PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano knows what’s being said about his program, he hears some of the hype and buzz as Rutgers football enters a highly anticipated season.

But if you think he’s paying much attention to it – or allowing his players to focus on any of it – he says you’d be mistaken.

“You hear all that stuff, it’s like poison,” Schiano said Saturday following Rutgers’ first scrimmage of training camp. “It’s sitting on the counter it doesn’t harm you. If you start drinking it, you’re in trouble. We have to work. That’s all we have to do.”

So right now for the Scarlet Knights, according to Schiano, that’s the only focus with just less than three weeks to go until the season opener against Howard at SHI Stadium.

Outside the program?

The talk isn’t going to die down.

Here’s a look at what some national prognosticators and analysts have been saying about Rutgers:

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN

“Someone’s going to come out of (the Big Ten) that you really didn’t expect,” Herbstreit said during an interview with the Pat McAfee Show last month. “Whether that’s an Iowa, whether it’s, who knows, (Dylan) Raiola at Nebraska. Whoever’s got the most manageable schedule. Rutgers has a schedule that is by Big Ten standards in this new Big Ten world that we’re in, they could make a little bit of a run.”

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports

“I like Rutgers,” Wetzel said on the College Football Enquirer podcast of a potential dark horse. “7-6 last year. They have a transfer quarterback from Minnesota. They’ve got eight to 10 starters back on ‘D.’ They’ve got Kyle Monangai, an incredible running back. They do not play Ohio State, they do not play Oregon, they do not play Michigan, they do not play Penn State and they do not play Iowa. Rutgers has been taking in on the chin with the schedule since they got in in the Big Ten. …It’s doable. If they’re playing really well, this is a team that could get 10 wins. Ten wins in the Big Ten, you could be in.”

Cameron Teague Robinson, The Athletic

“Call me crazy, but I believe in the Scarlet Knights this year," Teague Robinson wrote. "Greg Schiano has done a great job recruiting in the program’s backyard and returns a ton of talent from a team that actually led Ohio State at halftime last season. They’ll have a new quarterback in Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis, and running back Kyle Monangai is one of the best running backs the country doesn’t talk enough about. The schedule breaks right for contention, too: The Scarlet Knights don’t play Penn State, Oregon, Ohio State, Iowa or Michigan this year.”

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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

“Greg Schiano has been building toward this season, as Rutgers boasts its deepest and most talented roster since joining the Big Ten," Rittenberg wrote in ESPN's Big Ten preview. "Rutgers returns starters at all three levels of its defense, including disruptive linebacker Mohamed Toure, as well as 2023 Big Ten rushing leader Kyle Monangai. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that have come of age,” Schiano told me last month. The Scarlet Knights also finally catch a schedule break: They don’t play Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State, as well as top West Coast addition Oregon.”

Doug Lesmerises, Kings of the North podcast

Lesmerises interviewed Schiano on his podcast at Big Ten Media Days and told the Scarlet Knights head coach he believes Rutgers would go 7-2 in the Big Ten.

“I think you have an opportunity to really play complementary football,” Lesmerises told Schiano. “I think with what your plan is and what you’re doing in recruiting and the energy that’s behind the program right now – and it feels like you have buy in there, I think Rutgers football’s in a good spot.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football 2024: Preseason predictions and analysis