21 years ago today - September 28,2002

[Plum Street]

We had the lead at Tennessee . Nate jones returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Kinda similar situation to the Big House this past weekend, where we eventually fell out of it and lost the game.
I wasn’t at the game but I remember many rutgers fans reporting back how that stadium went from loud to quiet very fast .
I don’t think that game was on tv up here . Maybe the pay per view plan that espn used to have.
Jones was a Shea recruit and one of the more underrated guys from schiano 1.0

Edit I had todays date wrong lol! Thought it was the 28th. So it’s 21 years and a day !

 

[satnom]

Remember being at my buddy’s house when living in DC and he ordered the game for me to come over and watch. He’s a MSU grad and he was stunned to see RU come out with a return for TD. A few years later he was stunned when I brought him to campus for game against MSU and RU won. Then RU shit the bed the following week against Chip Kelly’s offense and New Hampshire.

If I recall correctly from the Tenn game Nate Jones almost had another return or RU missed out on a pick 6 to go up 14-0.

GO RU

 

[82RU]

I was there. It was incredible how quite the stadium went when Jones arrived in the end zone. There was a lot of home cooking with the refs & clock in that game as I remember it.

 

[Plum Street]

Wonder why Tennessee never came here?

 

[ScarletNut]

I was at that game. What a start to the game. Nate went on to play several years in the NFL. The trip to Knoxville was fun. The stadium was old and crappy. I'm surprised that it hasn't been renovated yet. The views outside the stadium were really nice though. My buddies and I made it a golf weekend and the course we played at was also nice but the drive to it reminded me of Deliverance. We tried to get a bagel at the golf course and they looked at us with crossed eyes and served hot biscuits with butter spread on it with what looked like a paint brush.

 

[RUfromNJ]

We had the lead at Tennessee . Nate jones returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Kinda similar situation to the Big House this past weekend, where we eventually fell out of it and lost the game.
I wasn’t at the game but I remember many rutgers fans reporting back how that stadium went from loud to quiet very fast .
I don’t think that game was on tv up here . Maybe the pay per view plan that espn used to have.
Jones was a Shea recruit and one of the more underrated guys from schiano 1.0

The pride of Scotch Plains-Fanwood HS. My pre-RU alma mater.

 

[mdk01]

Didn't they try to cover LJ Smith with a LB early in the game resulting in a TD?

 

[megadrone]

Wonder why Tennessee never came here?

When do SEC schools come north?

 

[knight82]

We had the lead at Tennessee . Nate jones returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Kinda similar situation to the Big House this past weekend, where we eventually fell out of it and lost the game.
I wasn’t at the game but I remember many rutgers fans reporting back how that stadium went from loud to quiet very fast .
I don’t think that game was on tv up here . Maybe the pay per view plan that espn used to have.
Jones was a Shea recruit and one of the more underrated guys from schiano 1.0

Nate Jones played a year or two in the NFL if I remember right and is now an NFL referee

 

[knight82]

When do SEC schools come north?

Tennessee actually came to the Meadowlands in to play us in 1983, Frank Burns final year. They were huge favorites but it was a cold and windy November day, and even though we were pretty bad that year, they only beat us 7-0.

 

[MGSA99]

Wonder why Tennessee never came here?

That was a paycheck game. We got $750,000 to be cannon fodder to them. And they wanted payback for "What's a Rutgers?"

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I was at that game. What a start to the game. Nate went on to play several years in the NFL. The trip to Knoxville was fun. The stadium was old and crappy. I'm surprised that it hasn't been renovated yet. The views outside the stadium were really nice though. My buddies and I made it a golf weekend and the course we played at was also nice but the drive to it reminded me of Deliverance. We tried to get a bagel at the golf course and they looked at us with crossed eyes and served hot biscuits with butter spread on it with what looked like a paint brush.

With all the people flowing into TN I'd guess tax revenues will shoot up and such vanity projects will get a lot of state help soon.

 

[RuSnp]

 

[mdk01]

With all the people flowing into TN I'd guess tax revenues will shoot up and such vanity projects will get a lot of state help soon.

Tennessee does not have a tax on earned income. And the top rate for investment income (interest and dividends) is 2%. There is a corporate income tax so maybe increased sales may produce some revenue.

 

[RuSnp]

Nate Jones played a year or two in the NFL if I remember right and is now an NFL referee

No. 8 years and over 100 games played in the league

 

[e5fdny]

I used to have Tom McCarthy’s play call saved on an old computer…

“…They’re not going to catch him…TOUCHDOWN Rutgers!”

 

[newell138]

21 years ago tomorrow we lost a football game

 

[RU848789]

Was at that game with my best friend and her husband, who is a lifelong Vol fan and who was on the team in the early 80s as a walk on. He was just shocked and his wife and I (we were roommates at RU) were going nuts for RU. And then reality set in especially after being robbed by the clock operator before the half. Fun time in Knoxville before and after the game....

 

[e5fdny]

I used to have Tom McCarthy’s play call saved on an old computer…

“…They’re not going to catch him…TOUCHDOWN Rutgers!”

Does anyone have this or know where I could find it?

It’s with listening too.

 

[Source]

According to the Tennessee sports department, when Rutgers Nate Jones ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown on September 28, 2002 in Neyland Stadium, the staff later researched the last time a game opened like that against the Volunteers. Since they started playing football in 1891, it had never been done.

The modern day Rutgers record is held by Nate Jones. He ran the kickoff back 100 yards against Tennessee on September 28, 2002 and amazingly repeated his record of 100 yards four weeks later against Syracuse.

Here is the game. Nate Jones runback starts at the 3:30 mark:

 

[nutfromSEC117]

Am I correct ???

We couldn’t score from the 1 at the end of the half and the Tennessee TE(Dallas cowboy whitten??) did not catch ball in end zone

 

[rutger80]

Am I correct ???

We couldn’t score from the 1 at the end of the half and the Tennessee TE(Dallas cowboy whitten??) did not catch ball in end zone

Yes, you're correct.
I was there and the silence after the opening kick return was glorious. UT's fans booed them off the field at the half.
I believe that was Ryan Hart's first start at QB.
IMO, it was the first time under Schiano 1.0 that we started to look like a real team.

 

[BigRnj]

Wow looks like empty seats at kickoff and not everyone was wearing orange 😉

 

[nutfromSEC117]

Rutgers 14-35 Tennessee (Sep 28, 2002) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Tennessee Volunteers NCAAF game from September 28, 2002 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[shields]

Jones played 7 years in the NFL. Sorry was 8.

 

[oldtimer67]

why has no one mentioned that we went to Knoxville for their homecoming in 1979 and beat them 13-7. Am I the only one who was there?

 

[mdk01]

why has no one mentioned that we went to Knoxville for their homecoming in 1979 and beat them 13-7. Am I the only one who was there?

Probably

 

[82RU]

I think it was Ryan Cubit that started that game.

 

[RU#1fan]

As I recall watching the game we got screwed just before halftime. Either we scored and Referees didn’t allow it or there was some funny business with the timekeeper. Real BS SEC home cooking.

 

[nutfromSEC117]

We scored on 3rd down

 

[e5fdny]

why has no one mentioned that we went to Knoxville for their homecoming in 1979 and beat them 13-7. Am I the only one who was there?

Username checks out.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

While walking out of the stadium after the game, I got a pat on the back from a Vols fan. He appreciated that we really came to play and admitted RU was robbed just before halftime. He added, "Welcome to the SEC which means So Everybody Cheats. Even the refs."

Jason Witten was the UT tight end. LJ Smith was the RU TE. Smith was selected No. 61 by the Eagles in the 2003 NFL Draft. Witten was taken No. 69 by the Cowboys.

 

[oldtimer67]

While walking out of the stadium after the game, I got a pat on the back from a Vols fan. He appreciated that we really came to play and admitted RU was robbed just before halftime. He added, "Welcome to the SEC which means So Everybody Cheats. Even the refs."

Jason Witten was the UT tight end. LJ Smith was the RU TE. Smith was selected No. 61 by the Eagles in the 2003 NFL Draft. Witten was taken No. 69 by the Cowboys.

I had the same experience. The Vol fans were very gracious and congratulatory. Same experience when we went to Lexington and beat UK.

The opposite was true when we went to Gainesville and tied No 2? Florida. After the game their fans were a**holes. Don't think they can spell the word gracious in north Florida.

 

[BROTHERSKINNY]

When do SEC schools come north?

They don’t cross north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

 

[hoquat63]

Tennessee does not have a tax on earned income. And the top rate for investment income (interest and dividends) is 2%. There is a corporate income tax so maybe increased sales may produce some revenue.

Went to a trade show in TN a long time ago, sales tax was 11%

 

[srru86]

I was there. It was incredible how quite the stadium went when Jones arrived in the end zone.

True. The greatest switch from a loud hollerin' n' hootin' crowd to dead silence I have ever experienced.

 

[srru86]

While walking out of the stadium after the game, I got a pat on the back from a Vols fan. He appreciated that we really came to play and admitted RU was robbed just before halftime.

Similar experience. On the way out a little old lady, who was probably quite the sorority belle in her day, was dressed head to toe, including what had to be custom dyed pumps, in that UT orange, with some white trim, and said in the loveliest southern drawl how well we played and her appreciation for us coming.