With Football season less than two months away, the time has come to start breaking down Rutgers' opponents for the 2025 season. The Scarlet Knights are set to face the Ohio Bobcats at home at 6 pm on August 28th to start the season.
Rutgers has faced Ohio twice before, winning both times. The first game came in 2006, when the Knights beat the Bobcats 24-7, and again in 2011, when they won 38-26.
Last season, the Bobcats posted a record of 11-3, captured the MAC conference title, and defeated Jacksonville
State in the StaffDNA Cure Bowl. They also played power four opponents such as Syracuse and Kentucky, but lost 38-22 and 41-6 in both of those matchups.
The Ohio offense was fueled almost exclusively by quarterback Parker Navarro. Last season, Navarro piled up 2,423 yards and 13 touchdowns through the air. In addition, he was also second on the team in rushing yards with 1,054, scoring 18 touchdowns on the ground. With starting running back Anthony Tyus leaving for the NFL, Navarro will have even more of an opportunity to steal the show.
His favorite target in the passing game last season was Coleman Owen, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts. This likely means that No.2 option Chase Hendricks will see a jump in production. Last season, Hendricks hauled in 40 catches for 471 yards and one touchdown, averaging 11.8 yards per catch.
Defensively, Ohio had a lot of players with good sack numbers last season. Coincidentall,y the Bobcats sack leader last season was Defensive end Bradley Weaver, who is now with Rutgers. The second highest total from last season came from Defensive end Marcel Walker Burgess, who had six total sacks on the year. Two other players to watch out for are Cornerback Tank Pearson, who recorded four picks on the year, and Linebacker Blake Leake, who recorded 94 tackles last season.
Despite being from a weaker conference, Ohio could be a decent opponent for the Knights in the first game of the season. Unlike most Big ten schools, Rutgers did not schedule a Power four out of conference opponent to start the season. They did, however, schedule some of the best teams the group of five has to offer. These better G5 opponents should give us a good idea of where Rutgers is heading into Big Ten play.
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