James Franklin knows New Jersey has been a Penn State recruiting pipeline for a long time and he even went as far as to call it in-state at a Coaches Caravan stop in the summer.

So with the 15 New Jersey natives listed on the Penn State roster, the Rutgers game provided a homecoming of sorts. But some Scarlet Knight fans weren't too excited to see those 15 return back to their state and even less excited to see them on the winning end with a 13-10 victory over Rutgers.

Franklin said he saw a group of students when he got off the bus, waving a certain finger up – commonly referred to as “The Jersey Salute” – and screaming things at him and the team.

The tailgate scene was more of the same with the hostility as one had a wanted poster for the Jersey Penn Staters – a poster Galloway, New Jersey native Austin Johnson wants.

“I'll gladly take that and put it on my wall,” Johnson said.

Another tailgate went as far to list the names and call them “enemies of the state.”

The first tailgate we drove by, we heard "f*** Penn State" chants and this sign for all the players from NJ. pic.twitter.com/U0H9LJ8fm2 — Zack Neiner (@ZackNeiner) September 13, 2014

Mays Landing, New Jersey native Brandon Bell didn't see the banner, but once he was informed of it, he laughed and said he would tell the people who made it, “See you next year.”

Bill Belton, who hails from Sicklerville, New Jersey, said he would tell those same people, “We got the win,” and that they can't say anything until the two squads face off again on Sept. 19, 2015 in Beaver Stadium.

Belton stirred up some drama with Rutgers when he said in July at Big Ten Media Days that he came to Penn State over Rutgers to play some big time football – a comment he stands by despite it providing Rutgers with being bulletin board all week.

“I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that feels that way about coming to play big time football because if that was the case, we would just stay here and stay with them,” Belton said.

He didn't show up for his conference call during the week because he said he knew he was going to get questions about that comment and he didn't want to make it about one person when he wanted it to be about the team.

Belton's postgame comments weren't too kind to Rutgers as he was especially harsh on the notion of the Scarlet Knights coming away with a moral victory. Although the Scarlet Knights didn't tally a win from a standings point of view, they did hang on with Penn State and lead almost the entire game.

That doesn't count for much to Belton.

“There are no moral victories in college football,” Belton said. “That's kind of like little league stuff. You can say that to a kid, but as a man, a loss is a loss.”

He pointed to the Scarlet Knights' 2-1 record and said he didn't know what they could take out of that.

But with Rutgers' coach Kyle Flood referring to Penn State as “that team from Pennsylvania,” the close game and the subsequent flooding of Beaver Canyon following the Lions' win, one thing is becoming evident. This has the makings of a rivalry whether or not Penn State will acknowledge it.

What is for sure is that while these two teams won't meet for another full year, they will go to battle many times in between then on the recruiting trail. The Lions are notorious for pulling New Jersey talent with Penn State greats like Franco Harris coming from the state and they may have further padded their case on Saturday.

With many recruits looking at Rutgers and Penn State, Saturday was an opportunity to see both sides and the victory's importance reached much farther than just a 3-0 start for the Lions, which Johnson is aware of.

“It's usually whatever team wins and comes out victorious kind of has something to do with their decision,” Johnson said.