Scarlet Knights’ five 2018 road trips, ranked

PISCATAWAY — Are you a Rutgers fan wanting to take a road trip one of these years? Well, 2018 is as good a time as any. 

The Scarlet Knights will hit the road five times this fall, some of those five admittedly seeming more-attractive than others. So, before you use that vacation time and pull the trigger on flights and hotels, we are going to attempt to rank the five Rutgers road games from worst to first. 

5. Kansas, Sept. 15

The University of Kansas, for the unaware, is not exactly a football mecca. In fact, if the Jayhawks are not the worst Power Five program in the country, they are certainly in the discussion. There is culture in Lawrence, and you can certainly find a good meal or three in that college town, but if you are looking for the quintessential college football experience, not to mention an easier travel plan from what I can tell, skip this, and choose one elsewhere on this list. 

For the record, if this game were later in the season, and you could maybe fit a basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in as part of the weekend, this trip would move up at least one spot. On that note, just for posterity, my personal career bucket list is below. 

• EuroLeague Final Four: Among the world’s greatest basketball spectacles, not to mention further proof that American sports fans are soft. 
• NCAA Final Four: Legitimately, genuinely the only event (on American soil) I am still dying to cover. 
• Kansas game at Allen Fieldhouse: One of the sport’s hallowed venues
• Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium: See above
• Rose Bowl: I really just want to spend a week of winter in a warm-weather climate, you know?

4. Maryland, Oct. 13

Mehhhhhhhhhhh. Maryland hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire since joining the Big Ten with Rutgers in 2014, and the game-day experience is just very average. This is not a flight, so depending on kickoff, you could do this game down and back in one day, but where’s the fun in that?

Me? I would take Friday off, go down and stay in Baltimore. You know what? Treat yourself, you deserve it. Stay at the Inner Harbor, have some good seafood, find a craft brewery, make a night of it, because Friday night may wind up being the highlight of the trip. 

Not in the same category as Kansas, but a basketball game at XFINITY Center is an underrated experience in a year where the Terrapins are good. 

3. Michigan State, Nov. 24

We’re now getting into the real college football experiences, but asking you to spend Thanksgiving weekend in East Lansing is admittedly a tough sell. 

That said, Rutgers could be 5-6 and looking for bowl-game qualification in the season-finale, making this a huge game. Or, Rutgers could already have six wins (not impossible, by the way), and this game, while not rendered meaningless, certainly carries a little less weight. 

That all said, yeah, the Thanksgiving weekend part of the equation makes this one difficult. If it helps, of the times I’ve been to the state of Michigan (all work-related), the people have been nothing but friendly, and there always seems to be a casino within reasonable driving distance. Can’t knock that, folks. 

2. Ohio State, Sept. 8

I have been to Ohio State once in my life, and was too young to appreciate it, so I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to this trip. 

Ohio Stadium is considered one of the cathedrals of college football, packed with all the history and majesty one might expect at this level. 

If you’re going to lie to your boss about a family function or mandatory surgery to get to one game this fall, this might be the one. The travel itinerary is very manageable, too, with multiple direct flights going from Newark to Columbus every day on United. 

Catch an early flight on Friday, get the full Columbus game-weekend experience. If it turns out to be a noon kickoff, you could theoretically catch an evening flight home on Saturday if need be.  

1. Wisconsin, Nov 3

I presented a friend of mine, a Michigan alum, with this idea of ranking these five Rutgers road trips. He gave Wisconsin the first three spots, then ranked the other four. Fair enough. 

A trip to Madison and an afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium have long been considered among the best in the Big Ten. If you like beer and/or cheese, this is the trip to go on. Additionally, I would hope for crisp fall weather given this is Wisconsin in early November, before all the snow and cold come. 

Based on the beer and cheese alone, if you are not in need of an angioplasty by the time you leave, consider your trip there a failure. 

Staff writer Josh Newman: [email protected]; @Joshua_Newman