BadgerBlitz.com brings back it's Behind Enemy Lines series, where we get an opposing beat writer's take on the upcoming matchup.

For Week 4, we spoke to Richard Schnyderite of TheKnightReport.com and touched on Rutgers' hot start, its impressive defense and more.

Schnyderite: This isn't super shocking considering they started the past two seasons at 3-0. However, this year feels a bit different because instead of narrowly getting by some of the early opponents, Rutgers has done a good job of winning by multiple scores and even showed some serious competitiveness against a very good Michigan team in their lone loss.

Schnyderite: For starters it begins with recruiting and it's been much better since his return to Rutgers, but this was a serious rebuild and it wasn't a one-, two- or even three-year fix, but rather a five or six rebuild at the minimum to build up the talent level and depth at all stages of the program. You can see this 2024 recruiting class is clearly his best since making his return, but you also have to credit him for making the right hires as well. Yes many will point to how his first OC didn't work out in Sean Gleeson, but they did steal away an OC from a Power 5 program in Oklahoma State when he first got here, but when things didn't work out there, Schiano went out and hired a group of veteran coaches that he both knows and trusts to get the job done. He stole Minnesota's OC in Kirk Ciarrocca this offseason and so far he's done quite the job of rebuilding a pretty ugly offense last season. He also brought in two very well known veterans to help him on offense in 40-year coaching vet and two time Super Bowl Champ Pat Flaherty to fix the O-Line and former Atlanta Falcons WRs coach Dave Brock to fix that unit. Overall, Schiano has done a great job of not only rebuilding, but also recognizing where they need to get better by going out to get others who can help take Rutgers to that next level.

Schnyderite: Yes and that's typically always been the case under Greg Schiano. Like I said before, there was a significant talent gap from Rutgers to other Big Ten teams when he first returned to Rutgers, but now that he is several years in, you can see that gap slowly starting to close. On top of that, Schiano has always been known as a defensive guy and he knows that side of the ball better than most. It's a big reason why he was a head coach in the NFL and a DC at the highest levels of college football. I also have to give a lot of credit to DC Joe Harasymiak here, as he's been quite the hire for Schiano so far. He's the former Co-DC/DBs coach at Minnesota as well as the former head coach of Maine, but his in-game adjustments and schemes have taken this Schiano defense to another level this season.

Schnyderite: I'd keep a close eye on defensive end Aaron Lewis. He came in from Michigan via the transfer portal as he returned home to play for his home state school of Rutgers and has been dominant ever since. Last season he led all edge rushers with 19 QB hits and this year he currently only has three hits. But he does have three total sacks and is 26th overall in QB hurries, so he is still causing some havoc for offenses. On the other side of him is Wesley Bailey, a former TE recruit who converted to DE his senior year of high school and received several Power 5 offers. He's really starting to come into his own as he was the team's sack leader last season with 3.5 total. Bailey has been a little bit quieter this season, but could break out again at any moment.

Then there's linebacker Tyreem Powell, who has done a little bit of everything for the Scarlet Knights this season. He's not only the team's leading tackler, but also second in sacks this season (2.0). On top of that he can be thrown into coverage at times as well as he's built in the true mold of the modern day linebacker that can do a little of just about everything.

Schnyderite: He's been much smarter with the ball this season, so you have to give a lot of credit here to new OC/QBs coach Kirk Ciarrocca for not asking Wimsatt to do too much and just trusting him to make the right throws. Wimsatt has shown he has some serious arm strength behind the ball, but at times it can be a little too much as there's been throws where it seems like he's throwing a 99 mph fastball at guys who aren't too far from the line of scrimmage. On top of that, he's had some accuracy issues in the past and they still show from time to time, but overall he's been a much better version of himself this year and should continue to grow throughout this season and the next two.

Schnyderite: So far this season, it's been the Kyle Monangai show as he's taken his game to another level. He's had multiple games where he's ran for over 100+ yards on the ground and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry in total. Now there's been times where he's been hit in the backfield, but like a former Scarlet Knight (Isiah Pacheco), he's managed to just bounce off defenders while shedding tackles and making up for it with big gains. Expect him to be the lead guy once again this week, but they also have Samuel Brown V, who was the starter last year as a true freshman before getting hurt. He's had some bright spots so far this season, but missed a big chunk of training camp and the first few games as he's still shaking off some of that rust.

There's a couple others who might see some carries as well in Aaron Young and true freshman Jashon Benjamin, both of whom have scored this season. But for the most part I expect Brown and Monangai to be the go to backs this weekend.

Schnyderite: As you probably know, Rutgers played a very good Michigan tight throughout the first half a few weeks back. But they couldn't get a whole lot going on offense other than that big 69-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. After the first 30 minutes of play, the defense held strong, but eventually they were worn out and gave up a couple of chunk plays leading to Michigan scores. On top of that, Wimsatt got hit on one play forcing a fumble and he threw a pick six on another drive, although it bounced off a receiver so hard to blame him too much there, thus causing a pretty significant swing in the score.

I don't think they exploited anything too much, rather they just did the typical Michigan thing of wearing down their opponents in the first half and opened things up in the second.

Schnyderite: I'll be honest when I saw the 14-point spread originally, I thought that was a bit crazy as this Rutgers defense is legit and Wisconsin, while projected to win the Big Ten West this season, hasn't seemed too dominant this season. Now with that being said, I'm a huge fan of Phil Longo and have followed him for quite some time, more so recently as he was rumored to have serious interest in the Rutgers job before Schiano returned.

I think this one will be a close one, but with the game being out in Wisconsin at Camp Randall, I have to ride with the Badgers here. I'm going with Wisconsin winning this one, 28-17.

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