PISCATAWAY – For all the public concern that Rutgers football might be overmatched adjusting to the prestigious Big Ten, the once-downtrodden program more than held its own against the big boys.
Especially compared to the rest of an athletic department that struggled mightily in its new universal home.
The 14 Rutgers sports teams that maintain a head-to-head record won just 43.2 percent of their games during the 2014-15 academic year, with that number dipping to 39 percent in conference games.
Rutgers fared better on the women’s side than on the men’s side, where only football and wrestling – arguably the two sports where the Big Ten is most-respected – notched winning records, though both had losing conference marks.