Do you have a favorite memory of Rutgers Football in the naughties??

Is your favorite moment at R House in the naughties the predictable Pandemonium in Piscataway moment that followed the battle of the unbeaten Big East teams on November 9, 2006?
Or was your favorite Scarlet Knights' football memory that first bowl victory against Kansas State in Houston in December of that year? Or the respectable appearance they made against Arizona State in their first bowl appearance in decades a year earlier? Or the Savage to Brown miracle ending this year against UConn? Or Ray Rice's 280 yards in his last game in scarlet in the International Bowl? A specific moment of Brian Leonard's leaping or leadership? Or the upset of Michigan State? The hiring of Greg Schiano? Or some personal memory of Rutgers football in this pivotal decade without an agreed upon name that we have decided to call the naughties?

If you build it, they will come!

There will be more fans at R House on Monday than there were on 6 Nov 2006.

Again, not to beat dead horses, but it would be great to hear the lamentations and gnashing of teeth among the Stadium expansion naysayers in response to the facts that 1) the Rutgers Stadium expansion is going to be finished in time for the season opener, and now 2) the official announcement has been made that all 52,454 seats in the expanded Stadium are sold out for its christening in two days at the game between our Scarlet Knights and the Cincinnati Bearcats.
And I can't wait to celebrate by our mass cretinism by dancing the Cretin Hop! I have heard a rumor that you may be hearing it before the game starts. So get ready for your new Stadium chant:
". . . 1,2,3,4 cretins wanta hop some more . . . 4,5,6,7 all good cretins to heaven* . . ."
_______
*Heaven, a.k.a, Rutgers Stadium on a game day.

Rutgers vs. Louisville (the 2006 version), in case you've forgotten

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9 Nov 2006: (15) Rutgers 28, (3) Louisville 25

Who would have thought when we looked at the schedules in the summer of 2007, that tonight's game would be any less important than last year's battle of the unbeatens on the Banks of the Raritan? Who would have thought that Connecticut(?!) would have had a chance at the Big East title until being blown out by the Mountaineers last weekend? Or that the Louisville Cardinals would be ending the season bowlless after having won the Orange Bowl only eleven months ago?

11 Nov 2005: (nr) Rutgers 5, (23) Louisville 56

That being said, Louisville certainly remembers the one blot on their otherwise perfect season in Piscataway one year ago, and Rutgers certainly remembers their sole loss to the Cardinals at the stadium named after a pizza chain in Louisville two years ago. That game was lost by a score of 56-5 (supposedly because the Knights jumped up and down on the cardinal head at midfield before the game), but it did include the Leonard Leap pictured here, and also available on video at YouTube.

Déjà vu, or Didn't We Just Have a Team in the Top Three Playing in Rutgers Stadium on a Thursday Night?

9 November 2006. There's some FieldTurf under there somewhere.

The school whose most famous alumnus invented the Sledge-O-Matic® for squirting watermelon juice on ponchoed audience members is bringing the youngest team in college football to The Birthplace of College Football this Thursday for yet another nationally-televised ESPN game between the Knights and a team ranked in the top three.

We know that what happened against the #3 Louisville Cardinals last year is a real possibility against the #2/#3 USF Bulls this year, but it's important for those of us in the stands to do our part as well!

And speaking of déjà vu, didn't we already beat a team called the Bulls (albeit a team with more tradition and history) on a Thursday night earlier this season??

By the way, Gallagher will be unsheathing his Sledge-O-Matic® just down Route 18 from Rutgers at Monmouth University in West Long Branch on the 19th, so maybe he'll be at the game on the 18th, inspiring the Bulls and Bullfans with his antics. Of course, Gallagher graduated from USF in 1969 -- 28 years before his alma mater played its first intercollegiate football game (and 100 years after Rutgers and Princeton played the first) -- so he may not even know his old school has a team.

November 9, 2006

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(15) Rutgers 28, (3) Louisville 25
The biggest game in the history of Rutgers Stadium (so far). It's hard to imagine anything topping the excitement and volume of this battle of the unbeatens. It was certainly the best game I've ever seen in ANY stadium.