The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision(FBS) play. Since the 1991 season, Rutgers has competed within the Big East Conference, having finally abandoned the status of an Independent team. The Rutgers football program is one of the most historic in the nation. In 1869, the original Rutgers football team defeated Princeton University in the first intercollegiate game ever played. Rutgers won the game by a score of 6 to 4.

Today, Rutgers is coached by Greg Schiano who has overseen a revival of the program. Schiano's teams struggled for the first four years of his tenure, until 2005, when Rutgers achieved its first winning record in more than a decade. Since 2001, the Scarlet Knights have compiled a 59–56 record.