Football Crain & Cone make team-by-team Big Ten football record predictions for 2026 season

[Richie O]

Crain & Cone make team-by-team Big Ten football record predictions for 2026 season

The Crain & Cone crew makes team-by-team win-loss record predictions for all 18 Big Ten football programs ahead of the upcoming 2026 season.

www.on3.com

 

[Knight Shift]

Never heard of these guys- David Cone is doing football now?
Big Ten team-by-team records as predicted by Jake Crain, David Cone, and Blain Crain


As far as the Rutgers prediction:

 

[rutgersguy2]

To piggyback on that. The Athletic ranked the strength of schedule of the B10. Paywall but here’s the blurb on us. They ranked us the 15th toughest schedule in the conference. Maryland, PSU, Wisconsin were below us.

From the article:
After a tough draw last year, the Scarlet Knights should have a better outlook this fall. Only three of their opponents won at least eight games last year, and all three come to Piscataway: USC, Indiana and Michigan. But many of the coin-flip games are on the road. November looks reasonable based on the opponents’ 2025 records, but traveling to Wisconsin and Penn State and hosting Nebraska and Michigan State won’t be easy, either.

 

[Knight Shift]

To piggyback on that. The Athletic ranked the strength of schedule of the B10. Paywall but here’s the blurb on us. They ranked us the 15th toughest schedule in the conference. Maryland, PSU, Wisconsin were below us.

From the article:
After a tough draw last year, the Scarlet Knights should have a better outlook this fall. Only three of their opponents won at least eight games last year, and all three come to Piscataway: USC, Indiana and Michigan. But many of the coin-flip games are on the road. November looks reasonable based on the opponents’ 2025 records, but traveling to Wisconsin and Penn State and hosting Nebraska and Michigan State won’t be easy, either.

Did they have a record prediction in this or another article? I let my subscription lapse.

 

[DJ Spanky]

I so want to show all of these prognosticators that they have their heads up their collective ásses.

 

[Knight Shift]

I so want to show all of these prognosticators that they have their heads up their collective ásses.

Clever: áss .
What's with this site and the seven dirty words--jackass is a dirty word, or we need to state jackáss?

 

[rutgersguy2]

Did they have a record prediction in this or another article? I let my subscription lapse.

Mandel had predictions for the conference and had us at 2-7/4-8 tied with NW and Purdue in conference record and MSU last at 1-8.

Austin Mock had an odds and win total projections thing on the Athletic.

XWINS is the average number of wins a team got through Mock’s simulations. W ODDS is the currently listed win total line for each team on DraftKings. CONF is the chance Mock’s model projects a team to win the conference. CFP is the chance Mock’s model projects a team to make the 12-team Playoff.


For RU XWINS was 5.3 and W ODDS was 5.5 CFP 1.6% CONF 0.1%



Mandel and Russo's comments on RU are around 38:32 and it's bookmarked in the comments of the video.

 

[rutgersguy2]

Another preview from the Athletic. Paywall but RU section.




2025 record: 5-7 (2-7 Big Ten)
Location: Piscataway, N.J.
Odds to make the CFP: 1.6%
Odds to win the Big Ten:0.1%
The Athletic 138 ranking:79th

Will they be better, worse or the same this year? The same.


Pedigree: Rutgers might be the birthplace of college football, but the football program has three ranked finishes — none in the top 10 — ever and is just 52-93 overall and 22-84 in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014. The Scarlet Knights have made a bowl game in two of the past three years but are still searching for their first winning Big Ten record.

Why they’re interesting:Will Rutgers ever capture the previous magic it had under Greg Schiano in the 2000s? Schiano is entering an important season after winning just five games in 2025 against Ohio, Miami (Ohio), Norfolk State, Purdue and Maryland. Rutgers does return a pair of All-Big Ten skill position weapons in 1,200-yard rusher Antwan Raymond and 1,000-yard receiver KJ Duff.

Who is the coach? The second stint of Schiano at Rutgers hasn’t gone as well as the first run, which peaked with an 11-2 record in 2006 and two other seasons with nine wins. Schiano, 60, is 99-108 in 17 seasons at Rutgers, including 31-41 since returning in 2020.

Who is the QB? Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan (No. 107 in QB Tiers), who began his career at Alabama, beat out AJ Surace for the starting job. Lonergan started nine games at Boston College, throwing for 2,025 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Key player: Duff (No. 22 on the Freaks List, No. 44 in our top 100 players) will give either quarterback an impact player to get the ball to. Duff finished third in the Big Ten in receiving yards with 1,084 and seven touchdowns as a sophomore and is Dane Brugler’s No. 7 draft-eligible underclassman receiver.

Game to circle: Sept. 11 at. Boston College. This is the first swing game for the Scarlet Knights. If Rutgers wants to get back to a bowl, it must begin with a win against the Eagles. If not, finding enough wins against the conference schedule will be difficult.

 

[RU0917]

I get why, but pretty confident we're being underrated by the majority of these predictions at this point. GS's seat will be REAL hot if we actually go 4-8 (or god forbid, worse).

 

[koleszar]

Mandel had predictions for the conference and had us at 2-7/4-8 tied with NW and Purdue in conference record and MSU last at 1-8.

Austin Mock had an odds and win total projections thing on the Athletic.

XWINS is the average number of wins a team got through Mock’s simulations. W ODDS is the currently listed win total line for each team on DraftKings. CONF is the chance Mock’s model projects a team to win the conference. CFP is the chance Mock’s model projects a team to make the 12-team Playoff.


For RU XWINS was 5.3 and W ODDS was 5.5 CFP 1.6% CONF 0.1%



Mandel and Russo's comments on RU are around 38:32 and it's bookmarked in the comments of the video.

So they both took the under when it was 4.5 and now it's moved to 5.5. You could lose a lot of money listening to these two.

 

[cubuffsdoug_rivals]

Crain & Cone make team-by-team Big Ten football record predictions for 2026 season

The Crain & Cone crew makes team-by-team win-loss record predictions for all 18 Big Ten football programs ahead of the upcoming 2026 season.

www.on3.com

Idiots are born everyday and the scariest thing is some have a platform to display their stupidity.

 

[Rutgers Chris]

So they both took the under when it was 4.5 and now it's moved to 5.5. You could lose a lot of money listening to these two.

Beating a dead horse but the number really hasn’t moved. When it was 4.5 you had to pay a premium to take the over. Now that it’s 5.5 you have to pay that same premium on the under. The real number is 5

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Wow - Boston College better not be a swing game.

Beating a dead horse but the number really hasn’t moved. When it was 4.5 you had to pay a premium to take the over. Now that it’s 5.5 you have to pay that same premium on the under. The real number is 5

It’s moved slightly - not much. Probably because of positive vibe coming out of public reports from BIG media visit.

Fun to get excited, but look, preseason hype always needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I recall those guys saying great things the first time they visited RU under Ash too.

I’m not saying this was the case - but there are ways to put on a good “show” for preseason visitors when practicing with your own guys going up against each other. I’m not trying to be negative, but just think expectations shouldn’t fly through the moon based on any preseason reports.

If you give Boston College’s media guy’s podcast a listen, the episode about BC going up against Lonergan would have one thinking BC’s QB has been looking (as Al would say) like the next Heisman candidate. Ok - maybe an exaggeration, but the point is, he’s hyping up a D2 transfer kid who was only slightly more accurate than Gavin at the D2 level and threw more than twice as many picks as Dylan last year. Their guy is a dual threat who racked up a ton of rush yards at the low level last year in D2 but come on - it seems like a pretty big stretch to me to hype much potential from that. Look - we’ve had kids like Oden who could stack up rush yards in garbage time against the FCS level with a blindfold on. They couldn’t help us in FBS. But in listening to this BC media guy - he basically gives the edge to their guy Mason to outplay Lonergan (or in the least, proclaims it as an even match up). After listening to him I’m very curious to watch that Cincy game. I’m having a hard time envisioning anything he could’ve seen in “practice” to breed the level of confidence he’s projecting. But the point is - preseason is the time to be optimistic and get fans excited to the extent possible.

 

[RU#1fan]

If any of these 3 “procrasstinators” are correct with their predictions Schiano is done. Obviously all clueless shills.

 

[rutgersguy2]

So they both took the under when it was 4.5 and now it's moved to 5.5. You could lose a lot of money listening to these two.

Don’t bet on sports so whether it’s 4 or 5 doesn’t matter to me. I’m looking for the first B10 winning conference record which essentially means 8, otherwise we’re pretty much spinning our wheels at best.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Don’t bet on sports so whether it’s 4 or 5 doesn’t matter to me. I’m looking for the first B10 winning conference record which essentially means 8, otherwise we’re pretty much spinning our wheels at best.

Exactly.

 

[Rutgers Chris]

1. Rutgers On SI – Miguel Medina: 9 wins + bowl win — by far the most bullish prediction I found.
2. ESPN FPI: 6.2 projected wins, with a 62.3% preseason chance of reaching bowl eligibility.
3. On the Banks – Arnav Sarkar: 6-6 (3-6 Big Ten) — wins over UMass, BC, Howard, Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
4. Punt & Rally analytics: 5-7 — No. 99 nationally by projected record, despite rating Rutgers No. 68 in overall power.
5. The Touchdown: 5-7 — sees bowl eligibility as attainable but thinks the QB/defensive uncertainty makes five wins safer.
6. Covers – Brad Powers: Over 4.5, essentially expecting 5+ wins.
7. The Knight Report/On3 – Richard O’Leary: Over 4.5, high confidence, so 5+ wins.
8. Covers – Colby Marchio: Over 5.5, effectively 6+ wins.
9. Covers – Rob Paul: Under 4.5, effectively 4 or fewer.
10. Action Network – Joshua Nunn: says 4-5 wins seems appropriate and recommends Under 5.5.
11. College Football News: 4-8. CFN actually says Rutgers should be a better team, but the schedule crushes them.
12. CFN spring projection: 4-8 — same conclusion earlier in the offseason.
13. CBS Sports – Brad Crawford: 4-8 (1-8 Big Ten) — UMass, BC, Howard and Michigan State as the four wins.
14. Sports-Ratings model: 4-8, with an underlying expected record of roughly 5.6-6.4 and a 49% bowl probability. Interestingly, the model is much more optimistic than its binary game picks.
15. Crain & Cone – David Cone: 4-8 (1-8 Big Ten).
16. Crain & Cone – Blain Crain: 4-8 (1-8 Big Ten).
17. Crain & Cone – Jake Crain: 3-9 (1-8 Big Ten) — lowest hard-record prediction I’ve found.
18. Maize n Brew – Andrew Bailey: Under 5.5, saying “.500 feels just out of reach,” which points toward roughly 5-7.
19. FanDuel market: originally 4.5 wins.
20. BetMGM market: currently 4.5 wins.
21. Broader sportsbook market: currently split between 4.5 and 5.5, depending on book.

 

[Caliknight]

Another preview from the Athletic. Paywall but RU section.




2025 record: 5-7 (2-7 Big Ten)
Location: Piscataway, N.J.
Odds to make the CFP: 1.6%
Odds to win the Big Ten:0.1%
The Athletic 138 ranking:79th

Will they be better, worse or the same this year? The same.


Pedigree: Rutgers might be the birthplace of college football, but the football program has three ranked finishes — none in the top 10 — ever and is just 52-93 overall and 22-84 in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014. The Scarlet Knights have made a bowl game in two of the past three years but are still searching for their first winning Big Ten record.

Why they’re interesting:Will Rutgers ever capture the previous magic it had under Greg Schiano in the 2000s? Schiano is entering an important season after winning just five games in 2025 against Ohio, Miami (Ohio), Norfolk State, Purdue and Maryland. Rutgers does return a pair of All-Big Ten skill position weapons in 1,200-yard rusher Antwan Raymond and 1,000-yard receiver KJ Duff.

Who is the coach? The second stint of Schiano at Rutgers hasn’t gone as well as the first run, which peaked with an 11-2 record in 2006 and two other seasons with nine wins. Schiano, 60, is 99-108 in 17 seasons at Rutgers, including 31-41 since returning in 2020.

Who is the QB? Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan (No. 107 in QB Tiers), who began his career at Alabama, beat out AJ Surace for the starting job. Lonergan started nine games at Boston College, throwing for 2,025 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Key player: Duff (No. 22 on the Freaks List, No. 44 in our top 100 players) will give either quarterback an impact player to get the ball to. Duff finished third in the Big Ten in receiving yards with 1,084 and seven touchdowns as a sophomore and is Dane Brugler’s No. 7 draft-eligible underclassman receiver.

Game to circle: Sept. 11 at. Boston College. This is the first swing game for the Scarlet Knights. If Rutgers wants to get back to a bowl, it must begin with a win against the Eagles. If not, finding enough wins against the conference schedule will be difficult.

1.6% odds. So you're saying there is a chance.

 

[Caliknight]

Wow - Boston College better not be a swing game.


It’s moved slightly - not much. Probably because of positive vibe coming out of public reports from BIG media visit.

Fun to get excited, but look, preseason hype always needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I recall those guys saying great things the first time they visited RU under Ash too.

I’m not saying this was the case - but there are ways to put on a good “show” for preseason visitors when practicing with your own guys going up against each other. I’m not trying to be negative, but just think expectations shouldn’t fly through the moon based on any preseason reports.

If you give Boston College’s media guy’s podcast a listen, the episode about BC going up against Lonergan would have one thinking BC’s QB has been looking (as Al would say) like the next Heisman candidate. Ok - maybe an exaggeration, but the point is, he’s hyping up a D2 transfer kid who was only slightly more accurate than Gavin at the D2 level and threw more than twice as many picks as Dylan last year. Their guy is a dual threat who racked up a ton of rush yards at the low level last year in D2 but come on - it seems like a pretty big stretch to me to hype much potential from that. Look - we’ve had kids like Oden who could stack up rush yards in garbage time against the FCS level with a blindfold on. They couldn’t help us in FBS. But in listening to this BC media guy - he basically gives the edge to their guy Mason to outplay Lonergan (or in the least, proclaims it as an even match up). After listening to him I’m very curious to watch that Cincy game. I’m having a hard time envisioning anything he could’ve seen in “practice” to breed the level of confidence he’s projecting. But the point is - preseason is the time to be optimistic and get fans excited to the extent possible.

BCU is no swing game. If we lose that one, the season is over and GS is likely backing bags at the end of it. They are trash.

 

[rutgersguy2]

Obviously all clueless shills.

That’s normal, many of the media I listen to preface their predictions with we don’t know what’s going to happen, the unexpected will happen etc… some pick things just to have chaos etc and aren’t too serious about it.

Predictions and the talk is just part of the fun.