WEST LONG BRANCH - Monmouth University and Rutgers will conduct a closed-door scrimmage for the second-straight October, this time in Piscataway on Sunday, as season-openers across the country are three weeks away.

For anyone hoping these two teams will reignite a regular-season series, which produced two quality games in 2014 and 2015, keep waiting.

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Given how Pikiell has scheduled each of his first two seasons at Rutgers, he is in no rush to beef things up. He said as much on Wednesday at Big Ten media day, predicting that once the Scarlet Knights get good, teams are not going to be calling him to schedule so much anymore.

Pikiell isn't going to schedule Princeton, a long-running rivalry halted by Eddie Jordan in 2013, and he isn't going to schedule Monmouth, which, like Princeton, has grown into a mid-major contender the last few seasons.

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Rutgers isn't going to play Monmouth right now in a game that counts, but King Rice already knew that.

"He told me when he got the job, 'I'm not playing you, don't ask,'" said Rice, referencing a conversation in the spring of 2016. "He didn't mean it in a bad way. He told me to give him a year or two and we'll play, once he felt he got his team stronger.

"I see him on the road and we're friendly. It might not be sooner than later, but while we are still coaching at Monmouth at Rutgers, in the next five or six years, I think we will play a game."

Future scheduling aside, Monmouth, which also will scrimmage Temple in Philadelphia on Oct. 29, could benefit from Sunday as a team with a slew of returners, but a lack of experience.

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The Hawks return eight players off last season's 27-win outfit, 10 if you include redshirts Ray Salnave and Zac Tillman, but of the eight, only two averaged more than 20 minutes per game.

That lack of experience will get tossed into the fire Sunday because Rutgers, while projected to again finish last in the Big Ten, figures to take steps forward this season, no matter how small they may be.

"I told our guys I pay attention to what the local teams are doing, and I know for a fact that who we're going to see Sunday will be a real group, extra-hungry to do well in their league," Rice said. "Their mindset will be that of a Big Ten program, and I hope our guys can do well against theirs. We are not used to taking steps backwards, so I want to see if we stand up to them.

"We've really made some strides. It's tough for a kid when they've been in the system for a while. They see how you play, but they didn't play a lot of minutes. These kids worked hard all summer, and they want to make an impact because we lost guys."

Staff writer Josh Newman: jnewman@app.com