Sam Brown is a huge key for Rutgers this season. Photo credit Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Rutgers football kicks off the 2023 season against Northwestern on Sunday, September 3 at noon on CBS. It’s time to make a season prediction.
First, I tweeted a poll in May and then again this week asking for season predictions from fans and readers. Interestingly enough, preseason optimism is alive and well.
The first poll saw 48.5% of over 1,100 voters project Rutgers to win at least 5 games. This week’s poll had 64% of almost 600 voters believe in 5 or more wins.
May Poll
Following spring camp, what is your current projection for Rutgers football next season?
Let me say I hope the majority of voters are right!
Now let’s determine what is the floor and ceiling for Rutgers?
I view the floor as worst case scenario and the ceiling as if everything that realistically could go right actually does.
So I think going 2-10 would be the floor with likely only wins against Temple and Wagner.
As for the ceiling, winning those, plus all of the 50/50 games, as well as a couple reasonable upsets raises it to 8-4. I think Iowa and Maryland, with everything going right for this team in regard to health, development, etc, are potentially winnable for Rutgers.
Now what do I think will happen?
There are plenty of questions and unknowns with this team.
The best player for Rutgers, Sam Brown, is coming back from season ending injury.
The best offensive lineman, Hollin Pierce, switched sides. Can the right side solidify itself?
Of course, the development of quarterback Gavin Wimsatt is the most critical factor. And a unproven receiving core needs to establish playmakers.
On the defensive side, can the DL take the next step and establish true Big Ten depth? And can the secondary be equal or better than what it was last season?
Rutgers has totally unproven specialists in kicker and punter. The coverage units and who will return kicks and punts is a question as well.
With all that being said, listen and watch below for my season prediction.
Audio
Video
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitterand Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
thevinman
August 31, 2023 at 1:13 pm
I will be a bit optimistic and predict 6-6.