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Rutgers may be writing
its own miracle story now
of TheColumnists.com
What’s old
and new and red all over? Why, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, the
hottest team in college football.
Rutgers! Just say it, and the New Jersey school sounds colonial. That’s because the university opened in 1766, a decade before we tackled the British.
Back then it was Queens College, and the King was calling signals. By the time the school was named for Revolutionary War Col. Henry Rutgers in 1825, President John Quincy Adams was taking snaps while Andrew Jackson stood on the sideline ready to become field general in four years.
Too bad Jackson couldn’t ride herd on Rutgers’ gridders. He was long dead by the time the school started playing the sport in 1869. And the Scarlet Knights hardly showed life while digging a losing legacy.
So much for the history lecture. Today’s Knights have run to daylight. They’re the Teel Thing, following quarterback Mike Teel to a 9-0 record.
Did they ever Nov. 9. It was simply the biggest game in a college town with the coolest name: Piscataway. And Rutgers painted a Scarlet L on the Louisville Cardinals by the comeback count of 28-25.
Rutgers! 9-0! Punctuated by that megatriumph over No. 3 and unbeaten Louisville.
Think of the Knights’ shot in the playoffs. Oh, forgot. Big-time college football flunks the playoff test. It offers bowl electives instead. Then hands out pass/fail grades to determine the national champion.
So much for higher education’s brains. Amid this ignorance sits studious Rutgers with maybe no chance to stand at the head of the class.
Even if the Knights land straight A’s the rest of the season, they’ll feel as if they flunked if they must watch two others--maybe Ohio State vs. Florida--play for No. 1.
That’s the future. Right now, Rutgers sports one of the greatest rises ever. From rolled over to honor roll. From drawing this answer in an ESPN woman-on-the-street feature --“I don’t know what Rutgers are”--to joining this list of Sudden Stars:
* 1969 Mets. The Amazin’ standard. From dreadful baseball their first seven seasons to winning the World Series. And Neil Armstrong thought he had the corner on space landings that year. As the Almighty said in “Oh, God”: “The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you have to go back to the Red Sea.”
* 1966 Texas Western. College basketball’s shock of all time. Here the school was lost amid the state’s vast west, then trekked east to the Final Four and won everything. The no-namers beat Kentucky in the title game. How no-name? It later changed it to the University of Texas at El Paso.
* 1967 Red Sox. Boston declined after the 1946 World Series. They placed an inch from the cellar in 1966. Then came Carl Yastrzemski’s triple crown, a pennant and a Game 7 loss to Bob Gibson in the Series.
* 1981 49ers. San Francisco just couldn’t win. It constantly finished second in the old All-America Football Conference. After joining the NFL in 1950, the 49ers wandered through three decades in search of a championship. Not many figured they would find that title in ’81. Yet the Niners had Bill Walsh coaching and Joe Montana quarterbacking. They figured out how to stun Dallas in the NFC final, then beat Cincy in the Super Bowl. The 49er dynasty was on.
* 1995 Northwestern. The Cats made a habit of running mild. Their 34-game losing streak from 1979 to ’82 set the college football record. The players could read and write. Just couldn’t read the right plays. Then came ’95 and a combination of smarts and skill. The Cats ran wild, winning the Big Ten and going 10-2.
* 1997 Marlins. Florida hooked its first baseball team in 1993. After four seasons underwater, the Marlins hardly looked like they would surface in ’97. Somehow they caught a winning wave, surfed to the wild card, drenched Atlanta for the pennant and drowned Cleveland in the World Series. Florida caught the big one in just five seasons.
* 2001 Patriots. In their first two trips to league title games, the Pats were consistent. They scored 10 points each time. The problem was the enemy, resulting in a 51-10 flop in 1963 and 46-10 stop in the ‘85 season. No wonder they looked like Patsies in 2001, especially entering that season’s Super Bowl against the soaring St. Louis Rams. By the time Tom Brady was through with his heroics, New England was a 20-17 winner and champion.
* 2002 Angels. Anaheim’s resume flashed rare postseasons and no World Series. Then came ’02 and a 6-14 start. The Angels looked like nowhere men again. They managed to reach the playoffs as a wild card and somehow found their way. They lost the first game of the American League Division Series in New York, then beat the Yankees three games to one. They lost the first game of the American League Championship Series in Minnesota, then beat the Twins four games to one. They lost the first game of the World Series to San Francisco, then beat the Giants four games to three.
The Angels’ improbable title is their only one. It’s still one more than Rutgers owns, but maybe miraculously not for long.
©2006 by Bucky Fox. The photo of Scarlet Knights fans is courtesy of the official Rutgers University football website.This column first posted Nov. 13, 2006.
You can visit Bucky Fox's website at www.BuckyFox.com
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