2017 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

The 2017 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers University during the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Scarlet Knights played their home games at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey and competed as members of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Chris Ash. They finished the season 4–8, 3–6 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place in the East Division.

Recruits
The Scarlet Knights signed a total of 26 recruits.

Schedule
Rutgers announced its 2017 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2017 schedule consisted of 6 home, 5 away, and 1 neutral site game in the regular season. The Scarlet Knights hosted Big Ten foes Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue, and traveled to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Penn State. Rutgers played against Maryland in Bronx, New York at Yankee Stadium.

The Scarlet Knights hosted all three of the non-conference opponents, Eastern Michigan from the Mid-American Conference, Morgan State from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Washington from the Pac-12 Conference.


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Washington
The Scarlet Knights opened the season by welcoming No. 8-ranked Washington to New Jersey. Rutgers took the early lead on a three-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Bolin to Janarion Grant. Washington answered with a field goal in the first quarter and a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown with the 3:50 seconds left in the half to take a 10–7 halftime lead. Though trailing, the Knights played well and hung with the highly-ranked Huskies in the first half. However, Washington QB Jake Browning threw two second-half touchdown passes as Washington pulled away from the Scarlet Knights to win the game 30–14. The loss left the Scarlet Knights with an 0–1 record.