Greg Schiano has slowly brought Rutgers football back to respectability since his return to the sidelines in 2020 — but even after back-to-back seven-win seasons, how far can the Scarlet Knights realistically climb in a grueling Big Ten?
At least one college football analyst isn’t convinced the Scarlet Knights are ready to take the next step — and laid out a harsh worst-case scenario for the upcoming season. Spoiler, it’s not very optimistic for Schiano’s squad.
The projection? A disastrous 3-9 finish with the Scarlet Knights going winless in conference play.
CBS Sports analyst Tom Fornelli explained exactly how things could spiral for Schiano and the Knights — and it starts with major offensive concerns.
“The offense regresses as it fails to replace the production of leading rusher Kyle Monangai and leading receiver Dymere Miller,” Fornelli wrote. “Athan Kaliakmanis gets banged up as the offense becomes overly reliant on him, further complicating matters.”
That’s true, as losing Monangai to the NFL Draft was a big loss for the program and the Scarlet Knights offense.
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Even when Kaliakmanis was under center, it wasn’t that impressive of a season as he only completed 53.7% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. That’s even with a strong running game with Monangai in the backfield leading the way.
Could Kaliakmanis actually take control of the offense and elevate players around him? That’s a hard scenario to imagine and why Fornelli’s predicted worst-case scenario might not be too far off.
Things don’t look much better on defense. Fornelli predicts the Knights’ transfer additions will be hit-or-miss, and the team’s struggles on the road will be impossible to ignore.
“Defensively, the transfers are hit-and-miss, and the Knights struggle on the road, failing to win a single game,” Fornelli wrote. “In fact, they don't win a single Big Ten game, dropping Greg Schiano's Big Ten record to 13-41 since his return.”
For a program still working to escape the bottom of the Big Ten, a season like that would be a major blow.
Schiano has clearly made strides getting Rutgers back on track, but after back-to-back bowl appearances, the team now faces pressure to show this progress isn’t the peak — or even the beginning of a decline.