There's a new combination of words that fans may not be familiar with. Rutgers Football has high expectations this season.
The Scarlet Knights finished 6-6 last season and defeated Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. With a ton of talented players returning on both offense and defense, as well as a new quarterback, Rutgers is expected to continue to grow as a team.
ESPN seems to agree: The organization recently released its post-spring rankings, which are evaluated across three areas: The metric ranks teams based on the performance of returning players, recent acquisitions and recent history.
The Scarlet Knights came in at No. 49 on the list, which was No. 13 in the Big Ten and a big improvement from last year.
In 2023, Rutgers was ranked 73rd nationally in the post-spring rankings. After the season ended, Rutgers was ranked 60th on the list and is currently ranked in the top 50. By this metric, the Scarlet Knights' offense ranked 92nd, their defense 20th and their special teams 33rd.
Rutgers boasted an elite defense last season, and expectations are high this year with a ton of returning talent. On offense, there are question marks outside of Kyle Monangai, who was the Big Ten's rushing leader last season. Greg Schiano named Minnesota transfer Ahsan Kaliakmanis as his starting quarterback in 2024, allowing Gavin Wimsatt to enter the transfer portal and ultimately commit to Kentucky.
Here are ESPN's rankings of Big Ten teams:
- Ohio State University, 2nd place
- Oregon, 3rd place
- Michigan, No. 6
- Pennsylvania State University, No. 7
- USC, No. 21
- Iowa, 22nd
- UCLA, No. 26
- Wisconsin, 27th
- Washington, 35th
- Nebraska, 40th
- Maryland, 44th
- Minnesota, 45th
- Rutgers University, 49th
- Illinois, 66th
- Purdue, No. 72
- Northwestern, 74th
- Michigan State University, #82
- Indiana, 85th
