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Rutgers Scarlet Knights Football: 2015 Season Preview and Prediction

By Caleb Calhoun

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Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood lifts the trophy after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels, 40-21, in the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field on Dec. 26, 2014 in Detroit (William Perlman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Final Take

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football program took a decent step their first year in the Big Ten, even if the conference was in a down year. But that should not mean bigger things this upcoming year.

With a new offensive coordinator, a new quarterback, and 11 new starters overall, a rough start to the season has to be expected. But things should come together throughout the year, and by the end of the year, the team should be better than it was last year.

The question, though, is whether or not it will be in time and be enough to get back to a bowl game.

Prediction

With Norfolk State, Washington State, Penn State, and Kansas as the first three games, it would be practical to expect Rutgers to start the year 3-1 with their only loss to Penn State, but because they will be so young, they could easily lose to Washington State or Kansas.

Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are all on the schedule in the middle of the season, which is a certain three more losses. Then the season closes with Michigan and Army on the road, and Nebraska and Maryland at home. At that point, though, this youthful team should be coming together, so they should be able to get two or three wins down the stretch.

For Rutgers fans, with this schedule and the way it is set up, 6-6 and a return to a bowl game is a reasonable expectation this year. They have enough winnable games to accomplish that, but there will be significant bumps in the road with so much youth.

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