August 26, 2010 – For those in the New York metro area, Rutgers football now means something as we approach the opening of the 2010 season next week. Greg Schiano has made the Scarlet Knights matter. RU followers everywhere are paying attention to previews, predictions and speculation that the Knights are destined for bigger things.

Like college football fans that get hyped over Alabama being rated number 1, about Ohio State being number 2, about Michigan climbing out of its hole, Paterno coaching at 82, or Southern Cal carrying on after Reggie Bush, RU followers can hope the genies are wrong, and that Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Cincinnati are not all better than the Knights in the Big East. They hope the national ratings are wrong too, and that Rutgers is better than its placement in the 40s or 50s, depending on who’s rating.

Despite their lack of recognition, the Schiano/Rutgers “formula of success” is to have a winning record and go to a bowl game. That won’t put talk of the Knights in the same breath as the major programs they aspire to be like. With those goals, they will remain just a middling school that makes an inferior bowl every year. Schiano’s biggest need is to resemble the now-fading 2006 season, where they threatened the Big East title and were rated as highly as # 6 nationally, before losing it’s last two games to Cincinnati and West Virginia (to dash its hopes for its first conference title) and finish #12 nationally.

They say it every year, but 2010 is a pivotal year for “the Schiano package.” The highest paid public employee in the state of New Jersey, Schiano, now in his 10th year at the helm, seems to not be able to do any wrong in the Garden State. But the state is going through financial crisis like everyone else, and there’s an abundance of new scrutiny and analysis where there’s a major movement on to stress performance and getting your money’s worth. The cushy jobs in the public sector, the pork of it’s legislature and the influence of a few on the many, are things of the past. As a state-funded school, could this new scrutiny include Greg Schiano and his program, too?

At worst, his hand-picked schedule could result with a 6-5 record and Schiano’s fifth straight bowl invitation. Losses against I-AA Norfolk State, a fiery and fledgling Florida International (coached by a former assistant), Tulane, recently revived Army, South Florida (one of five teams on the schedule rated higher than Rutgers in preseason polls), improved Syracuse and Louisville, under a new coach, would not be tolerated and would jeopardize his bowl string. Schiano will be asked to coach wins this year against at least five teams where he’ll be the underdog. The Knight’s fortunes and perhaps Schiano’s, will ride on how he does against the teams currently rated ahead of Rutgers.

Former mentor Butch Davis’ #18 ranked North Carolina Tarheels will be the first test at home on September 25th. UCONN follows two weeks later. The UCONN-Rutgers matchup has been a competitive contest with makings of a geographical rivalry ever since the Huskies took a regular schedule spot as a I-AA team in 2000. It’s a home game for the Knights and winnable if history tells us anything. Two weeks later it’s the matchup with Big East favorite PITT. Schiano has had terrific success against another former mentor, Dave Wannstadt’s Panthers both home and away. The following week is the South Florida matchup in Tampa, where the Scarlet Knights tend to wither in the heat. Cincinnati looms as it’s second to last game in Cincinnati. The Bearcats have seemingly had their way with Rutgers for years. And finally, Rutgers travels to Morgantown to face West Virginia, a team they have played well against, but never beaten in Schiano’s head coaching career.

Expectations? Yes, Rutgers fans are looking for Schiano to lead a good, veteran defensive team through a season of winning the games they are supposed to win and pulling a couple of upsets along the way. With that type of performance, the Knights could threaten the Big East title, end up ranked in the top 25 and get selected to a premier bowl. Anything less would be the same thing we’ve seen for most of the last ten years.