“We both have new head coaches, completely new staffs, a few new players, so each team is going to look completely new.”

ANOTHER NEW START

Schiano had plenty of success in his first stint at Rutgers, but it didn’t come immediately. The Scarlet Knights went 3-20 in his first two seasons and they didn’t have a winning season until his fifth year. And that was in the Big East, not the Big Ten.

DROUGHT

Rutgers has not won a Big Ten game since 2017, when it beat Illinois, Purdue and Maryland.

STREAK

Michigan State has won 21 consecutive home openers. Only Florida (31), Oklahoma State (25), Wisconsin (24) and Illinois (22) have longer.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Scarlet Knights’ best player might be punter Adam Korsak. The Australian led the conference and ranked 15th nationally with a net punt average of 41.5 yards. Opponents did not have a return on 56 of his 76 punts last season, and none were blocked. He averaged 43.8 yards and put 31 punts inside the 20-yard line.