Maryland, Rutgers say they're ready for Big Ten

CHICAGO — Politely, Rutgers safety Lorenzo Waters reminded those present that this was not the Scarlet Knights' first rodeo.

There had been some debate.

Two years ago, in advance of his team's leap to the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin faced a similar line of questioning, albeit a half-step removed: Sumlin was asked how the Aggies could handle SEC speed; during Monday's Big Ten Media Day, Rutgers and fellow Big Ten Conference newcomer Maryland were asked how they'd handle Big Ten brawn.

"We've played SEC teams," Waters said. "We've played Arkansas back to back. You don't really get too caught up in the numbers. It's more how you play the games."

A conference still defined in meat-and-potatoes terms welcomed these two new additions — schools that boost the Big Ten's enrollment and television footprint — with a simple question: Are you ready?

"I think the perception is that it's physical and it's going to be physical," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. "We know that. We spent our offseason preparing for that. But we've played physical offenses before. We've played bigger teams before."

Both the Scarlet Knights and Terrapins enter the Big Ten in the tougher of the league's two divisions, the East, joining Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State and Indiana. The Spartans and Buckeyes, for example, finished last season ranked third and 10th, respectively, in the Amway Coaches Poll.

Rutgers, meanwhile, finished last season at 6-7, tied for sixth in a decidedly top-heavy American, and dropped six of eight games after a 4-1 start. Maryland finished 7-6, fifth in the ACC Coastal Division — losing by a combined score of 103-27 to Florida State and Clemson, the ACC's two Bowl Championship Series participants.

Neither has been afforded room for error: Maryland takes on Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State from October through mid-November, and the Scarlet Knights kick off life in the Big Ten with matchups against the Nittany Lions, Michigan, Buckeyes, Cornhuskers and Badgers.

Expectations aren't high, if partially as a result of each team's difficult schedule.

In an informal poll of 29 Big Ten media members conducted by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Maryland was picked to finish fifth in the seven-team East Division, well behind fourth-place Penn State, and Rutgers was picked to finish last, a wide margin behind Indiana, which has posted just one winning season since 1995.

For now, one might suggest that both programs — regardless of each team's recent past or cloudy short-term future against league competition — are simply happy to have a seat at the table.

"I'm just glad that we're finally to the point now where we can go and play games," Maryland coach Randy Edsall said. "It has been a long time, it seems, to get to this point. But I'm glad we're here, and I'm glad it's getting close to August and starting practice and getting the opportunity to compete against these outstanding programs and institutions that we're going to compete against.

"It's kind of like, wow, it's here now. It's time to get going. And it's a great feeling. It brought a little smile to my face. I just have a lot of passion for the sport of football. The Big Ten has a tradition and history that's just unmatched."

Mentally, at least, Rutgers seems ready for the challenge. The irony of the perceived uptick in physicality is that it fits into the Scarlet Knights' blueprint: Rutgers' recent issues — particularly a season ago — have come against spread-based offenses, meaning a shift into the Big Ten's old-school mentality could play to the team's strengths, not highlight its weaknesses.

"You look at the teams in this conference and whether they're traditional offenses, spread offenses, for the most part they're offenses that want to run the football and stop the run," Flood said. "And those are two things that we've always started with at Rutgers.

"When we've played a high level we've been able to compete with any team in the country."