Rutgers’ fans could use a slice of humility

Owls will have to gang-tackle like this if they hope to win on Thursday night.

Like any general statement, a disclaimer is usually required and we’ll offer one here.

To quote what somebody once said in 2016: “They’re bringing crime. They are rapists and some, I assume, are good people.”

Not anyone from any other country.

These are people who live only 65 miles away.

Rutgers fans.

Your pretty much typical post about Temple on a Rutgers’ board.
A Rutgers’ fan “opinion” of the Owls followed by the facts below:
Temple has won four of its last five games against Cincinnati.

Rutgers’ fans are definitely not bringing crime or rapists but the some of them being good people certainly applies.

Joe, who posts here regularly, seems a decent-enough person but I will make this GENERAL statement.

Before Carey’s 1-6 Covid year, these were the facts.

Rutgers’ fans are without a doubt in my 40-plus years of experience the most obnoxious fans of all frequent Temple opponents.

The disclaimer usually is some not all, but we’ll modify that.

Most, not all.

There I said it.

There are a couple of comparisons that come to mind. They remind me of Mets fans in bad seasons who still think their team is pretty good when they stink. They are the Mets’ fans who are yelling in your ear about how great the Mets are for seven innings at CBP and the ones who get up and leave when Chase Utley hits a bases-clearing triple in the eighth.

And they always think they are better than Temple, even in the many years they were not.

I first encountered that attitude as an undergrad carrying a transistor radio and hearing a couple of clowns on the Rutgers’ pre-game show.

“Let’s face it,” the analyst told the play-by-play guy, “Rutgers should beat Temple every year.”

“Who the hell do they think they are?” I thought out loud.

Temple won that game, 41-20.

A pretty satisfying day against a team that beat Tennessee that year, 13-8.

Another satisfying day came a few years later when Bruce Arians’ Temple team won at RU, 35-30. That RU team beat Penn State and still another great but wet night came after Temple was kicked out of the Big East for “non-competitiveness” and won at RU, 20-17. Cap Poklemba kicked the winning field goal and Tanardo Sharps only seemed to run for 8,000 yards (really, 215) in the rain. The Owls as a team ran over to the Big East logo and danced to “T for Temple U” on it.

After spending the pre-game tailgate with Joe Klecko and my friends Nick and Sharon, who graciously invited me to their tailgate, the post-game beers never tasted better. Geez, that was 19 years ago. Hard to believe, Harry.

That was the fourth-straight year Temple beat RU but RU remained in the league and Temple was kicked out.

No fan base “smells themselves” quite like Rutgers and, since they sit pretty close to the toxic waste dump that is North New Jersey, it’s not a good smell. I’m quite OK with living in the nation’s first World Heritage City instead.

Check this out.

Rutgers claims a “national championship” in 1976 and that’s laughable since Pitt was also 12-0 that year. Temple lost to Pitt, 21-7, that year and Penn State, 31-30. It’s there in writing on the official Rutgers’ sports website: “National champions 1869, 1961 and 1976.”

Don’t know much about the first two, but I was around in 1976.

The teams Rutgers beat that year?

Navy, Bucknell, Princeton, Cornell, UConn, Colgate, Lehigh, Columbia, UMass, Louisville, Tulane and Colgate.

The Navy team RU beat that year, 13-3, lost to Pitt, 45-0.

But, yeah, let’s claim a national championship year.

Typical of Rutgers and its fans, who all think they should smoke Temple not only this year but from the beginning of time.

Not sure where they are getting that from but if any fan base deserves a slice of humble pie on Thursday night, it’s that one. Hopefully, the coaching staff that is 5-2 against the Big 10 doesn’t forget to bring the whip cream.

Monday: Finally, Game Week

Friday: Game Analysis

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8 thoughts on “Rutgers’ fans could use a slice of humility

  1. Chris Vaninni from the Athletic released his rankings for all 130 teams just yesterday. Not too surprising to find the Owls ranked at #115. The only two teams on the schedule ranked below us, not counting Wagner of course, are South Florida and Akron.

    We are behind powerhouses like Vandy, Duke and Rice. Those are Power 5 schools you might point out, but Temple is also ranked behind Group of 5 schools such as North Texas, Texas St., Charlotte, South Alabama, Eastern Michigan as well. It’s not all bad news, Northern Illinois is three spots behind Temple.

    I know that these are all subjective, and perhaps this guy has no idea what he is talking about, but it certainly reflects how insignificant Temple has once again become. And to tell the truth, Mike, I doubt that this ranking is too far off the mark. I hope the team surprises and I hope that Carey has a clue, but I ain’t expecting much.

    By the way, Rutgers comes in at #72.

  2. I think all fanbases have ‘good, bad and obnoxious’ and from what I’ve seen on the TU 24/7 board, you’re fairly similar to us. Some posters say things like ‘Rutgers has stunk for the last 10 years and always will stink’, while I’m thinking, ‘ok, 2016-2019 were fairly brutal but we won the Lambert in 2014, won a share of the Big East in 2012, went 9-4/beat Iowa State in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2011- how is that ‘stinking’ for the past 10 years? Even in some overall bad years (2015) years we took B1G champion Michigan State to the limit and last year were like 3 plays from being 5-4.

    Some Rutgers fans will seemingly always see Temple through the lense of 1991-1996, and some Temple fans will seemingly always see Rutgers through the lense of 1997-2002. I have a healthy respect for Temple (the last FBS player from my high school, Mo Jones, had a good career for the Owls 2009-2012) though sometimes I get irked over certain things, like the handful of TU posters that trolled our Rivals board 2015-2019, talking all kinds of trash about our school/program/campus, then magically seemed to disappear last season and had nothing to say when we would ask them things about ‘Done Deal Stadium’ (I know you know more about that ordeal than I do).

    As fans I think we’re all probably more alike than different. Fans can criticize their own program all they want, but if someone else does it then it’s everyone to their guard posts.

    Joe P.

  3. Also, two more quick points:

    -I literally do not know one fellow Rutgers fan or Rutgers Football person that makes any type of claim on the undefeated 1976 season being a ‘national championship’. Some obscure record-keeping sites may say that but as far as I know Rutgers Football makes no such claims.

    -From what I understand TU wasn’t just kicked out of the Big East for non-competitiveness; it was more about the school getting its Big East check and doing next to nothing to improve your program in terms of infrastructure/facilities, etc. RU had more than its fair share of struggles on the field from ’96-’02 but it would be tough to say we weren’t at least investing in ourselves (new Stadium in ’94, Mulcahy making a number moves to help Schiano get things going- expanded Hale Center plans, etc. before we even went to the Insight Bowl in ’05). Before Golden was hired what did TU do to build/support football from 1991-2005?

    Joe P.

    • “I literally do not know one fellow Rutgers fan or Rutgers Football person that makes any type of claim on the undefeated 1976 season being a ‘national championship’.”

      Uh Joe, one guy on your site has it in his signature. The crazy guy that stands outside ShopRites admonishing people to come see Rutgers football games.

  4. D’wan will throw 3 TDS and over 200 yds next Thursday!! Book it

  5. It’s pouring rain on Thursday with remnants of the Hurricane. I don’t know what will happen with the game.

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