Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
That's true, but that would be true of any Big 10 candidate.
The difference is the NYC market, goes the argument - but Rutgers has been in that market forever. Has a few wins really changed things that much? They have had good teams there before.
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I think you underestimate just how bad they were. I mean, we're talking losses to 1AA teams, just overall embarrassment. I mean when I was there, we'd show up drunk in the 2nd quarter and leave by halftime. You could sit so close you could have conversations with the players (I remember an exchange we had with Warren Sapp). You go to games today, it's wall to wall people tailgating, piling in to see kickoff, and for the most part staying around. Ray Rice was 20 stories high in Times Square. They just had Britt go in the first, 6 players taken in the draft, and have 1 sure fire (though his combines sucked balls) and 1 possible other 1st round pick.
You can minimize it all you want and talk about how mediocre 8 wins is, but there has been a monster shift in people caring about college football (RU in particular) in that market. Don't forget RU also had a one-sided rivalry for a little while with PSU at Giants Stadium (I went the game where our coach took a shot at Paterno). Also, RU basketball, while pretty bad, had some decent seasons where they were 15+ game winners and a bubble team.