2016 Football Preview – Big Ten – Scarlet Knights

Looking for 2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights predictions? The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are coming off a rough season, but have hired former Ohio State Buckeyes defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Ash has had a solid career with the Buckeyes and with the teams before that on the defensive side of the ball..

2016 Big 10 College Football Preview – Rutgers Scarlet Knights
NCAA Division: Big Ten
Head Coach: Chris Ash
2015 Record: 4-8
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Odds To Win Big Ten Championship +50000
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Rutgers has been on a slow downhill drop in production since Ray Rice was leading them to wins. Moving to the Big Ten was a big move for them overall for revenue and exposure, but they have not been able to compete so far since being in the conference.

The Scarlet Knights do seem to have an unfair advantage in scheduling as they play most of the powerhouses in the conference.

With Chris Ash aboard, they will look to compete in most games this upcoming season.

2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Predictions: Team Strengths

The Strength of this team is by far the Defensive Line.

This unit is very deep with many people got a lot of playing time in a lot of different games in 2015, with Coach Ash filling in the head coach I look that they will be ready to perform well for a new defensive mind. 

The line had lost only one player from last year’s team and Djwany Mera only produced 16.5 tackles last season. The line is loaded with production from last year.

Darius Hamilton will be anchoring this unit after a big season from last season. The one-time 5 star led the unit in all defensive stats with 38.5 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and 6 sacks.

Quanzell Lambert had loaded up for 32.5 tackles, 7.5 TFL’s and 2.5 sacks. The rest of the d-line will by Julian Pinnix-Odrick, Darnell Davis Jr., and Sebastian Joesph.

Pinnix Odrick had 26.5 tackles and 3 TFL’s last season, Davis Jr. had 195. Tackles and 3 TFL’s, and Joesph had 5.5 tackles for loss last season.

This is by far the deepest part of this defense where there is a number of different people that can be fill in for any of these guys if they go down.

Most units of the team will hurt if an injury were to occur, not this defensive line.

I look for this part of the defense to be really good this season and be able to cause some ruckus in the backfields all over the Big Ten.

2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Predictions: Team Weaknesses

The weakness of this Rutgers team is by far lying in the offense backfield. Rutgers will come out in 2016 with Chris Laviano for another season. Laviano had a decent season last year but had problems taking care of the football.

Laviano threw for 2,247 to go with 16 touchdowns and a completion percentage of 60.9%.

He had some issues taking care of the football last season where he had thrown 12 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles on the season.

For this offense to be successful in 2016, it will all land on Laviano and him being able to make good decisions and getting the ball to his playmakers.

The running back situation on this team seems to be more of by a big committee. The unit had lost Paul James last season who carried the ball 100 times and had 5 touchdowns.

The other part of the committee had put up 386 carries for 1,884 yards and 13 touchdowns.

They committee is led by Robert Martin who had 763 yards and 6 touchdowns last season. Josh Hicks tallied 674 yards and 4 touchdowns. Desmon Peoples is coming off missing the 2015 season, but he had 447 yards and 3 touchdowns last season.

This backfield looks ugly and missing a lot of key factors, but with a new offensive coaching staff I can see them being turned around.

The main key for this position group is to take care of the football and limit turnovers.

2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Predictions: 3-9

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are not promising in 2016, but the future is looking good. Coach Ash was not able to fully recruit this upcoming class, but his future classes will be good with his past of solid recruiting.

This upcoming season for Rutgers will be a lot of experimenting. Laviano has not looked promising for the offense, could they go with the TCU transfer?

The offense will need to solidify a running game with 1 or 2 solid backs. I look for Rutgers to win 3 games in this upcoming season. I look at their schedule and it looks very intimidating.

I have Rutgers a lock to win 2 of their first 3 games by beating Howard and New Mexico. The Scarlet Knights then go on a streak of the Big Ten’s best Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan.

I then see them splitting with the bottom of the barrel Illinois and Indiana.

This year for Rutgers will be an experience, but the future is promising for Ash and Rutgers.

2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Football Schedule

• 9/3/16 at. Washington Huskies 2:00 PM/ET
• 9/10/16 vs. Howard Bison 12:00 PM/ET
• 9/17/16 vs. New Mexico Lobos 12:00 PM/ET
• 9/24/16 vs. Iowa Hawkeyes TBA
• 10/1/16 at. Ohio State Buckeyes 12:00 PM/ET
• 10/8/16 vs. Michigan Wolverines TBA
• 10/15/16 vs. Illinois Fighting Illini 12:00 PM/ET
• 10/22/16 at. Minnesota Golden Gophers 12:00 PM/ET
• 11/5/16 vs. Indiana Hoosiers TBA
• 11/12/16 at. Michigan State Spartans TBA
• 11/19/16 vs. Penn State Nittany Lions 8:00 PM/ET
• 11/26/16 at. Maryland Terrapins TBA

What do you think about our 2016 Rutgers Scarlet Knights predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2016!

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