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The Rutgers University marching band performs outside High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway before a game this year. The RU band will perform during the Super Bowl XLVIII pregame at Met Life Stadium on Feb. 2.

(John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

The Rutgers University marching band has been invited to perform before Super Bowl XLVIII, the National Football League announced this morning.

The marching Scarlet Knights will take the field at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford at about 6 p.m, a half-hour or so before the game kicks off on Feb. 2.

In recent years, just one local college band performed at the Super Bowl. This year the NFL, in an apparent attempt to emphasize that New Jersey and New York are co-hosting the event, tapped a second one to join the state university.

Syracuse University will also send its band.

The league also said it will announce next month who will sing the national anthem and perform at the NFL Tailgate Party.

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