So now Rutgers hosts the college football program with the famous block M – but that letter, truth be told, has stood for something much different lately.

"We're mediocre right now," is what former Michigan quarterback Michael Taylor said in a radio interview last week, and that was one of his tamer comments. People in Ann Arbor and beyond are furious with a program that, in their eyes, is supposed to be among the elite in college football every season.

Michigan is not even close to that right now. This is a team that got creamed at Notre Dame this season, one that lost at home to Utah last week and was down by 20 to Minnesota this week, one with just four victories in its last 12 games dating back to last season heading into this weekend.

This is a program that gave away tickets to its game against Minnesota to anyone who, of all things, shelled out the $3 for two 20-ounce bottles of Coke. Free tickets? To the Big House? People were up in arms (and the promotion was quickly canceled).

“Michigan football is not going in the right direction,” Taylor said. “The leadership is bad, there are many more issues on and off the field than I care to talk about. It's just sad.”

So you'll be hearing plenty about the downfall of Michigan football this week before the Wolverines come to Piscataway for the first time, about how the program is missing its identity, about how a loss to the Scarlet Knights might mean doomsday for head coach Brady Hoke.

All of that is true. So is this: A win over Michigan still would be a huge moment for Rutgers, one of the biggest in its history.

Forget the record. It's still Michigan, and for Rutgers, that still matters. Rarely does a team get a mulligan in sports, but this is as close as it comes. The Scarlet Knights blew their chance to announce their Big Ten arrival, in primetime on the conference's network, with that crushing loss to Penn State. (And if there's any doubt that game was there for the taking, just look at how the Nittany Lions did against Northwestern on Saturday).

Well, here's another chance a month later to beat one of the storied programs in country and creep to within one victory of bowl eligibility in the process.

It's crazy, but true: After all the projections of gloom and doom about Rutgers entering the Big Ten, not only will the Scarlet Knights have the better record when they host Michigan, but the better team, too.

While Michigan was getting schooled by Minnesota, Rutgers was taking care of its business at home. Granted, Tulane was not a strong opponent, but the Scarlet Knights opened a 21-0 with touchdowns on their first three possessions and in an easy 31-6 victory. They had 462 yards, including a record-setting day for quarterback Gary Nova, to improve to 4-1.

Nova was 14-of-21 passing for 291 yards and four touchdowns – and, mostly importantly, just one interception. Is it the product of a bad defense? Or has something finally clicked for the senior quarterback? If it's the latter, than a win over Michigan and a 5-1 start is very much within reach for this program.

That it would set off another revolt in Ann Arbor … well, that's one way to get the Big Ten's attention, isn't it?

“We’re Michigan,” is what athletic director Dave Brandon told SI in 2013. “We’re supposed to be playing on the big stage. We’re supposed to be playing against formidable competition. We’re supposed to be in the national hunt.”

Translation for this week: We're not supposed to lose to Rutgers.

Michigan is solid defensively but a mess on offense, and while Hoke has had some success on the recruiting trail, nearly all the talk around the program is negative. “How can Michigan football return to its former glory?” was the headline on SI.com, while the Detroit News countered with, “Michigan job is too big for Brady Hoke.”

Maybe it is. For Rutgers, it doesn't matter. Michigan is still Michigan, and a win would still be huge for a program that gets a second chance to announce its Big Ten arrival.