Last week, Michigan found itself engaged in an old-school Big Ten game for the ages. The fourth-ranked Wolverines out-defended then No. 8 Wisconsin in a game that was big in more ways than one.

Even the most millennial football fans could appreciate a game between top-10 powerhouses battling it out on the gridiron. In a game that featured just 21 points, no pom-pom giveaways and a monsoon hovering over Main St., Michigan’s student section stayed until the very end because the game was good and the teams were better. What a concept!

So where does the team go from such an apex? To Piscataway, New Jersey, of course. Welcome to the world of college football in 2016.

Just as last week’s game was a BIG Ten game with “BIG” capitalized for emphasis, the Wolverines travel to Piscataway, New Jersey on Saturday for a “Big Ten” game that features hardly anything “big” about it except the point spread.

When Michigan travels to take on Rutgers, the Wolverines will be 29-point favorites over their division foes. That means that if the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 5-0 overall) win the conference game by four touchdowns, they will technically have underachieved.

The Scarlet Knights (0-2 Big Ten, 2-3 overall) host Michigan one week after participating in a 58-0 blowout to No. 2 Ohio State. The Buckeyes kept former defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s team behind midfield with one exception, when Rutgers promptly double-fumbled its way back into its own territory.

Now, the Scarlet Knights will try to enact revenge on their state border intruders in a stripe-out night game that may be threatened by Hurricane Matthew. But, as our numbers will show, the only storm Rutgers needs to worry about is Hurricane Harbaugh. Read below for our numbers, facts and my prediction on Saturday’s game.

The Numbers

Though numbers that aren’t the score never decide a football game, they do give us speculative types something to do in the days before the games occur. So just as I have all season, I have three charts that can help give us a sense of each team’s strengths and weaknesses. First, some basics.

I’m really not sure who let Rutgers — with a first-year coach, no less — play No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Washington in the first half of the season. Each team looks like the real deal, while the Scarlet Knights look a few rungs lower than that.

This game does carry some interest because it’s Michigan’s first road game. The Wolverines undoubtedly have semi-inflated numbers thanks to their five-game home stand, while the Scarlet Knights have semi-deflated numbers thanks to road blowouts to Washington and Ohio State.

A 14-7 loss to Iowa seemed like a good case for a Piscataway presence helping Rutgers, but the Hawkeyes have regressed with losses to North Dakota State and Northwestern.

Even with the strength of schedule gap, I think there is a considerable gap between the Wolverines and Scarlet Knights. To see where those gaps are largest, we look at position group matchups next.

Rutgers, which completed 3 of 16 passes for 33 yards against the Buckeyes last week, will almost certainly struggle to do much better Saturday. Things don’t look much more promising in the run game either, and if the Wolveriens perform as they should on paper, they should have no problem matching the wide point spread.

However, things can get funky in bad-weather road games, and that usually occurs in special teams, big plays and with turnovers. To see how the teams fare in those categories, we turn to our final chart.

Michigan still takes the edge, but will need to strike quickly to keep the Scarlet Knights out of contention. To learn a little bit more about the matchup, we move on toward the facts.

The Facts

Old school: Michigan and Rutgers are the two oldest programs in the FBS. Rutgers played the first-ever game of football in 1869 while the Wolverines began play 10 years later.

Jersey ties under the Jersey ties: Michigan has nine players from the state of New Jersey, including four freshmen.

Rough start: The Scarlet Knights are 4-14 in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

Road comfort: At 52,454, Rutgers will host the smallest crowd Michigan will play in front of all season.

First-year coaches: Ash will be the third of six first-year coaches the Wolverines will face this season.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that these two teams are on different levels as programs, and probably would avoid playing each other if they could. Michigan represents a humbling moment and a long-term benchmark at best for Rutgers, while the Scarlet Knights represent a chance to work in new players while avoiding an upset to the Wolverines.

It is really hard to imagine a scenario where Rutgers pulls off the upset win, even in a hurricane, but predicting the margin was a tricky task.

Jim Harbaugh is the type of coach that would try to best Ohio State’s 58-point win, especially in one of his favorite recruiting states, but he has also lost two of his starters to season-ending injuries in the last two weeks. His team also has issues to work out in the kicking game and in building depth, so don’t be surprised if the bench gets emptied earlier than normal this week.

Michigan should win with relative ease, the only debate is to how far do they let it go before showing mercy.

Score Prediction: Michigan 41, Rutgers 3.