The Rutgers football schedule makes 2024 a make-or-break year for Greg Schiano

The term "hot seat" is reserved for coaches who are facing "win-now" situations and seasons in which they must prove themselves capable of a turnaround. That doesn't exactly apply to Greg Schiano because he has proven he can turn Rutgers football into a winner, but that doesn't mean he can just coast in 2024.

Although Schiano's seat isn't quite "hot" yet, I would argue that he's facing a critical season when it comes to how he's perceived moving forward.

Schiano has gotten by at Rutgers by winning anywhere from three to seven games in his second stint with the program over the past four years, but there's a huge opportunity right in front of him to get back to the 8-9-win days like he had during his first stint.

In fact, Schiano might have one of the easiest schedules of any Big Ten team.

That's right, Rutgers doesn't face a single one of the projected top five teams in the conference (Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa), according to Brett McMurphy.

While this doesn't quite ensure a 8-9 wins or even a winning season, avoiding the top-third of the conference is what you would call good fortune and in that case, Schiano has to take advantage. The conference is tougher than it's ever been and everyone will be beating up on each other but the Scarlet Knights could sneak into the top half of the league by just winning the games that they're supposed to.

Virginia Tech will be a tough non-conference road game but Nebraska, USC, Maryland, and Michigan State are all winnable road games (a 2-2 record would be huge there) in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights get Washington, Wisconsin, UCLA, Minnesota, and Illinois all at home and those are all winnable games as well.

Long story short, Rutgers has the easiest Big Ten schedule and if Schiano can't win 7-8 games this season, he may never be able to again and his seat will be considered "hot" finally.