Rutgers Scarlet Knights: CFN College Football Preview 2021
College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Rutgers season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Rutgers Schedule Analysis
– Rutgers Scarlet Knights Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 3-6 overall, 3-6 in Big Ten
Head Coach: Greg Schiano, 2nd year, 13th year at Rutgers overall, 71-73
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 60
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 85
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 123
Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Well hello, offense. It’s been a while. The 2019 Scarlet Knights scored 159 points in a 12 game season – it failed to get to 17 points nine times. The 2018 team managed 162 points in 12 games and only got past 17 points once.
In just nine games, 2020 Rutgers scored more points than any previous version since 2015, and that team played 12 games. By the way, 2020 Rutgers scored more than 17 against everyone but Penn State.
With 11 starters expected back and a few interesting position battles, there’s a chance to do a whole lot more than 339 yards and 27 points per game. It all starts with …
– The offensive line has to be better. It’s the part of the puzzle that takes the longest to build back up, but Greg Schiano and his staff were able to get what they could out of what they were given.
There’s talent in place – all five starters are back – but there will be some shuffling around left tackle Raiqwon O’Neal and junior Reggie Sutton, who spent time at tackle but will likely work at guard. Now the group has to stop someone from getting into the backfield.
The running backs are there as long as the staff doesn’t forget to keep feeding Isaih Pacheco the ball. Aaron Young is a decent 205-pound option who can catch, and Jamier Wright-Collins is a young 215-pound back who can thump.
– Noah Vedral had his moments. The former UCF and Nebraska transfer threw eight picks and made too many mistakes, but he’s the guy the the team will ride with. Because of it, backup Artur Sitkowski is now at Illinois putting the pressure on Evan Simon to grow into a role. Watch out, though, for the team to be active in the transfer portal for another options.
The Scarlet Knights have receiver weapons. Bo Melton was the team’s leading receiver with 638 yards and six scores on 47 catches, and there’s too much speed and playmaking ability in Aron Cruickshank – he’s an elite return man, too – and Shaman Jones to both average under nine yards per catch. If the 6-3, 200-pound Isaiah Washington can get it going, look out.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Rutgers Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The defense might not have been anything special overall – allowing 449 yards and 32 points per game – but it did a fantastic job of taking the ball away. A slew of the big plays might have come against Michigan State, but overall the D was good at getting into the backfield and bringing the pressure.
Michael Dwumfour is gone from the defensive interior and decent safety Brendon White is finished, but just about everyone else of note returns. However …
– A whole lot of backup defensive linemen are taking off in the transfer portal, but landing pass rushing tackle Ifeanyi Maijeh from Temple is a huge help. Mike Tverdov is the best pass rushing end, and Julius Turner is a quick tackle who can get behind the line, but he gets banged on. There’s not a lot of giant thump for the inside, and that has to be where Maijeh and 300-pound sophomore Ireland Burke come in.
– The linebacking corps should be one of the team’s biggest strengths around 6-2, 240-pound senior Olakunle Fatukasi and his 101 tackles. 245-pound Tyshon Fogg led the team in stops in 2019 and was second last year, and Mohamed Toure led the D with 4.5 sacks.
The Scarlet Knights have a part of honorable mention All-Big Ten corners in Avery Young and Tre Avery – Young was fourth on the team in tackles with 58 – and Christian Izien is a tough safety for his size with four interceptions and finishing third with 66 stops.
– What You Need To Know: Offense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Rutgers Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best Rutgers Scarlet Knights Offensive Player
RB Isaih Pacheco, Jr.
Flip a coin between Pacheco and Bo Melton for the Best Player designation. The 5-11, 210-pound Pacheco can catch, he can carry the ground game, and he’ll tough it out for yards.
He only averaged 4.5 yards per carry so far, but he’s been through the rough times and came up with close to 1,800 yards and 13 touchdowns. Now he gets to have a little more fun.
2. WR Bo Melton, Sr.
3. WR/KR Aron Cruickshank, Jr.
4. OT Raiqwon O’Neal, Jr.
5. OG Reggie Sutton, Jr.
Related
Rutgers Football Schedule 2021: Analysis, Best and Worst Case Scenarios
Best Rutgers Scarlet Knights Defensive Player
LB Olakunle Fatukasi, Sr.
Tyshon Fogg might be the veteran leader and big tackler over the last few years, and there are plenty of Scarlet Knights who make a ton of plays, but Fatukasi is the all-around star – at least statistically.
He led the team with 101 tackles and has 196 over the last two years to go along with his improvement as a playmaker behind the line with a team-high 11 tackles for loss.
2. LB Tyshon Fogg, Sr.
3. S Christian Izien, Jr.
4. CB Avery Young, Jr.
5. DE Mike Tverdov, Sr.
Top Incoming Rutgers Scarlet Knights Transfer
DT Ifeanyi Maijeh, Sr.
Veteran defensive tackles who can get into the backfield are impossible to find, and Rutgers just landed one.
Michael Dwumfour is one of team’s few key losses, and now the hope is for Maijeh – the 6-2, 280-pound Temple transfer – to step in, take over on the inside, and be the playmaker he was at times for the Owls.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Rutgers Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Biggest Key: Offense
The offensive line has to keep getting better. The offense made a night-and-day improvement. However, there wasn’t much of a downfield passing game. It was sort of by design, but that has to change.
There weren’t enough third down conversions, and the O didn’t grind out enough drives. That has to change, too.
It all starts with an offensive front that’s full of experience, but can’t be dead last in the Big Ten again in tackles for loss allowed. The front five have to give QB Noah Vedral and the skill guys more time to work.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Biggest Key: Defense
The secondary has to stop getting bombed on. The defense was good at taking the ball away – the Knights came up with two interceptions in three separate games – but even with a good pass rush there were too many big pass plays allowed.
Fortunately, there aren’t a slew of big passing teams on the slate, but that didn’t stop the defense from having issues last season.
The D wasn’t all that horrible on third downs, and it wasn’t always giving up really big plays down the field, but three teams were able to get to 300 yards through the air and four others hit 230 or more. Illinois was the one team that didn’t do a thing through the air against this D – and Rutgers lost.
The D needs to get the yards-per-pass down a bit after giving up almost eight per toss, and allowing teams to complete 67% of their throws isn’t good enough.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Noah Vedral, Sr.
The rest of the skill guys are good enough, and the O line is at least experienced now and should be a bit more consistent.
The defense has a ton of good veterans and will take the ball away a ton, and the special teams will be among the best in the Big Ten. Now the team needs its quarterback to come through.
The 6-1, 200-pound Vedral is mobile enough to get by, but he only threw for more than 170 yards twice and the team lost both games.
The three picks given up in the loss to Illinois were a killer, and he threw three against Indiana, too. He’s got to make more big things happen down the field, he has to stay healthy, and …
The QB play has to be better.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Key Game To The 2021 Season
Michigan State, Oct. 9
Of course Rutgers wants to be up there with Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in the Big Ten East, and it almost pulled off a win over the Wolverines last year, but as the program keeps on improving under Greg Schiano, being better than some of the other teams in the division is a must.
The Indiana game is on the road, and there’s no excuse to not beat Maryland in the regular season finale, but Michigan State will be the measuring stick.
Rutgers should beat Temple and Delaware, and going to Syracuse is a bit of a toss up. Figure it loses at Michigan and against Ohio State, and then MSU comes to town.
The takeaway-fest win over the Spartans to open up last season was one of the shockers of 2020. Now to it again.
2020 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Fun Stats
– 2nd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 101 – Rutgers 38
– Time of Possession: Opponents 31:51 – Rutgers 28:09
– Average Yards Per Game: Opponents 449.1 – Rutgers 339.1
NEXT: Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Rutgers Scarlet Knights College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
If a new head coach is taking over a program, there’s a reason.
Either the old guy left for something better – and the new guy needs a bit to make the program his – or the old guy was bad and got sacked. In the second case, the new guy needs a long time to build things up.
And sometimes the new guy was the old guy who left for something better after making the program his, and then was bad, got sacked, and ended up returning to try to built things up.
That’s Greg Schiano, who did the seemingly-impossible and made Rutgers really, really good at college football for a stretch.
It took a while to get there in the old days of the Big East, but Rutgers won eight or more games five times in six seasons from 2006 to 2011 and won all five bowl appearances during the run.
He left, the program he built was still good enough to go bowling for a few years, but then everything fell off the map with little to no fun for five seasons.
Schiano came back to Rutgers before the 2020 season and instantly changed things back around. You might be what your record says you are, but that 3-6 campaign was a whole lot better than it looks like on paper.
Set The Rutgers Scarlet Knights Regular Season Win Total At … 5.5
All you can reasonably ask for out of a new head coach is to 1) show signs of improvement and 2) provide a vision for what might be coming – in a positive way. Under Schiano, Rutgers improved right away and the team was competitive enough to show that it’s probably going to be a thorn in everyone’s side over the next several seasons.
However, for all of the positives, Rutgers was was still a few plays away to being closer to 1-8 than it was to being 7-2 – although that’s sort of debatable.
And it’s still the Big Ten East. Ohio State didn’t all of a sudden quit playing college football, and 2020 might be a case of if-you’re-Rutgers-and-you-didn’t-beat-Michigan-and-Penn-State-last-year …
But there’s talent and experience on this 2021 team.
Rutgers isn’t going to win the Big Ten Championship, and it’ll be lucky to not be among the bottom two in the East, but there’s a built-in few wins to count on, there will be a few upsets, and there are just enough 50/50 games that this team can flirt with something fun.
This might not be a bowl season, but it’ll be close.
That the previous line doesn’t seem far-fetched shows you how well the new guy did in the first year with his old program.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– Rutgers Schedule Analysis
