The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams this year, so we're going to see some teams make it that have never been there before. Teams can afford to lose two or even three games and still get in, and ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit thinks that Rutgers football is potentially a team that can make a run in the Big Ten because of their schedule. The Scarlet Knights were previously in the Big Ten East, but now that the conference got rid of divisions, the Rutgers schedule is much easier.
Kirk Herbstreit recently appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, and he talked about some potential sleepers in the Big Ten. Schedules are extremely important, and Herbstreit thinks that Rutgers football could make some noise this year.
“It’s weird, you think about the Big Ten, obviously, what is there now, 18 teams?” Herbstreit said. “You go down your list, a lot of it comes down to the schedule. Someone is going to come out of that conference that you really didn’t expect, whether that’s an Iowa, whether that’s a – who knows with (five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola) at Nebraska. Whoever has the most manageable schedule. Rutgers has a schedule that’s, by Big Ten standards and this Big Ten world that we’re in, they can make a little bit of a run.”
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano has done a terrific job with his Scarlet Knights. This team was far and away the worst team in the Big Ten not too long ago, and last year, they won a bowl game against Miami. However, Schiano wants more than that.
“I didn’t come out of retirement to go to a bowl game,” Greg Schiano said at Big Ten Media Days, according to an article from On3. “I came out of retirement to win a championship at Rutgers. Hopefully we’ll do that.”
Schiano is confident about the talent on this year's Rutgers team, and their schedule does line up nicely. It could be a big year for the Scarlet Knights.
“As I’ve talked to our people about, we’ve been filling the pipeline since we got there with quality young men, quality football players, and I believe now the pipeline is close to being full,” Schiano said. “Although some of it is young still. We have an experienced group at the end of the pipeline. We’re going to have a lot of NFL players that come out of this season. To me any time we’ve had great teams at Rutgers, they’ve been made up of NFL players. I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited about it.”
A look at the 2024 Rutgers football schedule
Kirk Herbstreit is absolutely right, this Rutgers football schedule does shape up nicely for a run to the College Football Playoff.
When looking at a team's schedule, you can typically fit every game into one of three categories: likely win, toss-up and likely loss. Let's do that for Rutgers:
Likely win: Howard, Akron, UCLA, Illinois
Toss-up: @ Virginia Tech, Washington, @ Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, @ Maryland, @ Michigan State
Likely loss: @ USC
That is a very favorable schedule right there. The hardest game on this Rutgers schedule is at USC, a team who played zero defense last year and struggles to get fans to their stadium. It's in the likely loss category, but it wouldn't be surprising if Rutgers wins that game.
There are a lot of winnable games on that schedule, and the Scarlet Knights might end up surprising some people.
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