Third Consecutive Bowl Win Should Bring New Outlook To The People Of New Jersey

It had been three years since I went out to Phoenix to see Rutgers play in the Insight Bowl. Now I have just returned from Birmingham, AL after Rutgers' fourth straight bowl appearance and third consecutive bowl victory.

Now the scenery may have been different and the weather was not as nice as the Arizona heat but Rutgers provided enough joy this past Monday to forgive the setting.

Who would ever think we would be talking about a bowl victory after the 1-5 start? It’s a tale of two halves and the second is surely the way a Hollywood script would end. This bowl trip was certainly quite an experience, not just for the players, but for the fans as well.

For the 7,000 or so Scarlet Knight fans who made the trip you are certainly true fans. For those, like my friends and me, who drove all the way to Alabama, no one can ever question where your loyalty lies.

To go down and travel to a third tier bowl, in a crummy city, it took a lot of faith to even make the trip. With how bad the economy is and the state of New Jersey not backing the football program, those 7,000 fans made a difference.

Maybe they weren’t as loud as the Wolfpack faithful but you could tell by looking at the face of former athletic director Bob Mulcahy in his last days fulfilling his job he was so grateful to the fans who kept chanting his name.

Maybe it’s time for New Jersey to open its eyes and to welcome big time college football to its area. My father was sitting at a bar after the game when a few NC State fans sat next to him. After a few minutes of game talk one of the fans politely asked why the state of New Jersey does not support its team.

My dad tried explaining to him the politics involved with what has gone on but simply put the NC State fan did not find the answer acceptable. He could not fathom how a state could not be proud of a program that has come from nothing to something.

And he’s right! It’s time for people in the great Garden State to stop acting like spoiled professional fans and start supporting its State University. It appears that only a National Championship would change things, even then who knows if they would even applaud Rutgers.

Whether it’s the fact the state government barely funds Rutgers, or a growing football program which can bring in revenue is ridiculed everyday by shaky journalists, brings the question: Why is New Jersey so different?

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