Rutgers Football 2024 Record Prediction & Analysis

Reasonable Expectations For Rutgers's 2024 Season entering the 2023 season the Nebraska Corn Huskers held the longest streak in college football among then power five teams of seasons in a row without a postseason appearance without a bowl game appearance but did you know that if not for Texas A&M opting out of their bowl game appearance I believe the gator bow at the conclusion of the 2021 season due to several players being sick with Co 19 and also a plethora of injuries that ruter would have led the nation in such streak among then power five teams ruter had a five and eight a a rather weird record a 5-8 record at the end of the 2021 season they went 5- seven in the regular season 2- seven in Big 10 conference play they played Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl and lost competing with the Demon Deacons for a about a half and then Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons very quickly pulled away in the second half and and made that a blowout ruter is a team that is opposite of Nebraska in terms of blue blood status but has been similar to if not worse I'd actually say far worse compared to the Corn Huskers in terms of having successful seasons in the Big 10 and that's taking into account every season since Nebraska and Rutgers respectively joined the Big 10 conference Rutter's best season in the Big 10 was 8 and5 in their first year under Kyle flood when they went eight and5 in their first year in the Big 10 conference that is Kyle flood also coached ruter when they were a part of the Big East and Nebraska meanwhile had a 10- win season in 2012 and nine win seasons in 2011 13 and 14 I do believe too ultimately oh also 2016 after 2016 of course Nebraska has been just a program that is constantly disappointed every season let's say that but I think Matt rule is bringing the Corn Huskers back and I think that Greg shano is bringing Rutgers back to the level that he had them at during his first tenure with the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway where in the late 2000s Rutgers had an 11- win season upset several ranked opponents was a contender in the Big East and was a steady respected program except now Greg shano was doing this in the Big 10 which makes it all that more impressive the reason I'm comparing Nebraska and ruter is they have had really similar levels of success in the Big 10 conference since since 2016 2015 about there and ever since 2017 up until last season they have had losing regular season records every year but 2023 changed something something changed ruter went six and six 500 in the regular season and they competed with Ohio State when they were at the six and2 Mark they were already bow eligible in October and entering that game with Ohio State in which Rutgers played at a high level and competed with the Buckey a team that has much better coaches more resources exponentially more talent I thought to myself that yeah this team is is a good football team fundamentally sound strong on defense strong in the trenches they actually have an offense finally with Kirk Shaka coaching the unit particularly a strong ground attack of course they went winless in the month of November after I thought those things and then beat Miami in the pinstrip bowl finishing with a seven- six record the first winning season since Rutter's first season in the Big 10 back in 2014 but last year's team had a lot of good attributes about them even with a blowout loss to Iowa a Heartbreaker against Ohio State in which look if if the pick six doesn't happen by Jordan Hancock maybe Rutter pulls off the upset Penn State doing what they do to every team except Ohio State and Michigan and particularly last year just playing pretty mediocre getting through the motions in the first half and then bludgeoning you in the second half with their awesome defense and competent ground game and tight end play and then Maryland against ruter I have no clue what happened there it was the most points in the regular season that ruter defense gave up all year I don't know what happened whether they quit or Maryland just Unleashed their anger after Michigan beat them in a close Affair but ruter had a winning season their team had a competent defense they had good special teams and their offense finally found a spark and now entering this season with divisions abolished ruter Indiana Maryland maybe Michigan State like those three or four teams that were in the Big 10 East and by the end of Divisions clearly behind Michigan Ohio State and Penn State looked to be some of the few teams that were going to benefit from the change of schedule ruter and I would say Maryland in Indiana Michigan State still has a tough schedule but those schools are in truth the ones that I think this season really benefit from the schedule change ruter and we will further diagnose their schedu in a few minutes they avoid Ohio State they avoid Oregon they avoid Michigan and Penn State so that right there off the bat they avoid three former Big 10 East teams the best Big 10 East teams they avoid the best team that is joining the Big 10 from the former Pack 12 in Oregon and they also avoid Iowa Iowa is a team that's built very similarly to ruter Strong defense good special teams if they're going to be good anywhere offensively it's the offensive line in the ground game and and for Iowa of course you can obviously add tight end and Iowa has beaten ruter for the previous two seasons in a row in 2022 and 2023 I don't think they played in 2021 and I think Iowa is going to be a very good team this year as I've already documented they avoid in my opinion the top five Big 10 programs the toughest team that they play in the Big 10 will be either Wisconsin Nebraska USC could even be Minnesota or Michigan State depending on how the rest of the Big 10 does and their toughest non-conference game is at Virginia Tech ruter beat and dominated Virginia Tech at home last season taking all of this into account the fact that ruter has began to recruit well ruers is in the top 20 of returning production they have had some injuries in Fall camp to Muhammad T for example who hint I had listed as an All-American I was going to whisper that but there's no point allamerican at linebacker and his injury is absolutely huge and be praying for Muhammad T that he heals and has a a huge season in 2025 if he's eligible and I hope he is but I don't have that off the top of my head what I do have off the top of my head is the fact that Rutter's win total is 6 and a half they're expected to go bowling once again ruter also brings back double digit amounts of starters from last year and as I said they're top 20 in returning production they bring back their offensive coordinator their defensive coordinator their head coach in Greg shano and they sparingly used the transfer portal to bring in Athan kak Manis who's the projected starting quarterback to bring in a few players at other positions like wide receiver for example got a very good impressive FCS player I think factoring all of that into account with the easy schedule gives me the read that the expectation for Rutgers this year should be at minimum Improvement off of last season I was actually tempted to put the expectation that ruter should win eight or nine games and anything short of that would be a failure but ruter had several close wins last year they had more close wins than they did close losses and I think that look if ruter go seven and five8 and4 and they look like a better team than last year that's still Improvement because it's hard to win at ruter Rutgers out of all the teams we've talked about so far and out of most teams in the Big 10 even though I think ruter is in the top half top third potentially of the Big 10 depending on whether you want to look at my record predictions for them or power rankings I think for sure they're in the top half of the Big 10 in power rankings their expectations are definitely in the bottom third I would say of the conference because Rutgers is not a blue blood program Rutgers is not bringing in top 25 recruiting classes year-over-year over-year though maybe they will soon they're recruiting well right now of 29 commits several fourar and I think the recruiting class is top 25 maybe top 20 it's in that range mostly due to its size but they're bringing in quality players too and maybe the expectations will further rise up and continue to climb up that initial Hill of the roller coaster if they can have a big year this season but I think s-5 8-4 is a realistic record expectation as for desired college football playoff wins if ruter can make the college football playoff which I think with this schedule they can shano could be awarded a lifetime contract I mean ruter has no expectations in my mind of reaching the playoff let alone winning a playoff game um there are many programs in the Big 10 who would have higher expectations as it relates to the playoff than Rutgers this year and definitely in years down the line I think this is going to be a good team though and the reason I say they can compete for a college football playoff spot this sounds insane because it's ruter is the fact that take a look at Preview, Analysis & Predictions For The Scarlet Knights 2024 Season their schedule it's up on the screen for you right now and the fact that they return 72% of their production and 14 starters week one's game is against Howard week two's game is at home against akaran they have a buy week three before taking the road to Virginia Tech I think that's a very well-timed buy because at Virginia Tech in week four hosting Washington in week five playing at Nebraska week six hosting with Wisconsin week 7 hosting UCLA week 8 and playing at USC week N9 is going to be a tough six-game stretch for a team like ruter if Rutgers is going to fall apart this year and just play to their floor and collapse it will be because of that six game stretch because the best teams that they will be playing all year will likely be in that stretch in fact all of them might be in that stretch if you take who will be the three or four best teams that ruter plays the entire season Virginia Tech will be up there Nebraska Wisconsin USC maybe maybe Minnesota and Michigan State but those are those are big May huge Mayes and especially with road games at Virginia Tech at Nebraska and at USC those are going to be interesting games for sure it's going to be an interesting late September and October for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Rutgers then gets a Buy in week 10 they host Minnesota week 11 play at Maryland week 12 host Illinois week 13 and travel on the road at Michigan State in week 14 to close out the season I don't have Rutgers facing a single top 10 team for the whole season and top 10 in terms of Power Rankings it's the same with ESPN's fpi it's the same with Josh Pat's JP it will probably be the same thing I'm very confident with my potential power index and the same thing with S&P plus this is a very easy schedule it's the easiest in the Big 10 for ESPN's fpi and I agree ESPN's fpi actually has this as a strength of schedule that's well outside the top 50 it's closer to like an a ACC schedule or even a group of five schedule than it is to the average Big 10 schedule ruter won the scheduling Lottery they could be the eighth or ninth seventh 10th best team in the Big 10 and if they win a bunch of close games they can still come out with nine 10 even 11 wins I mean that is how easy this schedule is and how workable it is and you add on top of it that ruter especially on offense is strong in the trenches which is where you have to be strong if you want to win in the Big 10 and they have good linebacker play even with the injury to Muhammad T their leading tackler tyene Powell is back and I think he'll step up and he's one of the best linebackers in the country at defensive back you have flip Dixon you have Robert longerbeam and several other players on defense like Aaron Lewis who I think with that much experience back the defensive coordinator returning in an easy schedule they're going to eat ruter may be puffed up sta I istically because of their experience Advantage their depth advantage and their rest and recuperation Advantage their stamina Advantage a schedule this easy for a team like Rutgers who managed to reach a bowl game with a tough Big 10 schedule last year if Rutgers plays to the level that I think they can play at this schedule will benefit them in a variety of ways I I cannot speak enough about about the schedule eventually I'll shut up about it but it's a really big factor because if they had Michigan State schedule where they play Ohio State at Oregon buy and then host Iowa play at Michigan I I'd pick him to lose those four games in a row like I'm doing hint with Michigan State I'm picking him to lose those four games in a row because those will be very good teams and Michigan State they have some Talent they have some experience coming back and some returning production back not as much as Rutgers I think Rutgers would actually have a better chance to pull off an upset against a four game slate like that than Michigan state would but I'd still pick him to go 0 and four maybe one and three at Best in that stretch because those teams are so good and they're all placed together where it would wear down most college football teams especially when you're starting off with Ohio State and Oregon backto back who are picked by B basically everyone to be the two best teams in the Big 10 and understandably so or if Rutgers had Florida's schedule I'd pick him to lose to Miami at home maybe beat him because it's Mario Crist ball and Miami is a team that has a lot of transfers so it could take some time to gel and yes I do think Rutgers would be better than Florida but a home game against Texas A&M would be tough and when you have to play Georgia LSU ol Miss Florida State when you have to play Texas and also Tennessee I mean Rutgers with Florida's schedule could very well be as good as I think they will be and they could finish with like a six- six or 5- seven record it's crazy and I do think Rutgers will be a good great team at best I have them power rated inside of my top 25 right at 21st and that's because of their experience their returning production what Kyle manungi brings them at running back what Gus zalinskis what holand Pierce and what their offensive line brings them and Brian felter and you look at the pieces that ruter has on their football team they have some questions on the interior of the defensive line questions as in will they step up there will their run defense improve it's still I think an above average to good unit there defensive end with Wesley Bailey and Aaron Lewis the question there is can they get more pressure Lewis somewhat had a disappointing season last year he was a good player great player but need to see more from him the linebackers even with muhamad Tay being down Moses Walker Abram Wright especially Tyne Powell and also Jamir Wright Collins Dariel deboom I think that is going to still be a strength of this team and with the secondary Eric Rogers Desmond dig bosen flip Dixon Robert longerbeam it's a deep defensive back room the big question for Rutgers is their passing game their wide receivers are very underrated I think I think that Christian Dremel was not done any favors by Gavin whims Hat's passing ability last year and then Dair Miller he is transferring in he's the really great FCS wide receiver that I talked about earlier uh Nim Brantley Dylan Bratt Ian Strong and Chris long they have an underrated wide receiver room but I have questions about their tight end group because their former tight end Johnny Langan is no longer with the program and he was a reliable tight end so who steps up there and at quarterback I thought that Gavin whims was going to beat out aan kak bis he didn't that was one of the first things of the 2024 season and yes I count the season as the preseason regular season and postseason because college football is a year- round sport that was one of the first things if not the first thing that I got wrong this season was the ruter quarterback battle out of all things uh Gavin whims Hat's now with Kentucky and he'll he may play some type of wrinkle in their offense with his ground game I think that he is a much better Runner than calak Manis was but the staff saw something in cak Manis that they didn't en whim at and I think that's the arm potential I thought that while watching film last year and watching some of Rutger's spring game I thought that whimet looked about as accurate as cak Manis and maybe overall just had better attributes but cak Manis was praised at Minnesota I just don't think he was utilized properly there last season with the Gophers he did not have much of a Supporting Cast outside of wide receivers and Darius Taylor didn't emerge until middle of the Season early season like after the first game or so and he got banged up and the defense was just bad he didn't really have any favors in miniapolis and Minnesota wanted a better quarterback because they're actually used to better quarterback play than ruter is they have had Tanner Morgan who in 2019 was awesome in 2021 was okay in 2022 when he was healthy he was above average or good in 2018 he was okay and that's why they went out and got their own transfer quarterback Rodgers was willing to get Minnesota's leftovers at quarterback Athan kak Manis because he has I think a higher ceiling in terms of accuracy and he's worked with Kirk Shaka that's another Advantage as well is that Gavin whimet worked with Shan gleon and really didn't he didn't have any favors also his Supporting Cast was far worse than cak manises and to a certain degree I think that with the poor development and Supporting Cast he received that there maybe wasn't as much to work with as there is with aan kak Manis but he's a huge question I mean he was not a good quarterback last year he needs to play like he did in 2022 late in the season with Minnesota if ruter wants to get the most out of him and have not just an average above average offense but a good offense I think Rutgers will be Howard akan at Virginia Tech Washington Nebraska Wisconsin UCLA USC Minnesota Maryland Illinois Michigan State Correction I noticed this as I was saying it I think they'll lose at Nebraska and at home to Wisconsin but I think they'll beat Howard akan Virginia Tech Washington UCLA USC Minnesota Maryland Illinois and Michigan State to finish the year with a 10 and two 7-2 record in bton conference play their ceiling is six- six or their floor rather is six- six and just doing what they did last season which with this schedule would be a disappointment their ceiling I think is 11- one whether that is beating all teams except for Virginia Tech Nebraska or USC on the road or at home against Wisconsin I think those are their four most likely losses USC with the time change and the Trojans the kickoff for that game is scheduled I think at like 10 p.m. or 11: p.m. eastern time that'll be an adjustment for ruter Wisconson and Nebraska love to run the football have good overall trench play about the same or slightly better than ruter but they have better quarterbacks better passing attacks and better depth overall and Virginia Tech is similar actually to Nebraska and Wisconsin in that regard so those will be tough games those four in particular I think that ruter will lose to Texas A&M in the Chee at Citrus Bowl to finish with a 10 and3 overall record in a very successful season for Greg shano ruter I actually had some of their players as All American this season that's how highly I think of this roster and of this team I I didn't exactly think it was appropriate right when I heard the news of Muhammad T being injured for me in this video to take him off my recognition list since I've already released my all big 10 team and have talked about other teams players who I have on my all big 10 team so I included Muhammad té up here just want to shout that out because some will say well he's injured so why do you have him listed up here it's because well injuries in Fall Camp are very unpredictable and I edited all of this in terms of the all big 10 players and released it in my in-depth Big 10 predictions video so I'm not going to change it here he's unfortunately injured but I had him as a first teamer on the all big 10 team and an all American Kyle manun guy I have also is a first teamer and an All-American running back I have flip Dixon and J Patel also as all-americans other ruter Scarlet Knights football players who I have just done my all big 10 team but not all Americans are Brian felter Holland Pierce Aaron Lewis Robert longerbeam Gus solinus and also Tye Powell a total of 10 Rutgers players made my all big 10 teams and I I think that is appropriate I mean they they are not Oregon or Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State I also don't even think they're Iowa but they're a good football team they're disciplined they don't get penalized they're great on special teams and fundamentals and they tackle well and they're tough and it's hard to pass on this team and they are I mean they're gritty they will ground and pound and pull tricks on you pull wrinkles and they'll just run right into your face they're they're very courageous and I look at the schedule they have and how they bring back 72% of production from a team that broke through that achieved something that no Rutter team since 2014 achieved a bull victory in a winning season overall 500 regular season but even then ruter hasn't had a season where they didn't have a Los record uh since 2014 the 2023 team broke barriers and I think the 2024 team is going to break another barrier and that's finishing the season ranked and being inside the top 25 for much of the season and in my mind in terms of Power Rankings whether it is fpi or s+ the JP Pole or whether it's my own potential power but my potential power index I try and make things a little bit differently whether it will be for the better or for the worse compared to the other power rankings in terms of accuracy who knows it's relatively new those power rankings are more experienced they've been along around for longer and they care a lot about team talent and quarterback play so Rutgers may not break the top 25 in those but they'll get close and I think that it's very possible you'll see them not just in the coaches poll in AP poll top 25 but at some point in the year you could see them in a power rankings top 25 and seeing Vegas actually favoring this team against competent opponents and not just scrubs the trench play is strong and Kyle manungi will take advantage of his experienced offensive line this is another reason why I think I'm right on the Rutger Scarlet Knights and of course with their physicality with a good defense with a kicker like ja Patel who will be able to help them win close games if needed and just a great gutsy team a team that will run the ball very well that will help give kak Manis protection to maximize his passing potential combining that with an easy schedule I think will produce some domination on part of the Rutter Scarlet Knights why I'm wrong is their big questions that quarterback and tight end combined with a defense that was weaker up front last year compared to what it should have been in hindsight and compared to most Big 10 defenses many Big 10 defenses like obviously Michigan Ohio State Oregon Iowa Penn State are very strong up front but Michigan state is as well Nebraska is um USC while I don't think they're going to be strong upfront this year defensively they have enough talent to wear it's certainly possible if all things go right and you look at I mean Illinois last year probably not this year but last year they were strong upfront defensively Minnesota I think should be strong upfront defensively this season UCL has some good defensive tackles and we could go on and on and on but the Big 10 oh don't even forget about Maryland Maryland has some underated defensive lineman being strong up front is so critical especially with the now unfortunate injury to Muhammad Tay that defensive line playing to its ceiling is important if they don't and the questions are answered in a negative way at quarterback and tight end this could be a year where ruter actually ends up disappointing and not wildly exceeding their win total like I think they will The X Factor for this team is their linebacker play ruter last season only allowed 21.2 offensive points per game from their opponents which was 31st they allowed 0.343 points per play which was 41st they only allowed opponents to average five yards per play which was 27th and they were top 25 25th in yards alot per game allowing 33.8 and they were 36 in opponent offensive touchdowns per game allowing 2.7 on average much of this Improvement was because of their linebacker room because of muhamad tur and because of Tyne Powell Tyne Powell is going to really have to step up with Dion Jennings going from the program yeah Tyne Powell didn't lead the team in tackles like I said earlier I was confusing him with Dion Jennings with Dion Jennings leaving and with Mohammad té being tragically injured and tearing his ACL pow will have to step up he had 52 total tackles last year two sacks two passes defended and a forced fumble T had four and a half sacks two passes defended a pick and a forced fumble and 92 total tackles and Jennings had 94 total tackles and four passes defended this def defense was on the field all the time last year because while the offense improved compared to Prior Seasons it was still pretty bad so that's another thing to pay attention to this season is if ruter has a average or above average offense like I think they will in terms of scoring points and in terms of doing what they can with their schedule which they can't control this defense should exponentially improve as they'll no longer be on the field as much and will be more fluid and a they'll have the affordability to be more loose and to be more creative and aggressive rather than having to be conservative to try and not well accidentally give up a big play or make a mistake because they're doing something new and then the offense can't go down the field whenever you have this is the story of Iowa's defense a bad offense and a great defense the best thing to do with the great defense is to make them conservative because that takes the range of out out comes like from 2022 Ohio State or 2021 Oklahoma state level aggression where the range of outcomes is like this wide and you could look like a bad defense or the nation's best defense and it shrinks them it brings them in it's why Iowa's defense is not always even close to being Elite at getting to the quarterback but they don't give up big plays I mean they led the nation in yards allowed per play last season and it's not just on the offense but it's a large part on the offense to help make sure the defense stays off the field but the defense needs to do what they can do to improve Tyne Powell is a player who can make or break the season same with Aaron Lewis at defensive end 49 total tackles three sacks and two passes defended last year if he can double his sack total or more than that that would be massive because the Scarlet Knights only had 21 sacks last year that's not good enough it isn't they had 10 forced fumbles which is good and nine interceptions which is okay that sack total should be north of 30 that will help ruter to not just rely on running the football and playing sound defense and not giving up big plays to win that will allow them to to get some pressure and force more turnovers and make opposing offenses go out of their way and be off schedule and make them play harder to try and beat ruter on offense it's got to be aan kak Manis I think more importantly though perhaps is the backup running backs what about Samuel Brown the fifth what does he do as the backup running back or jwn Benjamin Kyle manungi is a player who's a PowerBack could even be a feature back based off of how well he did last year at 1,26 62 rushing yards eight rushing touchdowns for 5.2 yards per carry but he cannot be the only back all the time you need diversity in that running back room in depth in case and I hope this doesn't happen I pray it doesn't happen but if manungi goes down you want Samuel Brown the fth you want Jon Benjamin who averaged around three and a half yards per carry each last year to step up and fill in especially with the offensive line that ruter has which is one of the better lines in the Big 10 that is my Rutger's preview and thank you all so Patreon Shoutout much for watching this video please remember to like subscribe hit the notification Bell and comment your thoughts on this video down below thanks to crash 2488 in Braska Rascal for being 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