Rutgers vs. Howard - football home opener, 9-6-14

The student section is always filled early for games. Will the rest of the stadium be on Saturday night?

(Chris Faytok/NJ Advance Media)

For years – forever – Rutgers fans have wanted a big-time college football program. You know what would be appropriate now? If they acted like big-time college football fans.

Which is to say, long before the Big Ten Network turns on its cameras before the much-anticipated Rutgers-Penn State game, that every seat in High Point Solutions Stadium is filled. Or, more accurately, that the space in front of every seat in the stadium is filled, because who in their right minds would be sitting before a game like this?

This would be an uncommon occurrence at a Rutgers game, as it certainly wasn't the case for the season opener against Howard. I understand why fans – with the notable exception of the students – weren't packed into the building for kickoff last weekend.

It was hot. It was early. It was Howard. I get it.

The problem is, this is not the exception. It's the norm. I've done this long enough that I've heard all the excuses, and with apologies to Gilda Radner, it's always something. The game-day traffic on River Road is bad, and it is. The parking situation outside the stadium is a hot mess, and it is. The schedule has been mediocre for so long, and it was, that fans rather enjoy a few extra minutes at their elaborate tailgates than get inside on time.

But none of that applies with Penn State, in primetime, on a Saturday. This is the biggest game in Piscataway in at least eight years, since that crazynight against Louisville. Get to the stadium earlier. Start the tailgate earlier. Fill your secret flasks earlier.*

(*Note: We do not condone illegal drinking inside the stadium unless you share.)

In other words: Act like big-time college football fans.

This is not the first time I've written this column. I remember, before an important game against South Florida in 2005, musing at the overwhelming number of available tickets and asking, “What are you waiting for, Rutgers fans?”

The answer was obvious: Consistency. Success. Tradition. It takes more than the promise of a good season to fill a stadium, and that was obvious in Piscataway. The year after that South Florida game, when Louisville came to town in the game that everyone remembers, students were camping out for seats. School officials added temporary bleachers to accommodate the overflow crowd, and the stadium was expanded soon after that.

What's happened since is promising: The next generation of students have continued to make football part of their autumn routines, something that was not the case a decade ago. That should mean, after they graduate, that attending games will be in their blood. They'll keep coming back, gobbling up those seats, for the rest of their lives.



That's how a college fan base is built. Still: The message seems lost on the average late-arriving fan. Home-field advantage matters in college football, and in a game like this in which Rutgers will need any edge it can get, the crowd noise could be a difference maker.

Besides, Rutgers fans have surely seen the news about the honorary captains: Eric LeGrand and Adam Taliaferro, two of the most inspiration players in college football history, will take part in the coin toss. What else do you need?

“I think we’ve got the opportunity to create a very hostile environment on Saturday night,” head coach Kyle Flood said this week. “From my experience of being here over the years, I’ve got a feeling it’ll be pretty hostile.”

He's right, too: It will be hostile. I've had people speculate that the stadium will be overrun with Penn State fans, and while they'll be well represented, I'd be stunned if that happens. People in Piscataway understand that this is their moment. They've waited a long time for this.

Now, they can't wait a long time to actually get inside the stadium. None of the old, tired excuses apply. Rutgers has a big-time college football game on campus on Saturday, and it would be nice if it had some big-time college football fans, too.