Game-by-game predictions for the rest of Rutgers football's season

If there was ever a team that needed a week off, it’s Rutgers football.

The Scarlet Knights have gotten off to a terrible start to the season, suffering stunning losses to UMass and Boston College, a narrow defeat to USC and a blowout loss at the hands of defending champion Indiana. The only semblance of relief came in a rout of Howard, an overmatched FCS team that never had a chance.

Rutgers’ defense has been borderline nonexistent. Its quarterback play has been generally underwhelming. And with all of that its chances of salvaging the season are becoming increasingly remote.

Coach Greg Schiano vowed to spend this week trying to fix the issues – or at least attempt to.

“Anything’s on the table – like I said, I love the coaching staff, I love the players,” Schiano said following his team’s 47-15 loss to the Hoosiers on Oct. 3. “It won’t be any of that. It’s going to be what can we do improve? We have to improve. I thought we did improve the last weeks and we didn’t improve this week.”

Here’s the good news for the Scarlet Knights: There are winnable games on the remaining schedule.

But here’s the bad news: They’re only winnable if Rutgers actually makes corrections, otherwise it’ll be vulnerable against anyone.

Here are predictions for how the remaining seven games will go:

Oct. 17 at Maryland

This is about a good a situation as Rutgers could face coming out of the bye week. The Terrapins are 2-3 and have played poorly, including a 54-3 loss to UCLA. They did push Nebraska early but still fell 48-23. Mike Locksley is coaching for his job at this point. Maryland’s playing at Ohio State so almost certainly will be 2-4 when it hosts the Scarlet Knights, who have played well coming out of a bye under Schiano.

Prediction: Win

Oct. 24 at Northwestern

This game will be at the Wildcats’ new home, Ryan Field. Northwestern right now is 3-1 and just beat Penn State. The Wildcats also put up a good fight against Indiana before losing 29-23. Northwestern this season under David Braun has been one of the Big Ten’s biggest surprises. At the start of the season this looked like a more winnable game for Rutgers, but now the Wildcats appear to be one of the tougher opponents on the schedule.

Prediction: Loss

Oct. 31 vs. Michigan

This one’s interesting because the Wolverines haven’t played that well under Kyle Whittingham. Michigan did beat Oklahoma in its second game but have dropped its first two Big Ten games against Iowa and Minnesota. The Wolverines still have an excellent defense, ranking second in the conference allowing 241.4 yards per game. They’ve just struggled to score points (23.0 per game). Still, the Wolverines have talent. It could be tough for Rutgers to do much offensively.

Prediction: Loss

Nov. 7 at Wisconsin

Playing at Camp Randall Stadium is always tough for road opponents. The Badgers right now are 4-1 with Big Ten wins over Penn State (24-20) and Michigan State (31-3). By the time this game takes place Wisconsin will have played UCLA, USC and Iowa so we’ll have a better idea of just how good the Badgers are by then. They’ve played well defensively while their offense (379.4 yards per game) is among the worst in the Big Ten. Still, the way Rutgers has played so far, it’s tough to see the Scarlet Knights pulling out a road win.

Prediction: Loss

Nov. 14 vs. Nebraska

Nebraska’s 5-0 so far but really hasn’t been truly tested – its two Big Ten wins are against Michigan State and Maryland. The Cornhuskers have Indiana and Oregon the next two weeks, so that’ll be a better gauge. Their offense so far (again, so far) is one of the best in the Big Ten. If that continues, it’s tough to see the Rutgers defense containing it enough.

Prediction: Loss

Nov. 21 at Penn State

The Nittany Lions are having some issues in Matt Campbell’s first season, having just lost to Wisconsin and Northwestern. Penn State has looked completely out of sorts and unorganized. Whether those issues can be ironed out before the Lions host Rutgers remains to be seen. The Scarlet Knights haven’t beaten Penn State since 1988. Have we seen enough to think that streak will end this year? No we haven’t. Especially with the Scarlet Knights on the road.

Prediction: Loss

Nov. 28 vs. Michigan State

It’s been a tough start to the Pat Fitzgerald era in East Lansing. The Spartans have lost three straight, including blowout losses against Nebraska and Wisconsin. Their offense and defense rank toward the bottom of the conference, including an offense that ranks dead last with 305.6 yards per game. There haven’t been many positives for Michigan State. By this point in the season, the Spartans could be checked out unless they need a win to secure bowl eligibility. But they’d need two more wins by that point – it’s tough to see them getting them.

Prediction: Win

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Game-by-game predictions for the rest of Rutgers football's season