Cinderellas to Big East Champs? Rutgers Still Has a Lot To Prove in 2009

Three long years ago this fall, the Rutgers football program was awoken from its decade-long coma and introduced to “big time college football.”  After a few cups of very caffeinated coffee, Rutgers took on the country and became the darlings of college football. A perennial Division I bottom feeder, Rutgers put together one of the most memorable seasons the school had ever witnessed (11-2, first bowl victory in history) and stole the hearts of thousands of college football fans across the country. What wasn’t to like?  A fiery coach in Greg Schiano, a Northeast school with a big city attitude, and a group of underrated, overachieving student-athletes out to prove the doubters wrong. All from a football program that co-authored the book, College Football in the 20th Century: Finding New Ways to Lose at the Division I Level. The 2006 Rutgers story was a charming one, and it forever raised the bar for New Jersey collegiate football. It&rsq...