Rutgers Adds Washington State to 2014/2015 Schedule

Rutgers had one void left to fill on both their 2014 and 2015 schedule, and yesterday the athletic department announced a home and home series with Washington State to fill it. The Scarlet Knights will visit Seattle --rather than Pullman where Wazzu's campus is located-- for their season opener in 2014 and the Cougars will make a return trip to Piscataway in 2015. The two schools have never played each other before.

Washington State has been one of the worst BCS level programs in the country the past few years, but they are still a somewhat interesting opponent. Mike Leach had a lot of success at Texas Tech with his air raid offense and swashbuckling style, and he should be able to improve their program into the realm respectability as he adds more of his own players. At the very least, it will be interesting to see Rutgers play a team that plays a very different style of football than what they are used to seeing in the Big East and what they will see in the Big 10.

The 2014 game will be Rutgers' first as a member of the Big 10 conference and it will be played at Century Link Field, which is where the Seahawks play. Since it is scheduled for a Friday, I'm guessing it has a really good chance of being on ESPN or ESPN2. Seattle is supposedly a really great city, so this could be a good road trip for fans to take. Hopefully Washington State can improve and be at least a decent draw for the 2015 game. Regardless, it sure beats the hell out of playing a non BCS league team.

This series also further establishes Rutgers' presence on the west coast. With this series, a future series against UCLA, and this year's opener at Fresno State, Rutgers could take this opportunity to recruit the west coast. Not necessarily for a lot of recruits or any high profile guys, but for a couple sleepers, similar to what they have done in the midwest so far this year.