In a season we all hoped would be marked by progress on the field in year two with Chris Ash as head coach, the hope that the 2017 campaign began with has been quickly replaced by despair before the calendar has even entered the midway point of September. Becoming the first Big Ten team to lose to Eastern Michigan in 39 tries and having that disappointing defeat follow a better than expected performance against a top ten team in Washington has put Rutgers in a major hole before conference play has even started.
While expectations for this season were modest, as doubling last year’s two win total seemed like the consensus on what sufficient progress would look like, even improving on 2016’s record is now in question.