Rutgers gets an early-season tune-up at home before the Big Ten grind starts, and Howard just wants to walk out of Piscataway with something to build on.
Bush’s Picks
HOWRUTG
HOWRUTG
OverUnder
Best BetRutgers
Rutgers is the far more talented roster here, and it's not particularly close. Lonergan inherits an offense that already worked and Raymond is coming off a 1,241-yard season, while Howard is breaking in a first-year head coach against a program with a real talent and depth edge. This is about as safe a moneyline lean as you'll find on the schedule.
Howard
+Alum Ted White returns to lead the program
+Finished 5-7 with room to build on
−Massive talent and depth gap vs Big Ten roster
−First-year staff still installing new systems
Rutgers
+Antwan Raymond returns after 1,241-yard, 13-TD season
+Transfer QB Dylan Lonergan brings veteran arm
−Defense ranked 127th nationally in 2025
−New DC Travis Johansen unproven with this roster
This one is about Rutgers figuring out who it is on offense. Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan takes over at quarterback after Athan Kaliakmanis's departure, and he's stepping into a group that already has its engine in place — Antwan Raymond, who ran for 1,241 yards and 13 touchdowns a year ago. A soft nonconference date is exactly the spot to get a new starting quarterback comfortable before Big Ten defenses show up.
The bigger question in Piscataway isn't the offense, it's whether the defense looks any different. Rutgers finished 2025 ranked 127th nationally on that side of the ball, which is about as bad as it sounds for a Power Four program, and new coordinator Travis Johansen — hired in from South Dakota — is getting his first real look with this roster. Newcomers Malachi Davis and J'Dan Burnett arrive with real pass-rush production from their old schools, and a game like this against an FCS opponent is where you find out if that translates.
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HOW Howard
RUTG Rutgers
For Howard, this is about a new era. Alum Ted White is back running the program he used to play quarterback for, and the Bison are coming off a 5-7 finish (2-3 in MEAC play) that leaves plenty of room to grow. A trip to a Big Ten stadium in September isn't where Howard expects to steal a win — it's where a first-year staff finds out what its team is actually made of against a roster with a talent gap this wide.
Howard Bison
Sep 12?@ Indiana—
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Sep 19?vs USC—
Sep 11?@ Boston College—
Sep 3?vs Massachusetts—
Recent form.
Howard's schedule builders clearly leaned into the moment — this is the program's first trip to face a Big Ten opponent since 2023, sandwiched between a road game at Indiana and the Truth and Service Classic against Hampton at Audi Field. It's a heavy nonconference slate for a program trying to build itself back up, and Rutgers is the toughest venue on it.
Howard Bison
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
None of that changes the shape of Friday's game. Rutgers' oddsmakers set the program's season win total at just 4.5, a sign of how shaky last year left things — but that skepticism is about Big Ten play, not about a home date with an FCS opponent that's still finding its footing under a brand-new staff. If Lonergan and Raymond move the ball the way they're supposed to, this is over long before the fourth quarter.
