Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S TAT E F O O T B A L L >> 2 0 1 8 S E A S O N P R E V I E W had better win quite a few of those games, because the homestretch is ab- solutely brutal. The Knights' last ;ve op- ponents are Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State. Three of those ;ve will be at home, but still. Is there a Power Five team in the country with a tougher November than the one that Rutgers must face, with games against the Badgers, Wolverines, Lions and Spartans in a 22-day span? GAME OF THE YEAR There are a lot of elite teams on the back half of the Scar- let Knights' schedule, but the one that inspires the most animosity is, of course, Penn State. If Rutgers can engi- neer a home upset of the Nittany Lions, a team it hasn't beaten since 1988, it would be a season-making achievement. OUTLOOK Rutgers made some real headway in year two of Ash's head coaching tenure. It doubled its win total from year one, and three of those victo- ries were over Big Ten opponents (Illi- nois, Purdue and Maryland). Beating some of the conference's lesser oppo- nents was a necessary ;rst step in the rehabilitation of a program that had lost its way under Ash's predecessor, Kyle Flood. But the next step is going to be in;nitely harder. If Rutgers is going to become a postseason contender, it's going to have to start picking o< some of the league's better teams, four of which reside in its division. Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, the Knights are 1-15 against Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State. When you start every season with four major roadblocks in your way, the path to postseason con- tention becomes pretty narrow. They may eventually get there, but they'll need to get their o

• Cover