Rutgers Dominates Howard in Friday Night Football
By: Bill Allen
The Rutgers University, Scarlet Knights did what was expected of them Friday, Sept. 25, defeating Howard University in a matchup between two programs with different
Howard University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) in Washington, D.C., has a longstanding tradition of bringing its football program to the New York-New Jersey area. The Rutgers-Howard matchup was a regular-season, nonconference game, meaning the two teams competed outside their respective conference schedules. Rutgers, a member of the Big Ten Conference, and Howard, in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), have a history of meeting on the football field. The Sept. 25 game marked the seventh meeting between the programs, with Rutgers having won the previous six encounters.
Rutgers, a current Big 12 Conference team, entered the game having lost its first three games of the season. Despite those losses, the Scarlet Knights have proven to be a competitive team, playing tough at home and on the road but struggling with a lack of depth at key positions.
On Friday, Rutgers faced Howard University Bison's. The Bison inexperienced showed after a very competitive opening quarter, but Rutgers began to pull away soon after. By the end of the first quarter, the Scarlet Knights held a 21-7 lead.
In previous years, the matchup was played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey as part of the HBCU New York Classic.
Howard has performed well against competition in the (MEAC), winning games and remaining competitive throughout the season. On Friday, however, the Bison faced a stronger opponent in Rutgers.
The game was also an important one for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights prepared for their Big 12 schedule and their next home opponent, Indiana University, the 2026 national collegiate football champion.
