Rutgers football: 3 takeaways from dominant win over Northwestern

3. If Greg Schiano is going to turn Rutgers around, this has to be the year

Rutgers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2023 season. The question now, of course, is if they can continue playing at such a high level. They caught a team that was completely rattled this week, but that won’t be the case all year.

Schiano is entering the fourth season of this second tenure at Rutgers. In the first three, the Scarlet Knights have finished 3-6 (Covid-shortened season), 5-8, and 4-8. This will now be his 15th overall season in Piscataway, and the success of the mid-to-late 2000s is beginning to fade into a blip on his resume.

Record-wise, it’s going to be a tough season for Schiano and Co., with road trips to Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Penn State, as well as a home matchup with Ohio State. Few, if any, observers expect Rutgers to win these games, but at a certain point, this team has to put up a fight.

The Scarlet Knights have four more games on the schedule that are very winnable: Temple, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Wagner, and Maryland. It’s realistic and reasonable to expect this team to finish at least 6-6 and bowl eligible.

Rutgers isn’t known as one of the premier programs in the Big Ten, but they can’t just accept being walked over consistently.  At any program worth its salt, a coach posting a fourth straight losing season would raise serious concerns about job security.