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Rutgers wins one for the ages
By David Aldridge
The Philadelphia Inquirer
fPISCATAWAY, N.J. - It was raining hard that day, a miserable afternoon in another miserable football season for Rutgers. The crowd was an announced 10,225. The Scarlet Knights kicked the ball all over Rutgers Stadium, and when the dreadful afternoon was over, they'd lost their 21st consecutive conference game and 26th of their last 27 - the latest loss in what would become a 1-11 season.
The score was 20-17. The opponent was Temple.
Lest you think that game was played during the Eisenhower administration, it took place less than four years ago.
"It was just kind of sad," L.J. Smith, an Eagles tight end now and a Scarlet Knights senior that day, recalled Thursday night. "There was nothing after that. We had no bowl game to go to or anything."
Apparently, things have changed near the Raritan River.
Rutgers played itself a football game on Thursday night, in front of a sellout crowd and a national television audience, with the guys in the orange and green coats talking amongst themselves in the back. Bowl guys. Big bowl guys. BCS guys. And Heisman Trophy guys, looking at Rutgers sophomore tailback Ray Rice and Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm. And a half-dozen NFL scouts, taking note of the pro prospects on Rutgers and Louisville.
Unbeaten Rutgers and Louisville.
"It's no comparison," Smith said from the Rutgers sideline just before the second-half kickoff, having spent the first 30 minutes of play standing next to Donovan McNabb. "The only games I can compare this to was when we played Miami and we played Texas - but they didn't come to see us."
In the press box, another ex-Knight, former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas, wished that he'd gotten to play a game or two in front of this sea of red. (James Gandolfini, Rutgers `83, and a frequent attendee at games, couldn't make it Thursday night; he was taping this cable show of his. You may have heard of it. Something about organized crime.)
And I couldn't help but wonder what the folks over at Temple were thinking.
How it must have galled the Cherry and White on Thursday night, to watch 15th-ranked Rutgers play third-ranked Louisville, with demand for student tickets so great they had to put temporary stands up behind the end zone. Wait a minute, the Owls might have thought; we beat these guys four years in a row through `02.
What were the e-mails and instant messages like from one Owl to another, as Rutgers, in front of a record crowd of 44,111, in the biggest college football game in the New York area since, maybe, Army-Notre Dame in 1946, took its first, tentative steps toward the big time - while Temple prepares for its latest role as cannon fodder on Saturday, at Penn State.
The Owls have a good young coach in Al Golden, who's trying very hard to beat the inferior out of them. But that's not enough, not in today's world of collegiate athletics.
To be sure, there are many Temple alumni and administrators who will never forgive the Big East for voting in 2001 to throw the Owls out of the conference - and certainly for not even giving them a second look for reinstatement once Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College bolted for the ACC in 2003, leaving the Big East teetering on the brink of extinction.
But, once the anger and disappointment subside, ask yourself, in your heart of hearts, if Temple could realistically do what Rutgers has done. Yes, the Owls built a new practice facility and worked out a deal to play at Lincoln Financial Field, but Rutgers did the same with its facilities.
And Temple will never have state resources at its disposal.
"I remember when both Rutgers and Temple were struggling, and people said to me, there's no difference between the two," said Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese. "And I said, `You're wrong. There is a difference.' I said Rutgers was spending money on facilities. And they're also the state university of New Jersey. I said, `You can't tell me that the state university of New Jersey can't be good in football.' "
Tranghese swears that the decision to boot Temple was hard. "But I thought we were fair about it," he said. "Now, some people there probably don't say that. We went to them, we explained to them what the concern was. We went through a process. The problem was, they weren't in a position to spend money on facilities. And as we looked at it, they had no chance to get better."
Not at this level, anyway.
And so, it surely was painful for Owls Nation on Thursday night, as the Scarlet Knights' dreams came true, and they came back to beat the Cardinals in the final seconds, and the fans stormed the field. It was probably like watching an old girlfriend who lost 30 pounds, got her hair done, and got promoted at work, and is now dating some junior executive with an expense account. You can curse her under your breath, or you can wish her well.
The adult thing for Temple to do, of course, would be to wish Rutgers well.
The (expletive).
By David Aldridge
The Philadelphia Inquirer
fPISCATAWAY, N.J. - It was raining hard that day, a miserable afternoon in another miserable football season for Rutgers. The crowd was an announced 10,225. The Scarlet Knights kicked the ball all over Rutgers Stadium, and when the dreadful afternoon was over, they'd lost their 21st consecutive conference game and 26th of their last 27 - the latest loss in what would become a 1-11 season.
The score was 20-17. The opponent was Temple.
Lest you think that game was played during the Eisenhower administration, it took place less than four years ago.
"It was just kind of sad," L.J. Smith, an Eagles tight end now and a Scarlet Knights senior that day, recalled Thursday night. "There was nothing after that. We had no bowl game to go to or anything."
Apparently, things have changed near the Raritan River.
Rutgers played itself a football game on Thursday night, in front of a sellout crowd and a national television audience, with the guys in the orange and green coats talking amongst themselves in the back. Bowl guys. Big bowl guys. BCS guys. And Heisman Trophy guys, looking at Rutgers sophomore tailback Ray Rice and Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm. And a half-dozen NFL scouts, taking note of the pro prospects on Rutgers and Louisville.
Unbeaten Rutgers and Louisville.
"It's no comparison," Smith said from the Rutgers sideline just before the second-half kickoff, having spent the first 30 minutes of play standing next to Donovan McNabb. "The only games I can compare this to was when we played Miami and we played Texas - but they didn't come to see us."
In the press box, another ex-Knight, former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas, wished that he'd gotten to play a game or two in front of this sea of red. (James Gandolfini, Rutgers `83, and a frequent attendee at games, couldn't make it Thursday night; he was taping this cable show of his. You may have heard of it. Something about organized crime.)
And I couldn't help but wonder what the folks over at Temple were thinking.
How it must have galled the Cherry and White on Thursday night, to watch 15th-ranked Rutgers play third-ranked Louisville, with demand for student tickets so great they had to put temporary stands up behind the end zone. Wait a minute, the Owls might have thought; we beat these guys four years in a row through `02.
What were the e-mails and instant messages like from one Owl to another, as Rutgers, in front of a record crowd of 44,111, in the biggest college football game in the New York area since, maybe, Army-Notre Dame in 1946, took its first, tentative steps toward the big time - while Temple prepares for its latest role as cannon fodder on Saturday, at Penn State.
The Owls have a good young coach in Al Golden, who's trying very hard to beat the inferior out of them. But that's not enough, not in today's world of collegiate athletics.
To be sure, there are many Temple alumni and administrators who will never forgive the Big East for voting in 2001 to throw the Owls out of the conference - and certainly for not even giving them a second look for reinstatement once Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College bolted for the ACC in 2003, leaving the Big East teetering on the brink of extinction.
But, once the anger and disappointment subside, ask yourself, in your heart of hearts, if Temple could realistically do what Rutgers has done. Yes, the Owls built a new practice facility and worked out a deal to play at Lincoln Financial Field, but Rutgers did the same with its facilities.
And Temple will never have state resources at its disposal.
"I remember when both Rutgers and Temple were struggling, and people said to me, there's no difference between the two," said Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese. "And I said, `You're wrong. There is a difference.' I said Rutgers was spending money on facilities. And they're also the state university of New Jersey. I said, `You can't tell me that the state university of New Jersey can't be good in football.' "
Tranghese swears that the decision to boot Temple was hard. "But I thought we were fair about it," he said. "Now, some people there probably don't say that. We went to them, we explained to them what the concern was. We went through a process. The problem was, they weren't in a position to spend money on facilities. And as we looked at it, they had no chance to get better."
Not at this level, anyway.
And so, it surely was painful for Owls Nation on Thursday night, as the Scarlet Knights' dreams came true, and they came back to beat the Cardinals in the final seconds, and the fans stormed the field. It was probably like watching an old girlfriend who lost 30 pounds, got her hair done, and got promoted at work, and is now dating some junior executive with an expense account. You can curse her under your breath, or you can wish her well.
The adult thing for Temple to do, of course, would be to wish Rutgers well.
The (expletive).
