There aren't more than 2 or 3 Big Ten teams who could easily handle Kent State at home this year? Really?
Rutgers is a good, solid team this year -- at worst this is there second best team ever -- but they would not be competing for the Big Ten title, even at their peak and with the Big Ten down. And they are not going to be beating any of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska and Wisconsin with any frequency at all. They would be in the middle group with Iowa, Mich State, Purdue, fighting for above .500 finishes in a good year, and bottom half of the league in a bad year.
I am not knocking Rutgers -- I would expect us to do roughly the same under a decent coach, maybe a tad worse. But if you really think RU would be competitive in the Big Ten -- well, now I hope they beat Louisville so we can see how they do against Florida State in the Orange.