The 2026 Big Ten football schedule is released on the Big Ten Network at 5:30 ET, allowing fans to see when and where their favorite teams will play during the 2026 season. That includes Rutgers, which is looking to return to a bowl game after narrowly missing out in 2025. Despite significant scheduling challenges, including a visit from the national champion Indians starting in October, a more favorable Big Ten slate allows Rutgers to make another push for a bowl game.
Rutgers complete 2026 schedule
Photo credit: Rutgers Athletic Institute
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Rutgers gets off to another home-dominated start
The 2025 season begins with four straight home games before Rutgers travels to Minnesota for its road opener in late September, and the 2026 season will be much the same. After another opener on Thursday night, this time against former Scarlet Knight DC Joe Harasymiak and the UMass Minutemen, Rutgers travels to Massachusetts to take on Boston College in the Eagles’ annual Redhead Game, scheduled for Friday, September 11.
The Big Ten begins early as the conference elects to move the USC game to Week 3 and move the game against Howard to Week 4. Finally, in what could be a homecoming game, Indiana will return to SHI Stadium for a long-awaited game in Week 5 starting in October.
Rutgers has won the last three games of the 2021-2023 series, and despite their struggles in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers, now fresh off a national championship, will almost certainly be the toughest opponent on the 2026 schedule. The Scarlet Knights sandwiched Howard between the Big Ten opener against USC and a big game against Indiana instead of facing the Trojans and Indiana in back-to-back weeks.
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Winnable away games, tough home games
After five straight games, Rutgers will be inactive on Oct. 10 for its bye week. After that, the Scarlet Knights will travel to College Park to face Maryland on October 17 in a must-win bowl game. While Northwestern is on an upward trajectory, Rutgers will look to win back-to-back conference road games when they travel to Chicago on Oct. 24 to take on the Wildcats. The last time these two teams met was the 2023 season opener, with Rutgers winning 24-7 in a rare Sunday afternoon contest.
Rutgers will return home for the first time since Oct. 3 to face Kyle Whittingham’s Michigan Wolverines on Oct. 31 for the first time since 2023. After several frustrating close losses, Michigan pulled away from Rutgers in November 2022 after the Cavaliers took a 17-14 halftime lead. In the 2023 Wolverines’ championship season, they handed Rutgers their first loss, 31-7, in Ann Arbor.
The Scarlet Knights open November on the road against Wisconsin, another opponent that has made Rutgers uncomfortable over the years. After the Cavaliers failed to close the gap in a 24-13 loss in Madison in 2023, the Badgers caught up with Rutgers at the perfect time in 2024, winning 42-7 in Piscataway. However, Wisconsin is coming off a down season with a 4-8 record and could be in trouble again when Rutgers comes calling.
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Rutgers will then host Nebraska, which lost 14-7 to Lincoln, the Cavaliers’ first loss of 2024. Rutgers is 0-6 against the Cornhuskers, who lost to the Cornhuskers 14-13 on Black Friday night after the return of Noah Vedral in 2023. The Knights will then face Penn State’s Matt Campbell as they look to snap a long losing streak to the Nittany Lions and avenge a heartbreaking 40-36 loss to end the 2025 season.
While the Big Ten’s home slate isn’t exactly friendly to Rutgers, with USC, Indiana, Michigan and Nebraska all coming to Piscataway, the final will be against Michigan State, a team Rutgers has historically performed well against recently. The Spartans lead 8-3 in the all-time series, but Rutgers won 27-24 after trailing 24-6 in 2023, a win they needed to become bowl eligible.
The teams meet in East Lansing for the season finale in 2024, with MSU needing a win to qualify for the bowl game while Rutgers already has six wins. However, the Cavaliers didn’t let up, burying the Spartans in the snow with a 41-14 victory after a disastrous loss to Illinois a week ago. With Rutgers ending the season at SHI Stadium for the second straight year, one or both programs this season may come down to this game.
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