreek Maddox-Williams  Jr LB 10 Zukudo Igwenagu Fr LB 11 Drew Singleton  So DB 12 Christian Izien  Fr DB 13 Amir Byrd Fr DB 14 Jameer Campbell Jr WR 15 Malik Dixon  Sr LB 17 Deion Jennings  Fr DB 17 Zamir Mickens  Fr DB 19 Calebe Silva  So DB 21 Tre Avery  Jr DB 22 Damon Hayes Sr DB 23 Donald Williams Fr DB 24 Naijee Jones  So DB 25 Jarrett Paul So LB 26 C. J. Onyechi  So DB 27 Kobe Marfo  Sr LB 28 Aslan Pugh  Jr DB 29 Lawrence Stevens  Jr DB 30 Chris Conti Fr LB 31 Johnny Yorey  Fr DB 32 Rani Abdulaziz  So DB 33 Kyle LaPorte  Sr DB 35 Anthony Marshall  Fr DB 36 Darius Gooden Fr DB 37 T. J. Robinson Fr LB 40 Nihym Anderson  Fr LB 41 Jack Quander Fr LB 43 Chike Nwankwo  Fr LB 44 Brian Ugwu Fr DL 45 Jamree Kromah  Fr LB 46 Matt Gibney Fr DL 50 Julius Turner  Jr LB 55 Austin Rosa  Sr DL 56 Micah Clark  So DL 57 Jaohne Duggan  So DL 58 Mohamed Toure Fr DL 59 Drew Bethke Fr DL 85 Matt Thomas  Fr DL 88 Brendan Bordner  So DL 90 Freddie Recio Jr DL 91 Tijaun Mason  So DL 93 Jason Griggs  Jr DL 95 Devin Baldwin Fr DL 96 Willington Previlon  Sr DL 97 Mike Tverdov  So DL 98 Robin Jutwreten  Fr DL 99 Malachi Burby Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 16 Zach Feagles Jr LS 46 Brendan Shank Jr LS 47 Billy Taylor Jr LS 56 Donato Crisanti Fr LS 62 Matthew Sportelli  Jr P 91 David Broncati Fr P 94 Adam Korsak  Jr K 95 Justin Davidovicz Jr K 96 Guy Fava Fr	Head coach Chris Ash Coordinators/assistant coaches Andy Buh (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) John McNulty (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) Vince Okruch(Special Teams Coordinator/Outside Linebackers) Noah Joseph (Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties) Corey Brown (Defensive Line) Nunzio Campanile (Tight Ends) Lester Erb (Wide Receivers) Peter Rossomando (Offensive Line) Kolby Smith (Running Backs) Jay Valai (Cornerbacks) Kenny Parker (Head Strength and Conditioning) Andrew DiRienzo (Offensive Assistant) Ross Douglas (Defensive Assistant) Myles Nash (Defensive Assistant) John Weiss (Offensive Assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: September 20, 2019

References

1. Deren, Bobby (January 21, 2019). "Andy Buh officially named Rutgers' new defensive coordinator". 247Sports.com.
2. "Henry Baker Returns to Rutgers Football Staff". ScarletKnights.com. Rutgers University Athletics. December 17, 2018.
3. Lesmerises, Doug (July 18, 2019). "Michigan named Big Ten football favorite in cleveland.com 2019 preseason poll". Cleveland.com.
4. "2019 Rutgers Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 1, 2019.