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Going Back 10 Years to Gain a Little Perspective

My favorite RU players ,ever,are Deron Cherry and Kevin Kurdyla.Two top human beings.(they could play some FB too)
How about the Pickel and Dumont brother's? So many to us giants who could have played for almost anyone.Alex Kroll? Even Matt Prescott I enjoyed !!
 
Gary Brackett, CC'03, was also a major impact in moving the team forward with the mentality of leaving the place in much better shape than when he started. Walk-on to defensive captain.

As an aside, the Cook Alumni Association will be presenting his name for consideration as an inductee to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2016. Below is a link to our change.org petition for this effort. If you agree, please take a moment an click on the link to sign the petition.

http://tinyurl.com/Gary-Bracket-CC03-for-HDA
 
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esp the 1 pt win over VT on the last play and remember thinking....Does it get any better than this? lol...
Missed that one because I was at Fort Dix paying for my ROTC scholarship. I'd swear the guy who did my National Guard schedule was a Seton Hall fan because he had a knack for scheduling drills on home game days. I would try to tune in on a little transistor radio to get score updates.
 
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Gary Brackett, CC'03, was also a major impact in moving the team forward with the mentality of leaving the place in much better shape than when he started. Walk-on to defensive captain.

As an aside, the Cook Alumni Association will be presenting his name for consideration as an inductee to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2016. Below is a link to our change.org petition for this effort. If you agree, please take a moment an click on the link to sign the petition.

http://tinyurl.com/Gary-Bracket-CC03-for-HDA
I will...loved the guy
 
Missed that one because I was at Fort Dix paying for my ROTC scholarship. I'd swear the guy who did my National Guard schedule was a Seton Hall fan because he had a knack for scheduling drills on home game days. I would try to tune in on a little transistor radio to get score updates.
Luckily for me I did my service in late sixties to early seventies in the Corps with great duty in MCRDSD...San Diego...but after a few yrs missed NYC/NJ...the rain and my kinds family and people...I'm just a loyal Jersey/
Missed that one because I was at Fort Dix paying for my ROTC scholarship. I'd swear the guy who did my National Guard schedule was a Seton Hall fan because he had a knack for scheduling drills on home game days. I would try to tune in on a little transistor radio to get score updates.
I did mine in early seventies at MCRDSD...But after a few yrs missed NYC/NJ...missed rain,snow and my kinda people....never left for long again !! Now still nearby in the NY Capitol District.
 
Missed that one because I was at Fort Dix paying for my ROTC scholarship. I'd swear the guy who did my National Guard schedule was a Seton Hall fan because he had a knack for scheduling drills on home game days. I would try to tune in on a little transistor radio to get score updates.
Luckily for me I did my service in late sixties to early seventies in the Corps with great duty in MCRDSD...San Diego...but after a few yrs missed NYC/NJ...the rain and my kinds family and people...I'm just a loyal Jersey guy.
 
Heres another piece of perspective.

As far as on field results we are more or less where we were a decade ago. In fact, with the hindsight knowledge that 2006 was awesome,
Too many posters do not give cognizance to our humble beginnings.Not back to the First ever Game but just to the last 20 years. We've come a long way Baby.And the BEST is yet to come!

You gave me a great B1G impromptu laugh with your wife's response.
This flip side to this is that since 2005 we have basically made no progress on the field. So while some people dont care enough about our humble beginnings, some give them way too much credence. A second top 25 season in my lifetime is not too much to ask, I dont think.
 
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I got a couple chuckles over the past week. I was called both a band wagon Mets fan because they are now winning and a band wagon RU fan because they are now in the Big 10. Been a Mets fan since 1962 when my favorite player was Rod Kanehl. As for RU, I originally sold programs in the stadium watching JJ Jennings run over Princeton tacklers in the 1970s and been a season ticket holder since 1980. My youngest daughter just asked me when the first game is this year. She is 17 and this will be her 18th year going to RU games. I have seen a lot and really appreciate the position we are now in. It's a quantum leap from the games being a social gathering as an excuse to see old friends during the Shea years to where we are today when games like RU/PSU and RU/Michigan become events.
 
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Heres another piece of perspective.

As far as on field results we are more or less where we were a decade ago. In fact, with the hindsight knowledge that 2006 was awesome,

This flip side to this is that since 2005 we have basically made no progress on the field. So while some people dont care enough about our humble beginnings, some give them way too much credence. A second top 25 season in my lifetime is not too much to ask, I dont think.

It is easier to go from a bad program to a good program than it is to go from a good program to a great program. Some schools can do this for some runs but they always go back to where they were before. Only a few schools have gone from good programs to a great programs in recent history. Oregon, Wisconsin, and erm... I can't think of anyone else.

Other programs like Ole Miss and Stanford had past success so they don't count. Before anyone mentions them.
 
The ESPN College GameDay Top Play for September 3, 2005:

The ESPN College GameDay Top Play for September 3, 2005:

The ESPN College GameDay Top Play for September 3, 2005:

I'll never forget this. I was a freshman that year and remember being in a sweltering, packed basement of some house off College Ave at a late night party. The corner of the basement had one of those old style, boxy, big-screen tvs that was serving as little other than a place to rest empty cans of natty and keystone, but was showing sportscenter. The music was cut halfway through that highlight and everyone cheered once they heard "rutgers" mentioned.

Still can't believe we lost that one...
 
Heres another piece of perspective.

As far as on field results we are more or less where we were a decade ago. In fact, with the hindsight knowledge that 2006 was awesome,

This flip side to this is that since 2005 we have basically made no progress on the field. So while some people dont care enough about our humble beginnings, some give them way too much credence. A second top 25 season in my lifetime is not too much to ask, I dont think.
There's the derleider we all know and love.

Welcome back from vacation? LOL
 
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One of the happiest moments of my life. After a LOSS! Didn't matter. We represented, and everyone knew it.

The ASU fans looked a bit bewildered as to how the losing team fans could be so happy. Almost as bewildered as they were seeing so many Rutgers fans there to begin with.
 
I started following the team in 1999 as a 7th grader, the year we went 1-10. I was dragged to games by my mother, who was an in-class support professor for athletes at the time. Unless the opponent was Army, Navy, or Buffalo, every game was almost a guaranteed loss. Temple was a dogfight. (then there was the BuffaNova disaster)

Freshman year was... 2005. The RAs kept hyping the home opener vs Villanova as a social event, not knowing how the team would do. My group had a long, late trip from Cook/ Douglass, so we were literally walking through the gates when we heard the crowd EXPLODE. It turned out that RU had scored a touchdown when Willie Foster ran back the very first kickoff!

I had never thought about the concept of a bowl game or bowl eligibility until the middle of the 2005 season. Sure, I had heard of the Rose Bowl, Gator Bowl, etc, but didn't think much about bowl games because they were only for the great teams, something that RU never fielded in my lifetime.

Beating Navy and Cincy to lock up the Insight Bowl, and all the hype surrounding it... I remember all the good vibes on campus! Then my sophomore year, 2006... what a time to be there! I wore random RU gear on normal days, just as a typical student, and people would ask me "do you go to Rutgers?? OMG, your football team!!!" I was at that Louisville game, and coming back to College Ave was a riot. People slapping the bus, throwing couch cushions across the street... That whole season was amazing.

Flash forward to 2012, as I sat watching the B1G announcement on my best friend's TV with tears welling up in my eyes.

My best birthday ever was last year, kickstarted by rushing the field after beating Michigan the night before.

Der, why our fanbase is relishing the past 10 years is a testament to HOW BAD the program used to be. It's an amazing accomplishment to have been dug out of the chasm the program was in !
 
Heres another piece of perspective.

As far as on field results we are more or less where we were a decade ago. In fact, with the hindsight knowledge that 2006 was awesome,

This flip side to this is that since 2005 we have basically made no progress on the field. So while some people dont care enough about our humble beginnings, some give them way too much credence. A second top 25 season in my lifetime is not too much to ask, I dont think.

We are light years ahead of where we were a decade ago!!! No Progress on the field? Beating Michigan, blowing TTFP, and stomping a UNC team that was a lot better than the UNC team we barely beat in '06 is progress!! Great perspective by almost everyone in this thread talking about the last 10 years!! Can't wait to see what the next 10 bring!!
 
Heres another piece of perspective.

As far as on field results we are more or less where we were a decade ago. In fact, with the hindsight knowledge that 2006 was awesome,

This flip side to this is that since 2005 we have basically made no progress on the field. So while some people dont care enough about our humble beginnings, some give them way too much credence. A second top 25 season in my lifetime is not too much to ask, I dont think.


Derleider

Seriously...do you write the contrarian point to everything for entertainment purposes?

This is one of the most absurd things you have countered...and there are a lot

In the last 10 years....we had SUSTAINED success. That is not stagnation. It's proving what you did was not a one hit wonder. But something, that is beig built to last. A program and not a season

Sure im bitter about the near BCS misses...but anyone who says that we have stagnated has no appreciation for what it is takes to sustain it

By the way, Jim Delany would agree with me and laugh at your view. And he put his neck out and money where his mouth is
 
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Awesome post. I can still so clearly remember wearing Rutgers gear around 2000 and 2001, and people would comment on it in random public places. Imagine being in public places, and people think a person wearing a shirt for the state university is an incredible novelty. You would get comments like "did they lose again this week" or the chuckles like "how can you publically support that team." Around 2003 and 2004, if you tried to talk up the team, explain how this might be the year we turn it around no one would believe you. When they found out you actually went to the games, they would act like you were actually insane. I remember dreading coming to work after the bad losses in, because I knew it was going to be relentless.

It was like the twilight zone. Being there for that made the last 10 years incredible. Block R's all over the highway would have been unthinkable in those times, as would having every game on national TV and being able to bring up Rutgers football in discussions with fans of PSU, OSU and Michigan and not being laughed out of the room. Rushing the field in 2005 when we became bowl eligible. The standing ovation in the corner in Phoenix that lasted for what seemed like 20 minutes after we lost the game. Rushing the field after every win in 2006 after becoming bowl eligible, because each additional win brought us further into uncharted territory. An invite to the ACC or Big Ten being a crazy pipe dream that only the craziest of Rutgers fans dared to discuss, and only out of earshot of people who went to other schools who would openly laugh in your face if they heard you. Trying to convince fans that Rutgers was actually a good team, not just a team getting lucky in a bad conference.

It goes on and on, and its been one hell of a ride.


Great Post! I have family members who are PSU and OSU alums. It was hard for them to appreciate the feelings my family had during that 2005 season. The ovation after the Insight bowl was also one of my proudest RU moments and one is not available to fans of most teams. How many teams had been looked down upon for so long?

Could the 10th anniversary of that giant step be the year when we take another one? From what we are hearing the coaches and players think so. We die-hards have been burned for our optimism so many times in the past that we are almost unanimously being realistic - but at least we now know magical seasons are not impossible.
 
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Whenever names of past players comes up I always think of one of the most unappreciated and underrated players in RU history. Ed Jones, 1971 - 74, still is tied for most career INTs. with 14, could cover anybody, and as sure a tackler as any secondary player ever at RU (including Courtney Greene). Made the All NFL Rookie team in 1975 and then signed with Edmonton in the CFL and starred on all their great Gray Cup teams from the 70's and 80's and became a CFL Hall of Famer. Yet, when the past is brought up he hardly ever gets mentioned. A truly Great player.
 
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Derleider

Seriously...do you write the contrarian point to everything for entertainment purposes?

This is one of the most absurd things you have countered...and there are a lot

In the last 10 years....we had SUSTAINED success. That is not stagnation. It's proving what you did was not a one hit wonder. But something, that is beig built to last. A program and not a season

Sure im bitter about the near BCS misses...but anyone who says that we have stagnated has no appreciation for what it is takes to sustain it

By the way, Jim Delany would agree with me and laugh at your view. And he put his neck out and money where his mouth is
Agreed...I respect but laugh at Der's post's intelligently written but with little depth of faith...what a shame. A true glass half empty viewpoint thats so typical of the worse in the Jersey character..But it takes a families off kilter viewpoint in every fan base I guess !?! I do appreciate all true fans viewpoint and his does carry some weight here Scarlet Shack !!
 
UW Badger fan ... I hope when Rutgers is thoroughly indoctrinated in all things B1G ... this thread will morph into "Getting some perspective on where we were when we joined the Big Ten until our first Rose Bowl appearance ..."
Born in 1960, I was too young to experience UW's Classic '63 Rose Bowl against USC (the first ever bowl game where a number 1 played a number 2.) When I was old enough to become a fan of UW in the late sixties, Wisconsin had transformed from a nationally competitive Big Ten team to a team which would go on to lose 27 straight games. The seventies and eighties gave one flashes of hope here-and-there, but I never really believed I would live to see Wisconsin back the Rose Bowl in my lifetime. Hard as it is to believe now ... but that was my mind-set some twenty years and SIX Rose Bowls ago !!! Maybe it is just a Midwestern thing ... but I truly hope when you win your first B1G title it will mean a Rose Bowl trip for you guys instead of a semi or quarterfinal playoff appearance somewhere else. If that happens, then maybe, just maybe, you'll experience the thrill of what an improbable trip to Pasadena really means and why the Rose Bowl has always been such a B1G thing to those of us in the Midwest.
 
The ASU fans looked a bit bewildered as to how the losing team fans could be so happy. Almost as bewildered as they were seeing so many Rutgers fans there to begin with.

Those same ASU fans came away respecting RU after putting them in the no competition category when the Insight Bowl match-up was first announced.
That game was one of my finest moments because of how the mood of ASU fans sitting around me changed and the expected easy win became a hard fought victory with complements sent my way about the RU FB program along with the friendly smack talk between and the ASU fans in the ASU section of BOB..
Son in law bought the tickets and being a Sun Devil season ticket holder I was in the ASU section wearing my scarlet colors in a sea of Maroon and Gold .
It was a real pleasure seeing the respect RU received from all around me when that game ended.

I think the other RU fans at BOB felt that same respect to and that's why the ASU fans around you were bewildered, RU fans felt the RU FB program was respected for once in their lives and that was a victory in itself making them happy and ASU fans not understanding why RU fans were happy after a loss.
 
I went to the 100 th anniversary game versus Princeton in 1969. We have come a long way! No more Lafayette. Cornell. Lehigh. Bring it on B1G! Up stream Red team!
Didn't get to that game but I watched it on TV. I think of how far we've come since then, even with all the agony of the Shea years.
 
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