Rutgers (2-10 SU/4-8 ATS in 2016)
May 1 Power Rating: 61.42 (#94)
Returning Starters: 13 (5 offense, 8 defense)
Key Losses: WR Andre Patton, RG Chris Muller, C Derrick Nelson, DT Darius Hamilton and SS Anthony Cioffi
2017 Recruiting Class Rank: #50
2016 Season Recap: New head coach Chris Ash inherited an experienced Rutgers team last year that returned 16 starters. Expectations were that the Scarlet Knights would be slightly improved after their 4-8 season in 2015 as their season win total was 4.5 at South Point. The season started off as expected as Rutgers was blown out at Washington, crushed Howard and then beat a decent New Mexico team. In their Big Ten opener, Rutgers played well against Iowa nearly pulling the outright upset as a 2-TD underdog. The season then took a major turn for the worse as they lost to Ohio State and Michigan by a combined 136-0 as their star player Janarion Grant was out for the year (ankle). After a 17-point loss at home to Illinois, the Scarlet Knights made a switch to Giovanni Rescigno at QB. In his first two starts, they nearly pulled outright upsets as double-digit underdogs at Minnesota and vs Indiana. However, defenses adjusted and Rutgers was shut out in back-to-back weeks again, this time at Michigan State and vs Penn State by a combined 88-0. They would finish the season with a loss at Maryland as they easily went UNDER their season win total.
Offense Per Game Rank
Scoring 15.7 127
Rushing 144.9 103
Passing 138.2 122
Total 283.2 128
Defense Per Game Rank
Scoring 37.5 116
Rushing 264.2 126
Passing 186.5 18
Total 450.7 97
Rutgers (SU: 2-10, ATS: 4-8, O/U: 6-6)
|
Date
|
Opponent
|
W/L
|
Line
|
Score
|
Total
|
9/3
|
at Washington
|
L
|
+26.5
|
13-48
|
o54.5
|
9/10
|
Howard
|
L
|
-43
|
52-14
|
o62.5
|
9/17
|
New Mexico
|
W
|
-7
|
37-28
|
o57.5
|
9/24
|
Iowa
|
W
|
+14.5
|
7-14
|
u56
|
10/1
|
at Ohio St
|
L
|
+39
|
0-58
|
u59.5
|
10/8
|
Michigan
|
L
|
+30.5
|
0-78
|
o52.5
|
10/15
|
Illinois
|
L
|
+4
|
7-24
|
u52
|
10/22
|
at Minnesota
|
W
|
+18
|
32-34
|
o45
|
11/5
|
Indiana
|
W
|
+13.5
|
27-33
|
o58
|
11/12
|
at Michigan St
|
L
|
+15.5
|
0-49
|
u54
|
11/19
|
Penn St
|
L
|
+27
|
0-39
|
u56
|
11/26
|
at Maryland
|
L
|
+14.5
|
13-31
|
u54
|
2017 Outlook: The Scarlet Knights return five starters from an offense that was dead last in the country averaging 283.2 yards per game in 2016. Giovanni Rescigno is back at QB after starting the final five games (889 yards 53%, 5-5 ratio), but he will get tested by incoming true freshman Johnathan Lewis. Robert Martin (625 rushing yards) returns at RB after leading the team in rushing the last two years but keep an eye out on incoming Miami (FL) transfer Gus Edwards.
The Scarlet Kinghts also return their leading receiver in Jawuan Harris (481 yards) while Janarion Grant is back after missing the last 8 games. The OL returns three starters but will miss multiple year starters in C Derrick Nelson and RG Chris Muller.
The defense is in better shape experience wise with the return of eight starters led by LB’s Trevor Morris (102 tackles last year) and Deonte Roberts (95 tackles). The Scarlet Knights do lose DT Darius Hamilton (56 tackles), DE Julian Pinnix-Odrick (5 sacks, 10 TFL’s) and SS Anthony Cioffi (63 tackles).
On special teams, kicker David Bonagura (10 of 14 FG’s) returns as does punter Michael Cintron who averaged 37.9 yards per punt. Return specialist Janarion Grant is a possible 1st-team All-American candidate. Grant already has eight career return TD’s, which is tied for the best in NCAA history.
Projected Starting Line-up
Offense:
QB #17 Giovanni Rescigno 6-2 227 Jr
RB #7 Robert Martin 5-11 213 Sr
WR #1 Janarion Grant 5-10 172 Sr
WR #3 Jawuan Harris 5-9 186 So
WR #5 Damon Mitchell 6-2 217 Sr
TE #89 Jerome Washington 6-4 253 So
LT #65 Tariq Cole 6-6 319 Jr
LG #60 Dorian Miller 6-2 296 Sr
C #73 Jonah Jackson 6-4 299 So
RG #71 Marcus Applefield 6-5 305 Jr
RT #54 Kamaal Seymour 6-6 307 So
Defense:
DE #59 Darnell Davis 6-2 257 Sr
DT #52 Sebastian Joseph 6-4 299 Sr
DT #99 Kevin Wilkins 6-2 300 Jr
DE #58 Kemoko Turay 6-5 247 Sr
WLB #15 Trevor Morris 6-1 232 Jr
MLB #26 Deonte Roberts 6-1 235 Jr
SLB #44 Tyreek Maddox-Williams 6-0 223 So
CB #11 Isaiah Wharton 6-1 204 Jr
SS #2 Kiy Hester 6-0 211 Jr
FS #9 Saquan Hampton 6-1 208 Jr
CB #10 Blessuan Austin 6-1 195 Jr
Top 5 Incoming Recruits:
4-star OL Micah Clark 6-4 270
4-star WR Bo Melton 5-11 175
4-star LB Tyshon Fogg 6-2 240
3-star WR Eddie Lewis 6-0 180
3-star QB Johnathan Lewis 6-3 225
2017 Schedule With Early Projected Lines
Date
|
Opponent
|
Line
|
9/1
|
Washington
|
+25
|
9/9
|
Eastern Michigan
|
-5
|
9/16
|
Morgan St
|
-40
|
9/23
|
at Nebraska
|
+19
|
9/30
|
Ohio St
|
+30
|
10/7
|
Bye
|
|
10/14
|
at Illinois
|
+6
|
10/21
|
Purdue
|
-3
|
10/28
|
at Michigan
|
+32
|
11/4
|
† Maryland
|
+6
|
11/11
|
at Penn St
|
+34
|
11/18
|
at Indiana
|
+16
|
11/25
|
Michigan St
|
+10
|
Schedule Analysis: Playing in the same division as Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State is never going to be an easy haul for Rutgers. It also doesn’t help that the Scarlet Knights open up the season against the defending Pac-12 champs in Washington where they will be a near 4-TD underdog. After the opener, Rutgers does have a winnable game vs Eastern Michigan at home and then they will be huge favorites over Morgan State. The Big Ten portion of the schedule starts off with a road trip to Nebraska and a home game against Ohio State (huge underdog in both games) After a bye week, they do travel to Illinois (around a TD dog) and then host Purdue where they will likely be a short favorite. After a trip to Michigan, the Scarlet Knights play Maryland in Yankees Stadium where they will be around a TD underdog. They finish the season with three likely large underdog roles at Penn St, at Indiana and vs Michigan St. Overall, I have Rutgers favored in 3 games this year and with two of those favorite roles being at 5-points or less, that’s exactly where I’d put their season win total. However, I would not be surprised if the books opened them up at 3.5.