Rutgers Knights 2024 Tickets

Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The team chiefly associated to its heritage as the Birthplace of College Footballhosting its first ever intercollegiate football game on 6 November 1869 can bring no other name to mind than Rutgers, in which they defeated the team of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). The Rutgers University or The State University of New Jersey, was among the first American institutions to engage in intercollegiate athletics, and participated in a small circle of schools that included Yale University, Columbia University and long-time rival, Princeton University (then called The College of New Jersey).

The four schools met in a Hotel in Manhattan on 19 October 1873 to establish a set of rules for intercollegiate competition, and particularly to codify the new game of football. Sadly, Harvard which was although invited chose not to attend. In the beginning, the participant schools were solely located in the American Northeast. However, by the turn of the century, colleges and universities across the United States began to participate.

Rutgers maintains athletic rivalries with other collegiate institutions. The university has a historic rivalry with Princeton University and Columbia University (formerly King's College) originating from the early days of college football. Neither of them met in football since 1980 due to this rivalry. Rutgers has a Baskeball rivalry with Seton Hall University, and has developed a growing rivalry with the University of Connecticut and Syracuse University.

Despite being the Birthplace of College Football and sharing the 1869 national championship with Princeton University in the first year of intercollegiate play, Rutgers was not overly successful in the sport through the years. Especially in the last three decades, Rutgers was regarded as one of the worst teams in Division I-A, posting several losing seasons in a row and raising discussion of possibly reducing the team to Division I-AA competition. The football team was not associated with any formal football conference and remained independent even when the first football leagues were forming. At present, Rutgers participate in Division I-A and is a member of the Big East Conference (since 1991). The current coach of the football team is Greg Schiano.

In 1869, Rutgers and Princeton met for the inaugural intercollegiate football game. Rutgers won the first game with a score of six runs to Princeton's four, on 6 November 1869. However, Princeton was victorious in the next game, played the following week, with a score of eight to zero. A planned third game, scheduled 29 November 1869, did not occur as the faculties of both schools presumably thought that the game would interfere with the studies of the respective school's student bodies.

The Scarlet Knights Women's Basketball of late has been a success in the school. A notable season would be the 2005-2006 season, when Rutgers at one point was ranked 4th in the nation and reached the Elite Eight behind the shooting of Cappie Pondexter. In the 2006-07 season, Rutgers finished 2nd in the regular season behind UConn, but went on to defeat the Huskies in the Big East Championship game.

The Rutgers Men's Basketball Team was among the Final Four in the Division I NCAA Tournament and ended the 1976 season ranked fourth in the United States, after an 86-70 loss against the University of Michigan in the semifinal round, and a 106-92 loss against UCLA in the tournament's third-place consolation game.

In 2006, Rutgers boasted its best season in three decades, beginning its first nine games undefeated. Sports commentators and writers began referring to the 2006 season as Rutgers' Cinderella season as each week passed in victory, and Rutgers gained nationwide attention and raised discussion of a possible national championship appearance. Rutgers ascended the major college football polls from starting the season unranked to achieving its highest ranking ever after the Scarlet Knights' 9 November 2006 victory over the third-ranked, undefeated Louisville Cardinals.

William C. Dowling, a University Professor in the Department of English, and a few other like-minded faculties, students and alumni organized a group known as Rutgers 1000 in 1993, favoring downgrading the school's football team to Division I-AA. This group disbanded in 2003 after Professor Dowling expressed dismay at President Richard McCormick's decision to continue supporting the athletic program.

Rutgers University's seventeenth president, Edward J. Bloustein (1925_1989) envisioned success that involved participation in bigger-time athletics. Several of the nation's colleges became associated with Division I-AA when that designation was established in 1970s, including many of Rutgers' historic rivals like Princeton, Columbia, Lehigh and Lafayette College. Bloustein decided that Rutgers must pursue developments to place the university on par with comparable state universities both academically and athletically. This led to Rutgers opting for inclusion among Division I, and later, under President Francis L. Lawrence, joined the Big East Conference in 1991.