Some thoughts.. Parking on College Ave seems to be the way to go.
Here are some google map links...
Parking Lot 30.. behind the "Barn" (college ave gym).. is where the 1st college football game was played. It is about a mile walk from here to the stadium.. lots of people do the walk, just fall in behind them as the game approaches. This parking lot is also behind the college avenue student center.
But if you want to see the old Rutgers Campus.. you'll want to walk down college avenue toward Seminary Place (east toward New Brunswick proper and the train station). You'll pass bishop place on the left and mine street on the right.. copper mines existed in this area way way back when. After Mine, on your left, will be Seminary Place.
Gardner Sage Library.. this is my pic for the most beautiful building at Rutgers.. actually at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.. which was once part of Queens College (Rutgers original name). Site says it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.. maybe give them a call.. you never know. (732) 247-5243
From "Holy Hill" you will see the new Rutgers Honors College on top of the hill. and below across Seminary Place is Willie the Silent.. a statue of William of Orange that was a gift from the Queen of the Netherlands. The same "William" of William and Mary fame. Silent Willie is said to whistle when a virgin walks by... hint: he never whistles.
From the statue, walk east down the mall (which was once Bleeker Street) through some of the oldest academic buildings at Rutgers.. true ivy covered halls area..nice. at the end of the mall is Hamilton Street and on the left is the
Zimmerli Voorhees Art Museum. Quite a good college art museum. Opens at Noon on Saturdays.
Across Hamilton up a small hill is the "Old Queens Campus" which is the original location of Queens College (Rutgers). Well, actually Rutgers began above a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion in downtown New Brunswick.. but Old Queens was the first campus. There is a nice Chapel, Geology Museum and the Old Queens Administration building. And the hill outside the chapel is where Alexander Hamilton commanded a battery to defend Washington's movement south from New York across the Raritan River (which is probably where the railroad bridge is).
Lastly, across the train tracks you have New Brunswick proper with any number of restaurants, brew pubs etc to serve you lunch. Good luck. Oh.. the "college bars" tend to be on Easton Avenue.. which roughly parallels College Avenue to the south/west... Corner tavern has a bunch of steins hanging from the ceiling from students who went off to war and never returned. Olde Queens is the classic college dive bar/pub. Not sure if its still there.. but play "American Pie" on the juke box just to make the bar tender stop it... they hate that. I used to fire it up 3 or 4 times a night. That was in the Jurassic period though.
Also.. shuttle to the stadium runs from the train station as well as student center.. near lot 30. The buses are clearly branded as Rutgers.. do not get on any other bus that may happen by.
It will be dark for the walk back. I'm sure some people will have flashlights. Either wait for a shuttle bus or get hoofing. The shuttles should drop you off in Johnson Park, across from the South Endzone (where the giant video board is) and you can pick them back u there as well. As Mrs.Screw pointed out, all the tailgating is on the other side of the stadium.. the Johnson Park stuff is not the real deal. So walk around the stadium to get to the tailgating. Do not use your tickets to walk through the stadium.. no re-entry allowed. Just ask people to pint you to the yellow lot, blue lot... the Scarlet Lot is paved and is on the west side of the stadium.. I suppose you can start there.
