A Sudden Case of Scarlet Fever

Excitement, Wins Are on the Rise at Formerly Forlorn Rutgers

Running back Ray Rice is the third-leading rusher in the nation at 150.4 yards per game, and 15th-ranked Rutgers is undefeated at 8-0. (By Mel Evans -- Associated Press)

There are too many low points to pick just one. During my five years as a student at Rutgers, the quintessential college football punch line, the Scarlet Knights beat six teams from major conferences, one more than they have defeated this season alone.

What will occur tonight, when No. 15 Rutgers hosts No. 3 Louisville, is something I never thought would take place in my lifetime, much less this decade. Two undefeated schools gather in central New Jersey to play a late-season, nationally televised game with national title implications.

It is nothing short of the most important and improbable game at Rutgers since the school formed a football team four years after the Civil War ended. Rutgers is known as the "Birthplace of College Football," but for well more than a century it seemed more like a gridiron graveyard. Now, at least for one evening, it's a college football mecca.

The turnaround remains difficult to grasp for many alums because rooting for Rutgers has always been like rooting for the turkey at Thanksgiving. That is why I never considered myself a fan, although, like some, I have followed the team's year-to-year collapses and have taken some pride in the dubious distinction of being hailed the worst of the worst.

It is not hard to be bad; it is difficult to perennially make a case as the nation's worst Division I-A football team. But when you lose to Temple five times in six years, the evidence is clear.

The atmosphere at those Temple-Rutgers games at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium offered the most antiseptic ambience in the country. No wonder fans nicknamed the annual matchup the Toilet Bowl.

The environment at Rutgers Stadium was a little better, but I attended no more than three games as a fan. Even coming to watch opposing stars grew old. As a freshman, I was eager to see the Miami Hurricanes in person, so I got a student ticket and had no trouble finding a front-row seat in what would turn out to be a near-empty stadium after halftime.

Some coaches get fired after 5-6 seasons. What Rutgers Coach Terry Shea got for such a record in 1998 was the Big East coach of the year award, because the feat was seen as stunning.

Similar sympathy was shown by the student newspaper, the Daily Targum. At the close of an 0-11 season in 1997, the team's beat writer wrote more than 2,000 words of analysis, breaking down the team's countless breakdowns. After a winless season in which Rutgers allowed an average of 45 points per game, he inexplicably spared them by giving the team a grade of D.

Other student newspapers were not as kind. Smart-aleck columnists at the Daily Orange, Syracuse's student newspaper, routinely mocked Rutgers with one of two headlines: "RU Serious?" or "RU Kidding?"

At most schools, working as the team's beat writer for the student newspaper is a perk. At Rutgers, it was a punishment. I was fortunate to avoid that fate and only attend a handful of games to write sidebars on the story line that emerged from the rout.

My story essentially was written before the game began, and the topic always was the same. Which New Jersey native on Syracuse/West Virginia/Boston College had a career day against his home-state school that he never wanted to attend?

That, in short, has been the story of the 137-year-old program. It does not escape Rutgers fans that the all-American wide receiver catching touchdown passes for Southern California, Dwayne Jarrett, grew up just miles from the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick.

The team has evolved under Coach Greg Schiano, but this is uncharted territory for fans as well as players. Does Piscataway know how to throw a college football party? The team has only played in two bowl games, one last season, and has never played in a game in which both teams were ranked. Several weeks ago, I bought two tickets for $15 each.

If Rutgers loses, the experience still will be one of the high points for a program with more than a century worth of lows. If Rutgers wins, well, expect the biggest celebration since the 6-4 victory over Princeton during Reconstruction.

Eric Prisbell, who covers college sports for The Post, graduated from Rutgers in 2000.