Kirk Herbstreit dubbed this upstart team a potential threat in the Big Ten

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights likely just became big fans of Kirk Herbstreit.

During a recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Herbstreit was asked which potential dark-horse teams he could see sneaking into the College Football Playoff, and the renowned college football analyst had some interesting things to say about Rutgers.

“It’s weird, you think about the Big Ten, obviously, what is there now, 18 teams?” Herbstreit said . “You go down your list, a lot of it comes down to the schedule. Someone is going to come out of that conference that you really didn’t expect, whether that’s an Iowa, whether that’s a — who knows with (five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola) at Nebraska. Whoever has the most manageable schedule. Rutgers has a schedule that’s, by Big Ten standards and this Big Ten world that we’re in, they can make a little bit of a run.”

Rutgers is coming off a 7-6 season, capped off with a 31-24 win over the University of Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. However, the 2024 schedule appears to be much more favorable than last year’s, in which the Scarlet Knights lost all four of their games against ranked teams.

In the new expanded Big Ten Conference, Rutgers lucked out by avoiding Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State this season, and its toughest tests come against the likes of Nebraska, Wisconsin and USC.