Greg Schiano was a legend at Rutgers for putting the football program back on the map. He broke a lot of hearts when he left to coach the Tampa Bay Bucs after last season. You can\u2019t really blame the guy for taking an NFL job over a Big East college football job, but the Scarlet Knights program was definitely disappointed. <\/p>\n
Big East Conference 2012-2013 College Football Previews: Rutgers Scarlet Knights<\/strong>
\nHead Coach: Kyle Flood<\/strong>
\n2011 Record: 9-4<\/strong>
\nRutgers Gambling Odds from BetOnline to win BCS Championship: +1,700 (Part of Field)<\/strong>
\nRutgers Gambling Odds from BetOnline to win Big East Conference: +600<\/strong>
\nRutgers Team Page \u2013 Players Stats \u2013 Roster \u2013 2012 Schedule \u2013><\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nRutgers promoted assistant Kyle Flood to the top spot. Can he help the team keep moving forward?<\/p>\n
Rutgers has gone to six bowls in the past seven years, so the fan base expects Flood and the Scarlet Knights to keep on winning. There\u2019s decent returning talent in Piscataway, so there shouldn\u2019t be any reason this team would experience a major drop off in 2012. Still, it is hard to predict how a team will fare after losing a beloved coach.<\/p>\n
Team Strengths:<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Scarlet Knights are stacked in the secondary. Ryan Logan is one of the best corners in the Big East, and I expect him to be a leader for the defense in 2012. Free Safety Duron Harman picked off five passes last year, and he is an aggressive player who will make opposing teams think twice about throwing it over the middle.<\/p>\n
Chas Dodd and Gary Nova are both talented quarterbacks, so the Scarlet Knights have solid depth at this key position. In the long run, Rutgers really needs to settle on one quarterback. Nova has the higher upside, so I expect him to get plenty of action.<\/p>\n
Rutgers has a star at the linebacker spot in Khaseem Greene. Greene led the team with 141 tackles last year (the second leading tackler had just 77 tackles). Greene will likely play on Sunday\u2019s for quite a while. Steve Beauharnais is a heady veteran who leads the defense from his middle linebacker spot. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n
Team Weaknesses:<\/strong><\/p>\n
The biggest glaring weakness for this team is the offensive line. Rutgers averaged just 2.8 yards per game on the ground last year, and it was largely because this group couldn\u2019t open up any holes. There is plenty of size here, but it seems this group lacks cohesiveness.<\/p>\n
Losing Mohamed Sanu will really hurt the team\u2019s production from the wide receiver spot. Sanu was a player the NFL fell in love with, and Rutgers doesn\u2019t have anyone who can fill his shoes. With a below average running game, it is certainly a concern that the team is missing a star on the outside.<\/p>\n
2012-2013 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Football Prediction: 7-6<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rutgers really wasn\u2019t a great team last year, but they managed to go 9-4. The Scarlet Knights lost their game breaker in Sanu, and the weakness on the offensive line is sure to be a problem this year.<\/p>\n
Many of the teams toughest games are on the road this year, so getting to 9 wins again will be a real challenge. Look for the Scarlet Knights to take a bit of step back. I don\u2019t expect anything more than a mediocre season from this team.<\/p>\n
2012 Schedule<\/h3>\n
9\/1\/12\t TBD\t @TULNE
\n9\/8\/12\t 3:30 PM ET\t HOW
\n9\/13\/12\t 7:30 PM ET\t @SOFLA
\n9\/22\/12\t TBD\t @ARK
\n10\/6\/12\t TBD\tCONN
\n10\/13\/12\t TBD\tSYR
\n10\/20\/12\t TBD\t @TEM
\n10\/27\/12\t 3:30 PM ET\tKENST
\n11\/10\/12\t TBD\tARMY
\n11\/17\/12\t 12:00 PM ET\t @CIN
\n11\/24\/12\t TBD\t @PITT
\n11\/29\/12\t 7:30 PM ET\tLOU<\/p>\nGRAB OUR BEST Expert CFB Picks for 2012 NCAA FOOTBALL Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2012-13 Football Previews \u2013 (Big East) \u2013 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Greg Schiano was a legend at Rutgers for putting the football program back on the map. He broke a lot of hearts when he left to coach the Tampa Bay Bucs after last season. You can\u2019t really blame the guy for taking an NFL job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":25545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[44530,55470,49957,51236,15908,11449,55485,55486,55484,55487,51393,51394],"class_list":["post-52516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-2012-bcs-lines","tag-2012-big-east-football-previews","tag-bcs-sportsbook-odds","tag-big-east-football-predictions","tag-big-east-odds","tag-big-east-picks","tag-rugers-football-predictions","tag-rugers-gambling-odds","tag-rugers-scarlet-knights","tag-rugers-schedule","tag-scarlet-knights-bcs-futures","tag-scarlet-knights-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52554,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52516\/revisions\/52554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}