COLUMN
Bulls Are This Year's Rutgers
Published: Oct 18, 2007
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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The University of South Florida football program began playing games 10 years ago. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, just did beat the Bulls to the starting line.
It was here at Rutgers, in 1869, that the first intercollegiate football game was played. Rutgers defeated Princeton, 6-4.
"And then we waited 130 years to be good," Rutgers senior Ben Foley said.
Now they laugh about that at Rutgers. Things are that good. After all those forgettable decades, this is a football school, with all that comes with it, with 11 wins last season, sellout crowds and consecutive bowl appearances.
Now No. 2 South Florida is in town for a nationally televised game.
This joint is jumping.
"Everyone is amped," Rutgers freshman Samantha Howley said. "They're just like we were."
South Florida, the new darling of college football, is the Rutgers of this season.
Rutgers was the Rutgers of last season.
"We know everything you're going through in Tampa," Rutgers graduate Steve Ostergren said. "You've got our glass slipper."
A year ago, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights were the fairy tale. It was Rutgers students who camped out for tickets for the first time. And on a Thursday just like this, Rutgers upset third-ranked Louisville on national TV.
USF players were thrilled earlier this season when a Tampa skyscraper was lighted green the night the Bulls beat West Virginia. That happened to Rutgers last season. The city was New York, 20 miles to the northeast, and the building bathed in scarlet was the Empire State Building.
"It was a great tribute to our program," Rutgers running back Ray Rice said.
"You have your building, we have the Empire State Building," Rutgers sophomore Jessica Buruchelli said. "We win that one."
Stop us if you've heard this before, USF fans. Rutgers is a large university with a sizable share of commuters (the site of the first college game is now a parking lot) that has struggled to crash the national spotlight. Now it's using big-time football as a branding tool. Imagine that.
"Football gave us a real identity," Rutgers senior Salman Kahn said.
Everywhere in and around Rutgers you see the scarlet "R" - dorm windows, store windows, living room windows, car windows. It's spreading across Jersey.
Rutgers football might just be the boss of bosses, ahead of Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini, Rutgers '83).
Rutgers has poured millions into facilities and coaches. Victories, attendance, donations - and enrollment - are way up.
"This is beyond what we could have imagined," said Rutgers deputy athletic director Kevin MacConnell, Rutgers '80.
Yes, the school that used to give away thousands of free tickets now has a season-ticket waiting list.
School spirit is everywhere. Steve Ostergren might be the best judge. For 20 years, he has owned Scarlet Fever, which borders the campus and sells Scarlet Knights merchandise. Ostergren goes one better than that.
"I was the Scarlet Knight," he said.
The 1988 Rutgers graduate was the actual Rutgers mascot.
Back then, when he made noise at games, empty stands stared him down.
"Crickets. I heard crickets," Ostergren said.
He still has part of his mascot costume, an oversized knight's head. It will have a place of honor when Ostergren moves his store to a new building across the street, triple the size, to meet growing demand.
"There was a time when I'd set the door chime and go and take a nap until someone came in," he said. "The morning after the Louisville game last season, there was a line out the door and down the street."
Some see Rutgers as a cautionary tale for USF. The football boom came at the same time the university was in a deep budget crisis. Jobs and classes were cut and six varsity sports were dropped. Football spending rolled on.
"We're just another football factory," said retired Rutgers mathematics professor William Levitt. "Something has been lost."
Then again, there's Kahn, a member of men's crew, an axed sport.
"I was tired of being coxswain," he said. "I'd rather see the football games."
USF is 6-0. Rutgers reached 9-0 last season and was ranked sixth after beating Louisville, but lost the next week at Cincinnati.
"Tell your team that glass slippers can break," Ostergren said.
Rutgers has lost twice this season.
"It's very depressing," Rutgers freshman Kara Brown said.
"If only we can beat South Florida."
If only.
