It was a tough season for Rutgers Football as it finished on a five-game skid, capped off with a 37-0 loss to Maryland and a lot of questions going into a crucial offseason.
Here are three thoughts on the 2022 season….
RUTGERS NEEDS TO HIRE THE RIGHT OC....
While Nunzio Campanile was twice tasked with fixing a mess offensively for Rutgers (4-8, 1-8 Big Ten), it is hard to say he is the right man for the job and the proof is in the pudding. Not only have the Scarlet Knights averaged 8.2 points per game in the 13 games he has coordinated against Big Ten opponents (9.7 ppg in 2022), but they are 2-12 as well with one of those wins coming against Liberty.
“I look forward to working with this team and getting to where we know we're going to get to," head coach Greg Schiano said after his team’s loss to Maryland. "I've been here before, we’ll get it done, we’re going to get it done.”
In addition, Campanile has yet to prove he can successfully develop a quarterback which will be paramount as Gavin Wimsatt enters his redshirt junior season with the program. Schiano would be taking a huge gamble if he were to make Campanile the full-time offensive coordinator, so he will likely have to step out of his comfort zone when making the hire otherwise he risks losing the fanbase.
HIT THE PORTAL HARD....
While the NFL has free agency, college football has the transfer portal and although recruiting is still the lifeblood of the sport, the last few years have shown a program can turn things around quickly if it finds the right players in the portal.
“It starts with me,” Schiano continued. “I have to look at myself and I have to look at everything in this program and decide where we go, what direction, how we do things.”
While the Scarlet Knights seem to be set at a few positions going into the 2023 season, they will need to go out and find some skill-position playmakers to help out Wimsatt and take some of the load off of some of their other young players. The Big Ten is starting to become an arms race with the additions of Matt Rhule and Luke Fickell (along with the soon-to-be inclusions of USC and UCLA) so it is up to Rutgers to be able to keep up and adapt to the new world of college football.
IT CAN BE DONE....
While it will not be easy, if Rutgers can check off the two boxes listed above there is no reason it cannot find itself as a competitive team in 2023 and beyond. If not for a couple of bad breaks and self-inflicted wounds, the Scarlet Knights could have found themselves with six wins even with one of the hardest schedules in the nation. However, at the same time Rutgers was a few plays away from being a two-win team as well so it is all about being able to navigate those moments and capitalize when they present themselves.
“It's not like we took over the '86 Giants here," Schiano added. "There were things that had to be fixed and we're fixing them and we're moving the program forward. That's what we'll keep doing.”
While many of the Scarlet Knights faithful are hopeful to one day see their team compete at the highest level of the Big Ten, they are also realistic. Beating teams like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State might not be in the cards right now, but with divisions set to be restructured in 2024 the Scarlet Knights should be able to find themselves in the middle pack of the conference consistently. As things stand right now, the 2023 season presents a great opportunity for Rutgers to find its footing and start getting back to playing football games in December once again. Now, it is all about going out and doing it.
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