Opponent Preview: What can Penn State fans expect from Rutgers in 2023?

Penn State is just one week out from the start of the 2023 season. Expectations are as high as they’ve ever been under head coach James Franklin, as the Nittany Lions will start the year at No. 7 overall in both major polls. Between the excitement surrounding Drew Allar and a host of future NFL players, there’s no shortage of storylines to follow.

But their schedule also features marquee games throughout the 2023 season. Before shifting our focus to Rutgers, Penn State fans can recap our previous opponent previews below.

West Virginia
Illinois
Iowa
Northwestern
Ohio State
Indiana
Maryland

Quick Facts

All-Time Series: Penn State leads 31-2
Last Meeting: PSU outgained the host Scarlet Knights 436 yards to 167 en route to a 55-10 victory on Nov. 19, 2022
Head Coach: Greg Schiano (80-89 in 14 nonconsecutive seasons at Rutgers; career collegiate coaching record: same)
2022 Record: 4-8, 1-8 Big Ten
Returning Starters: 13 (5 offense, 7 defense, 1 specialist)

Returning Leaders

Rushing: RB Kyle Monangai (445 yards, 2 TD)
Passing: QB Evan Simon (777 yards, 4 TD)
Receiving: TE Johnny Langan (296 yards, 1 TD)
Tackles: LB Deion Jennings (91)
Sacks: DE Wesley Bailey (3.5)
Interceptions: CB Robert Longerbeam, CB Max Melton (2)

What Could Go Right

With four winnable games in September, Rutgers could roll into the last two months of the season needing only a couple of upsets to become bowl-eligible.

What Could Go Wrong

The same things that went wrong last year: The offense could fail to average 20 points per game and the defense could wear out by November.

Summary

Rutgers made probably the best move it could have made in December 2019 when it brought back Greg Schiano to take charge of its long-suffering football program.

Schiano, a New Jersey native who had gone 68-67 at the school during his first stint as head coach from 2001-11, brought the pedigree and the recruiting connections that the Scarlet Knights would need if they were going to improve.

Nearly four years have since passed, and Rutgers is now faced with a different conundrum: What do you do when the best move you could make doesn’t produce the results you want?

Link: Penn State DT Zane Durant eyes run-stopping improvement

Over the past three seasons, the Scarlet Knights have done just fine in nonconference games, winning all six. But the conference season is what really matters, and they’ve gone steadily downhill in that department, winning three games in 2020, then two the following year and just one last fall.

It was widely assumed, even amid the optimism that greeted his return, that Schiano would have a much more difficult time building a winner in the Big Ten than in the Big East, Rutgers’ previous conference. Those concerns have since proven well-founded, and they continue to bedevil the program as it prepares for its fourth season of the second Schiano era.

The Scarlet Knights go into the upcoming season needing a much better performance from their passing game. Quarterbacks Evan Simon and Gavin Wimsatt completed just 51.1 percent of their attempts last season, combing for 13 interceptions and nine touchdowns. Wimsatt started the team’s final five games and has already been named the starter this fall with the hope that he can improve on last year’s 44.8 percent completion rate.

The Scarlet Knights are also faced with questions about who will be on the receiving end of Wimsatt’s passes. Of the five players who totaled 200 or more receiving yards last year, three are gone, making tight end (and former quarterback) Johnny Langan the top returning pass catcher with 31 receptions for 296 yards and one touchdown.

Link: Penn State DL coach Deion Barnes adjusting well to new role for Nittany Lions

Rutgers does have a couple of solid running backs in Kyle Monangai and Samuel Brown V. Brown’s freshman season was cut short by injuries, but he averaged 4.3 yards per carry in seven games while scoring a team-high three touchdowns on the ground. Still, the productivity of the backfield will likely hinge on how quickly the rebuilt offensive line jells.

The defense returns seven starters from a unit that surrendered 349.8 yards per game last year to rank eighth in the Big Ten. Defensive end Aaron Lewis won third-team all-conference honors from the coaches after totaling eight tackles for loss, while Deion Jennings is a solid linebacker who led the unit with 91 stops.

Aside from lopsided losses to Ohio State (49-10), Michigan (52-17) and Penn State (55-10), the Scarlet Knights’ defense fared reasonably well last year. It will likely have to do so again if Rutgers is going to reverse course.