Is there an RU football game you’re waiting for?

Is there an RU football game you’re waiting for?

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Is there an RU football game you’re waiting for?
NCAA Football: Penn State at Rutgers

Rutgers doesn’t have a “rivalry game” so….

It’s football time! This coming week opens the college football season. So, are you looking for some must-see college football games this fall? Try these :

  • September 12: Ohio State at Texas – big time rematch, early season showdown
  • September 19: LSU at Ole Miss – Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford; would live to see the numbers for tickets on the secondary market!
  • October 10: Georgia at Alabama – an SEC heavyweight battle
  • November 7: Miami at Notre Dame – “Catholics vs. convicts” was a long time ago, but this one carries some ranking/CFP implications
  • November 27: Texas at Texas A&M – in Texas (and elsewhere) you don’t miss this one
  • November 28: Michigan at Ohio State – it is The Game, with apologies to Cal-Stanford and Harvard-Yale

Some of these are traditional rivalries, games that fans circle on the calendar. But, if you try to find Rutgers’ “rivalry game “….well, you can’t. I looked; found a whole lot of rivalry games involving Big Ten schools, both against conference and non- conference foes. No Rutgers.

But, we knew that. We don’t have that one game that, to quote the SEC, just means more. So, what game on the Rutgers schedule even comes close to meaning more…or meaning the most?

If you look at the 2026 schedule, you can pretty much eliminate the first four games. The three non-conference games aren’t special. UMass and Howard? Even BC….other than them being liars about not looking to leave the Big East, or glorifying and living off one miraculous pass for 42 years, I don’t automatically hate them. And USC has virtually no history with RU….BUT they are a ranked team and it’s at home….maybe.

I think just about everyone has tried to create or figure out how to have a rivalry with Maryland. It’s the closest Big Ten school to Piscataway. Both schools entered the Big Ten together. The Big Ten even put them together in the same division, and then as permanent opponents. But, personally the Terps don’t get me worked up. Though beating them is important….especially this year.

Indiana is interesting. It used to be a game we had a chance to win….every time we played them. We’re actually 5-5 against the Hoosiers all time! Then Mark Cuban opened the checkbook, Curt Cignetti showed up, and it just isn’t fun.

I always liked Michigan State; kind of the perennial “good but not great team”, the little brother to Michigan, the “State” school with the capital S that doesn’t get the respect it deserves….kind of like another State school. And, we’ve beaten them enough (6-10) to be legitimate “rivals”. But, again, they don’t get me wound up the week of the game. Even this year, as the last game and with the possibility that a win could make us bowl eligible, it doesn’t seem….special.

Northwestern, Nebraska, Michigan? Meh, even though almost everyone nationally hates the Wolverines. And the other two could have implications for Rutgers’ post-season hopes. But looking forward to them?

Penn State? Hmmmm. Is it the closest thing to a true hate week? Do you get that jazzed up about playing the cult? I have several cousins – who I love dearly – who attended PSU. They’re genuinely good people who, honestly, seem normal and pretty un-cult-like. They don’t make me angry or crazed when we talk football. That seems….odd. Shouldn’t you simply not want to talk to anyone from that school, whatever that is?

So, am I – are you – looking forward to any one game this year? Wel-l-l-l-l, for me, not particularly. I’m still looking.

Is there a game you can’t wait to roll around? A game you can’t wait to watch? Inquiring minds want to know.

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