Rutgers Football Postgame Show: Northwestern Wildcats Edition - TKR Pod
The Knight Report podcast is back, as the guys go LIVE to talk everything Rutgers Football versus Northwestern in our postgame show.
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Podcast Another Rutgers Football DISASTER | Northwestern Postgame Reaction
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
Richie I know you’ve said there is no way Schiano gets fired after this season but I’m going g to have to disagree. There is a very strong chance.
The talent disparity with the rest of the conference is absurd.
More absurd when you realize we are paying our players the same as some of them
Knew it, I should have instead gone and watched the lacrosse scrimmage against Syracuse. Perfect weather for lacrosse.
I dont believe we are spending more on NIL this year than any other school in the Big Ten.
We are even though you don’t believe it
If he’s not fired, Zinn should be.
Well ... if your "insiders" want to discuss it, they are welcome to start a thread. My first question will be, "I thought Schiano was getting fired three weeks ago?"
Insiders? Greg said his roster is in the 23.6mm range. Not sure how this is open for debate. It’s been discussed for months.
If you are saying they didn’t evaluate, construct or get a ROI for that price. And you can’t believe that. I would have to agree.
I shared it with you the last 3 times you said similar things.
| What the comparison represents | Rutgers | Northwestern | |
| The Athletic, Sept. 16 | $20-23M | $21-25M | Program-controlled roster budgets. Northwestern’s midpoint is $1.5M higher, but the ranges overlap. Figures reproduced by On3 and RealGM. |
| The Knight Report / On3, Sept. 16 | $20-23M | $21-25M | Repeats The Athletic. Lists Rutgers 14th and Northwestern 12th in the Big Ten. |
| Gold and Black / On3, September | $20-23M | $21-25M | Repeats The Athletic; includes its explanation of what counts toward roster spending. |
| RealGM, Sept. 16 | $20-23M | $21-25M | Repeats The Athletic, explicitly crediting Bruce Feldman. |
| Legion Report, October | $20-23M | $21-25M | Repeats The Athletic’s September estimates. |
| Bucky’s 5th Quarter, Sept. 23 | $20-25M | $21-25M | Attributes its table to The Athletic, but prints a different Rutgers upper limit than the other reproductions. Treat this as a discrepancy, not another independent estimate. |
| The Sideline, Sept. 16 valuation | $21.5M | $23.0M | Estimated roster NIL market value. Northwestern $1.5M higher; the site explicitly says these are not confirmed payroll figures. |
| NIL-NCAA, 2026–27 estimates | $21.321M | $21.035M | Estimated revenue sharing plus third-party NIL. Rutgers $286,000 higher. Assumes $15.6M in school revenue sharing for each. |
| The NIL Standard, October pages | $20.5M | $19.9M | Modeled annual NIL market value, not actual contracts. Rutgers $600,000 higher. Rutgers page dated Oct. 15; Northwestern Oct. 19. |
| Nebraska on SI, Aug. 17–18 | $21.4M | $18.1M | Uses an earlier NIL Standard snapshot. Rutgers $3.3M higher. |
| USA Today’s Buckeyes Wire, August, syndicated by AOL/Yahoo | $21.4M | $18.1M | Also uses the earlier NIL Standard estimates. Ranks Rutgers 12th and Northwestern 18th in the conference. |
I notice I asked to see the statement by Schiano and you provided an estimate by The Athletic followed by a handful of articles citing the estimate by The Athletic.
Official Estimates: Rutgers athletic director Keli Zinn confirmed the program's football spending falls in the $20–$30 million range.
This figure has been effectively confirmed by Rutgers Athletic Director Keli Zinn and coach Greg Schiano, placing the program's spending reality into perspective across the national landscape
He also confirmed it in early press conferences.
You’ll have to take his boss’s word for it:
“I won’t close the range, but I’ll tell you that report’s accurate,” Zinn said about a report that Rutgers was between the $20m to $30m range.
Rutgers ranks 14th in Big Ten in estimated roster spending, 46th nationally
Rutgers ranks 14th in the Big Ten and 46th nationally in estimated football roster spending, according to new figures from The Athletic.
Yea I shared that article multiple times. He doesn’t like data.You’ll have to take his boss’s word for it:
“I won’t close the range, but I’ll tell you that report’s accurate,” Zinn said about a report that Rutgers was between the $20m to $30m range.
Rutgers ranks 14th in Big Ten in estimated roster spending, 46th nationally
Rutgers ranks 14th in the Big Ten and 46th nationally in estimated football roster spending, according to new figures from The Athletic.www.on3.com
this is also a good one from our friends at nj.com. Really spells it all out.
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Why are we talking NIL? What does that have to do with having a quarterback dive head first into an injury? Or that our reasonably highly rated backup after 3 years of development can’t play at this level?
Sure, the defense is bad but it also isn’t out of the question to sometimes score 42 also.
Sure, the defense is bad but it also isn’t out of the question to sometimes score 42 also.
Give Greg some credit as he was able to get his team to play toe to toe with the 24th ranked team in the country. Now that toe to toe only lasted about 2 minutes and two is better than the 1 minute against Indiana (and this is being generous). GS can be fired now or at the end of the season, but it has to be done or else it might be too late to salvage the program. RU right now is arguably the second worst power 4 program in the country(you could say the worst if Maryland didn't throw up on themselves against RU).
Becwuse that is the go-to excuse for why we can’t compete. Nevermind that we spend on par with the non blue bloods in the B1G or that other teams are able to overcome NIL disparities every week (see Cincy over Texas Tech as the latest example)
Yes, I know of all the narratives on the board. I was being sarcastic.
Pulling an upset is tough and requires elements of surprise, risk taking and significant game planning. Not a strength of this program. We can’t steal games.
Team looks uninspired. No strong captains like Kaliakmanis. No leadership or playmakers on defense whatsoever.
If she doesn’t fire Schiano the season ticket holder base will collapse. Keli will much bigger problem$ next year.
You haven’t been paying attention if you think that’s what I’ve been saying the past two months, I’ve been pretty adamant since after the UMass debacle he’s gone.
Wrong Northwestern and Purdue have less NIL
And we are close to Illinois.
So confirmation. Doesn’t change anything.
You’ll have to take his boss’s word for it:
“I won’t close the range, but I’ll tell you that report’s accurate,” Zinn said about a report that Rutgers was between the $20m to $30m range.
Rutgers ranks 14th in Big Ten in estimated roster spending, 46th nationally
Rutgers ranks 14th in the Big Ten and 46th nationally in estimated football roster spending, according to new figures from The Athletic.
Zinn says The Athletic report is accurate? Well ... what does The Athletic report say?:
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"The numbers here refer to the amount of money a school had at its disposal to assemble its 2026 roster — setting aside any player income not managed or controlled by the football program, such as endorsements with national brands. The money comes from a combination of athletic department revenue, outside booster donations and other sources that vary from school to school."
NOTE: It's a report about available money "had at its disposal," not spent money.
"School administrators, on the other hand, have the opposite incentive. They want people to think their number is higher than it really is, which makes them look like great fundraisers."
NOTE: Zinn is a school administrator.
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But somewhere out there is a statement from Schiano saying that our NIL spending was $23.6 million this year. I know this because Kupuna133 said there was. I would like to read (or hear) this statement. If you are asking me if I believe Zinn would used guarded language to make donors/fans believe we were spending more than we are, yes, I believe she is capable of doing that. If you are asking me if The Athletic would make a *best guess* at numbers and then report them as if they came right from a school's balance sheet (knowing the collective college football fandom would run with them as if they had been chiseled on stone tablets), yes, I believe it would. Do I believe that Rutgers football (and associated donors) spent $23.6 million on direct NIL spending for the 2026 season? Not on your life.
So every other team spends all of the money at their disposal but we save ours? You sound like AL
No, we already know that Minnesota doesn't. They used a portion of their Big Ten revenue sharing on new scholarships. My assumption is that most of the non-bluebloods are doing the same. As well as spending on other things that, while they may help advance the football program, are not direct NIL payments to players.
So Mn using less than $200 k on 5 scholarships for football (in state tuition room and board $38k) proves that rev share is not being used? Bizarre logic.
No, it proves that less than 100% of the Big Ten revenue sharing money is being used by the schools on direct NIL payments.
This was explained to you the last time you referenced this. There are no longer scholarship limits. There are roster limits. So in lieu of NIL payment. They are giving a “walk on” (term no longer applies) a “scholarship” with rev share. It’s a payment. Would you rather get 40k in nil and get it taxed and have to pay your tuition. Or get 40 k in a rev share scholarship and not pay taxes.
Bottom 4 are clearly MD, RU, Colorado, Syracuse
Thought you said 6 wins saves him. Or are you saying after Umasacre you knew he couldn’t get to 6 so therefore gone. We’ll be lucky to get 1 more win
No? It proves one school used a small percentage on something other than direct player comp. If Rutgers did, prove it.
No matter what the team is making, Schiano must go.
I believe what's been posted in this thread about how much the team is being paid is right on the money
I believe what's been posted in this thread about how much the team is being paid is right on the money
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I created a whole special thread just for you.
Zinn confirms Rutgers total roster cost between $20m - $30m - Forums
Since this keeps getting asked for in various other threads and some posters (who I won't tag out of courtesy) refuse to believe it. Here is it to easily find over and over. Asked about a report that Rutgers is somewhere between $20-$30 million in NIL spending on football, Zinn said that "I...
Asked about a report that Rutgers is somewhere between $20-$30 million in NIL spending on football, Zinn said that "I won't close the range, but I'll tell you that report's accurate."
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