Kickoff Brings High Hopes, Big Hype at Rutgers

No. 16 Scarlet Knights open with Buffalo after landmark 2006 showing
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2007 10:45 AM CDT
Kickoff Brings High Hopes, Big Hype at Rutgers
Rutgers running back Ray Rice (27) is interviewed during football media day at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)   (Associated Press)

Expectations are outpacing tickets sales as Rutgers, coming off perhaps its best season, kicks off its 2007 college football season tonight by hosting Buffalo. The Scarlet Knights enter the season as a ranked team—they're 16th—for the first time ever after going 11-2 and barely missing a major bowl. They even boast a Heisman Trophy candidate in junior halfback Ray Rice.

"You're never ready," said coach Greg Schiano, who started out at the state university of New Jersey—the birthplace of college football—with four consecutive losing seasons before righting the ship in Piscataway. "I used to get uptight about that as a younger coach, but you gotta realize they're not ready either. No one is ready." (More NCAA football stories.)

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