A comparison of the worth of Rutgers as compared to UConn to the Big Ten Network

[HobokenHusky]

I grew up in New Jersey, attended Rutgers for my Undergradute degree and am currently a season ticket holder. My tailgate consists of a party of 10 and I'm the only alum.

To say "A lot of people go to Rutgers because it's the cheap, in-state route to a degree and don't feel any kind of pride for or connection with the school, and thus could care less about the sports." is outlandish. Consider the Rutgers football games attendance on record, averaging over 49K (12% increase from last year). Yes, Rutgers and UConn had the same crappy schedule this year. Consider Rutgers road attendance as second best in the Conference (behind Louisiville). Consider Nate Silver's WSJ Sept. 2011 article breaking out college football fans in the NYC TV marketplace. Consider Bill Nielson backing up Silver's article based on his data collected. Consider 57K current Undergraduate and Graduate students this year and an Alumni base that is growing. Consider a student section that packed in 11K - 12K per game except for the Army game this year. Coming from a Pro Sports area, College sports is followed by students and alumni who identify with their University and its no different at Rutgers, except for the fact that the Rutgers family is growing due to sheer size. In addition, there are many locals in Central and Northern Jersey who are attending and following and its backed up by TV ratings over the past 6 years including an ESPNU rating for the Rutgers - Arkansas game with the largest NYC market rating for an ESPNU game (certainly not national rating).

I find most people that express your opinion without any evidence either was not admitted to Rutgers or decided not to attend for various other reasons.

It is this exact attitude that causes basically every New Jersey native who went to an out of state school With a D1 sports team to dislike Rutgers and their pompous alums that have absolutely no basis for being pompous. Not admitted? Rutgers was my safety school. I actually wanted to go to school at a legit college campus and root for winning athletic programs though, so I went to UConn

 

[UConnDan97]

1 national championship the first one. There was only supposed to be one game in 1869 and Rutgers won. We had a rematch for fun against princeton. It's recognized by the NCAA. Hence the claimed NC, since we were 1 of 2 teams.

Part of me cannot believe you actually posted this. The other part of me is laughing my off...

 

[buggsy]

The first real game of gridiron football was McGill vs Harvard in 1874.

It burns you up that Rutgers played in the first football game in the country as recognized by the College Foobtall Hall of Fame, and pretty much the rest of the world doesn't it?

 

[buggsy]

Didn't really read the thread, but being from New Jersey, spending the first 18 years of my life less than a half hour away from Rutgers's main campus, I can say with some fair confidence that the only people in/from New Jersey who care about or watch Rutgers football (forget basketball, what a joke) with any kind of consistency are people who went to Rutgers. And even then, it's hardly like most Rutgers alum watch. A lot of people go to Rutgers because it's the cheap, in-state route to a degree and don't feel any kind of pride for or connection with the school, and thus could care less about the sports. So if Rutgers doesn't even really have a strong footing in NJ, how can they expect to reel in NY?

After my 4 years at UConn, I feel the polar opposite is true for Connecticut. It seems like it's kind of like Penn State where even if you don't end up attending, if you grow up in Pennsylvania, you grow up watching the games (because, let's be real, what else goes on in CT?). I've met people who go to Central, MCC, Southern, even Quinnipiac who are UConn fans.

I think the Big 10 is not taking any of this in to consideration and is going by population density and strictly by proxemics and wishful thinking.

Taking that in to consideration, it seems like, as has become a kind of consensus, our being beat by Rutgers has had more to do with ADs and school officials selling the schools than anything, and our side failed.

An utter nonsense post from a fan who is just jealous that Rutgers was invited to the Big Ten before Connecticut. From an outsider's perspective, this post sounds desperate to make UCONN more relevant than Rutgers.

I've met people from William Paterson, Drew, Rowan, even Princeton, who are season ticket holders to Rutgers. Your notion that only Rutgers students and alumni in NJ root for Rutgers is as silly as saying only UCONN alumni and students root for UCONN in Connecticut.

 

[babysheep]

I grew up in New Jersey, attended Rutgers for my Undergradute degree and am currently a season ticket holder. My tailgate consists of a party of 10 and I'm the only alum.

To say "A lot of people go to Rutgers because it's the cheap, in-state route to a degree and don't feel any kind of pride for or connection with the school, and thus could care less about the sports." is outlandish. Consider the Rutgers football games attendance on record, averaging over 49K (12% increase from last year). Yes, Rutgers and UConn had the same crappy schedule this year. Consider Rutgers road attendance as second best in the Conference (behind Louisiville). Consider Nate Silver's WSJ Sept. 2011 article breaking out college football fans in the NYC TV marketplace. Consider Bill Nielson backing up Silver's article based on his data collected. Consider 57K current Undergraduate and Graduate students this year and an Alumni base that is growing. Consider a student section that packed in 11K - 12K per game except for the Army game this year. Coming from a Pro Sports area, College sports is followed by students and alumni who identify with their University and its no different at Rutgers, except for the fact that the Rutgers family is growing due to sheer size. In addition, there are many locals in Central and Northern Jersey who are attending and following and its backed up by TV ratings over the past 6 years including an ESPNU rating for the Rutgers - Arkansas game with the largest NYC market rating for an ESPNU game (certainly not national rating).

I find most people that express your opinion without any evidence either was not admitted to Rutgers or decided not to attend for various other reasons.

LOLOL Rutgers was my safety school and I got in for Civil Engineering. No offense but Rutgers really isn't anything special in any regard. It's just in my experience, nobody I know (who didn't go to Rutgers) cares about Rutgers sports because we New Jersey folk already have plenty of good pro sports teams to occupy our time with.

Anyway, I didn't go to Rutgers because

I didn't want to go to school in freakin New Brunswick
I didn't want a highway going straight through my campus
There is literally nothing special about Rutgers (other than the concept that it's cheap and close to home)
I didn't want to give my parents any reason to expect me to come home except for breaks
I didn't want to go to the same school where ~50 of my high school class mates were going

Did I mention I didn't want to go to school in New Brunswick?

 

[babysheep]

It burns you up that Rutgers played in the first football game in the country as recognized by the College Foobtall Hall of Fame, and pretty much the rest of the world doesn't it?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

yeah the whole world cares so much

 

[babysheep]

An utter nonsense post from a fan who is just jealous that Rutgers was invited to the Big Ten before Connecticut. From an outsider's perspective, this post sounds desperate to make UCONN more relevant than Rutgers.

I've met people from William Paterson, Drew, Rowan, even Princeton, who are season ticket holders to Rutgers. Your notion that only Rutgers students and alumni in NJ root for Rutgers is as silly as saying only UCONN alumni and students root for UCONN in Connecticut.

Well, then that is quite the mystery to me. My experience is completely different.

Oh by the way, I'm not trying to make anyone sound irrelevant, but your deference to assuming that that was my point tells me that you give some weight to that notion, so maybe I wouldn't be too far off if that was what I was saying.

So how exactly is Rutgers relevant in any sense of the word? Because their football team was ranked this year? Grats, you're as relevant as Kent State.

 

[BlueMAB]

Rutgers is going to be the Indiana of the B1G without the basketball.

They'll make more money than us, but they won't win more games.

 

[UCFBfan]

It is this exact attitude that causes basically every New Jersey native who went to an out of state school With a D1 sports team to dislike Rutgers and their pompous alums that have absolutely no basis for being pompous. Not admitted? Rutgers was my safety school. I actually wanted to go to school at a legit college campus and root for winning athletic programs though, so I went to UConn

Amen! I felt the same way! Only applied, and got in, to RU because my parents wanted me to apply to one in-state school. Top 2 choices were PSU and UConn and got into both. My decision was which did I want more, big time fb or big time hoops. Went to UConn and never looked back. My main criteria outside of academics was a school with a big time athletic program. RU never even crossed my mind in that one. I think one post compared UConn to PSU in that kids grew up dreaming of going because they were always a fan growing up. This is so true. In NJ, no one knew RU had athletics. It was rarely covered in the papers. This was 1999 to put a time perspective on it.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[buggsy]

Well, then that is quite the mystery to me. My experience is completely different.

Oh by the way, I'm not trying to make anyone sound irrelevant, but your deference to assuming that that was my point tells me that you give some weight to that notion, so maybe I wouldn't be too far off if that was what I was saying.

So how exactly is Rutgers relevant in any sense of the word? Because their football team was ranked this year? Grats, you're as relevant as Kent State.

How are we relevant? Maybe best if you ask the Big Ten that, since they invited us and not you? Next time I see John Swofford or Jim Delany, I'll ask them how exactly UCONN is relevant.

 

[buggsy]

Amen! I felt the same way! Only applied, and got in, to RU because my parents wanted me to apply to one in-state school. Top 2 choices were PSU and UConn and got into both. My decision was which did I want more, big time fb or big time hoops. Went to UConn and never looked back. My main criteria outside of academics was a school with a big time athletic program. RU never even crossed my mind in that one. I think one post compared UConn to PSU in that kids grew up dreaming of going because they were always a fan growing up. This is so true. In NJ, no one knew RU had athletics. It was rarely covered in the papers. This was 1999 to put a time perspective on it.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

and wen I was looking at schools, UCONN was as easy to get into and as poorly regarded academically as a community college. That was 1987 for a time persective.

Things have changed both for RU athletically, and UCONN academically.

 

[buggsy]

LOLOL Rutgers was my safety school and I got in for Civil Engineering. No offense but Rutgers really isn't anything special in any regard. It's just in my experience, nobody I know (who didn't go to Rutgers) cares about Rutgers sports because we New Jersey folk already have plenty of good pro sports teams to occupy our time with.

Anyway, I didn't go to Rutgers because

I didn't want to go to school in freakin New Brunswick
I didn't want a highway going straight through my campus
There is literally nothing special about Rutgers (other than the concept that it's cheap and close to home)
I didn't want to give my parents any reason to expect me to come home except for breaks
I didn't want to go to the same school where ~50 of my high school class mates were going

Did I mention I didn't want to go to school in New Brunswick?

Rutgers is the state university of NJ. That alone makes it special. Rutgers is a member of the very prestigious AAU...something UCONN is not and can only hope to achieve. That is something special.

Rutgers is the 8th oldest college in the United States. That makes it pretty special. Rutgers has amazing alumni, including Garret Hobart, a former Vice President of the United States under President McKinley..... the biologist, Selma Waskman, who won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of the antibody for tuberculosis.... and maybe the world's greatest economist, Milton Friedman, also a winner of a Nobel Prize.

The fact that you don't know any of that is more a reflection of your poor education than it is of Rutgers' merits. And.. good for you if you'd rather go to school in the middle of no where rather than a city with a vibrant restaurant scene, bar and brewpub scene, multiple theaters including the State Theater, and multiple museums and cultural centers. But you do have cows, right?

We have a 53,000 seat on campus state of the art football stadium. That's pretty relevant. At least that what Jim Delany told Tim Pernetti in the initial talks between the two.

By the way, The highway does not go through any of the actual campuses of Rutgers, they are all clearly defined. The highway runs along side of it....and even if it did...a highway cuts through Harvard as well...and I guess you wouldn't have gone there for that reason as well?

You are a poor example of a New Jersey education.

 

[Fishy]

You're overselling Rutgers.

They're heading to the Big Ten because 1) Maryland is and 2) they're in New Jersey.

They're not an academic wonderland nor do they have a particularly good athletic program.

And Jim Delaney's first thought on their 'state of the art' stadium was, "Say, can you build a new one?"

 

[Dooley]

I hate these Rutgers/UConn pissing matches. I respect Rutgers and their fanbase. Rutgers is in a better position academically (member of AAU), located in a spot that could help deliver Philly and NYC, and already expanded their football stadium. That is why they got the invite to the B1G ahead of UConn. UConn has the better athletics but will need the next 1-2 years to position for an AAU invite (UConn is close and already ranked favorably to other AAU members in certain criteria used), stabilize MBB APR scores to continue its national prominence, and get back to being a bowl football program and expanding the Rent. Once UConn can gain acceptance to the AAU, they already have the US News Ranking backing, also excellent location that can help deliver Boston and NYC, and a solid history of conference and national championship athletic programs.

I happen to think RU/UConn need each other, in certain ways. It's no coincidence that once UConn joined the Big East, RU began to become competitive that led to stadium expansion. Together, they could deliver NYC and completely lock out the ACC and others.

 

[UConnJim]

Rutgers is a good school like UConn and are ranked comparably by U.S. News, although UConn is ranked slightly higher. Yes, Rutgers has the AAU designation, but UConn will in the future. As for acceptance rates (2011): Rutgers 61.1%, UConn 47.3%.

I wish Rutgers good luck in the Big 10 and I hold no animosity towards them. Unless they upgrade their athletic program, they will be as successful in the Big 10 as they were in the Big East. Not very.

 

[specialisthusky]

and wen I was looking at schools, UCONN was as easy to get into and as poorly regarded academically as a community college. That was 1987 for a time persective.

Things have changed both for RU athletically, and UCONN academically.

in the interest of being factual, can you explain what has changed athletically at RU? Please point out all the trophy's RU has won, BCS Bowl appearances, Big East Championships in FB or BB, BET championships (that stands for Big East Tournament, in case as a RU fan you are not familiar with the term), or National Championships in any sport. We can start from 1987, so no one has to hear about your Co-Championship.

If RU was as great as you want us to believe you wouldn't be here trying to convince us. I respect RU because they have done things recently that has improved their football image. Things that Connecticut should have been doing imo. The respect pretty much ends there though.

 

[HobokenHusky]

You're overselling Rutgers.

They're heading to the Big Ten because 1) Maryland is and 2) they're in New Jersey.

They're not an academic wonderland nor do they have a particularly good athletic program.

And Jim Delaney's first thought on their 'state of the art' stadium was, "Say, can you build a new one?"

This is the typical Rutgers spin.

Real comment : Delaney told them originally they would have to move all conference games to Metlife stadium, but then they convinced him that the "on campus stadium" (in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Piscataway) was ok. They still have to play big conference games in Metlife
Rutgers spin: (on a UConn board no less): Delaney told them their wonderful on-campus stadium was the reason they were invited

Other common Rutgers folklore:
- They were invited to the Ivy league, but turned it down, because who needs the Ivy league right?
- Idiots in other parts of the country think Rutgers is a small, elite private college instead of a huge, sprawling state one, so that makes their academic reputation better. I have had a friend babble for an hour to me about how his Rutgers degree is worth more in Texas or California than in NJ.

Congrats on getting invited into the B1G, it will do wonders for the school. Hopefully they can use the money to fix up and unify the campus a little more. But the fact that you guys are over here defending yourselves speaks volumes.

 

[babysheep]

how exactly UCONN is relevant.

Looks like someone dove back under their rock in '99 '04 and '11

 

[babysheep]

Rutgers is the state university of NJ. That alone makes it special. Rutgers is a member of the very prestigious AAU...something UCONN is not and can only hope to achieve. That is something special.

Rutgers is the 8th oldest college in the United States. That makes it pretty special. Rutgers has amazing alumni, including Garret Hobart, a former Vice President of the United States under President McKinley..... the biologist, Selma Waskman, who won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of the antibody for tuberculosis.... and maybe the world's greatest economist, Milton Friedman, also a winner of a Nobel Prize.

We have a 53,000 seat on campus state of the art football stadium. That's pretty relevant. At least that what Jim Delany told Tim Pernetti in the initial talks between the two.

You are a poor example of a New Jersey education.

This is all esoteric information that is worthless to anyone that didn't go to Rutgers and does not speak for anyone's education or lack thereof. Oh goodness, so I didn't know that McKinley's Vice President went to Rutgers...what a helpless ignorant I am....

 

[upstater]

and wen I was looking at schools, UCONN was as easy to get into and as poorly regarded academically as a community college. That was 1987 for a time persective.

Things have changed both for RU athletically, and UCONN academically.

Back in 1986, my brother got into New York University, a full scholarship from Syracuse University, and was rejected from UConn. He went to NYU and is doing well.

 

[RURM85]

in the interest of being factual, can you explain what has changed athletically at RU? Please point out all the trophy's RU has won, BCS Bowl appearances, Big East Championships in FB or BB, BET championships (that stands for Big East Tournament, in case as a RU fan you are not familiar with the term), or National Championships in any sport. We can start from 1987, so no one has to hear about your Co-Championship.

If RU was as great as you want us to believe you wouldn't be here trying to convince us. I respect RU because they have done things recently that has improved their football image. Things that Connecticut should have been doing imo. The respect pretty much ends there though.

From the ashes of the Terry Shea era, a lot has changed for Rutgers Football. For the last 10 years, I can provide winning percentages, bowl games/streak information, number of NFL players coming from Rutgers, recruitment rankings, however, you have the same access to this information as I do and its all relative. What I see as success, you may see as failure.

More important, the reason I'm on the UConn Boneyard is not to convince UConn fans of anything. I primarily read the threads because of information about conference realignment as its an interest of mine. Due to UConn's position, this board has a number of posters who are on the forefront of conference realignment information, as well as, there's a lot of very creative thinking about realignment.

There is also a minority of posters who use Rutgers to lash out about UConn's conference situation. Some posts have accurate information. Other posts have misleading and bad information and/or no information. Some posts use Rutgers as a means of self worth for UConn as a University. Once in awhile you have the utter nonsense such as a fairly confident statement from a poster that Rutgers is a cheap tuition path for people in New Jersey, nobody cares about its sports programs and there's no pride in the school. Then the poster continues to bash New Brunswick, infrastructure, the campus and everything else that he believes is wrong with Rutgers based on his observations of where he grew up. Sorry, this deserved a response.

If you and I were on another board and I made a nonsense statement that I was confident the State of Connecticut has very little population, is a state that people only drive through to get from New York to Boston, required clean up of where the football stadium is located, thus, I concluded nobody has an interest in UConn and its sports programs including pride in the school, would you respond? I'm willing to bet you would respond with facts and figures, the same as I did.

A number of Rutgers fans, myself included, empathize with UConn's conference position, wish the best for the Sports programs and would like to see UConn succeed with realignment to ensure its football and basketball teams play at the highest levels.

 

[babysheep]

Once in awhile you have the utter nonsense such as a fairly confident statement from a poster that Rutgers is a cheap tuition path for people in New Jersey, nobody cares about its sports programs and there's no pride in the school. Then the poster continues to bash New Brunswick, infrastructure, the campus and everything else that he believes is wrong with Rutgers based on his observations of where he grew up. Sorry, this deserved a response.

Listen, son, that was all me and you can just directly call me out. My posts are still in this thread unedited and I stand by my decision to not go to the severely overrated RU. There is literally zero reason to attend Rutgers unless, as previously mentioned, you're looking for a cheap, easy route to a degree as a resident of NJ (BUT OH DERP IT'S THE 8TH OLDEST COLLEGE IN THE US). You can try to justify your fandom all you want but it won't change anything. Sorry to break your heart.

 

[RURM85]

Listen, son, that was all me and you can just directly call me out. My posts are still in this thread unedited and I stand by my decision to not go to the severely overrated RU. There is literally zero reason to attend Rutgers unless, as previously mentioned, you're looking for a cheap, easy route to a degree as a resident of NJ (BUT OH DERP IT'S THE 8TH OLDEST COLLEGE IN THE US). You can try to justify your fandom all you want but it won't change anything. Sorry to break your heart.

First, I'm not your son. Writing negative and offensive opinions about a University that I did not attend and have limited knowledge of, or worse a biased opinion about, is not part of my DNA. I addressed your subjective post directly with facts about fandom attendance at Rutgers. You chose to focus on the "not admitted" part without reading the rest of the sentence. Good for you. I'm glad you found zero reason to attend Rutgers. Rutgers would not be interested in that type of student. Your unsubstantiated opinions certainly do not break my heart. My heart would be broken if Rutgers did not have a path forward out of the Big East.

 

[babysheep]

"Son," in this case, a clueless child flailing around trying to justify their actions or beliefs in order to satisfy others, to whom said beliefs ultimately mean nothing.

I can't help if you are offended by my opinions of RU. That speaks more of your subconsciously similar opinion of RU. Your holding offense adds more weight to my criticisms than anything. Your post was little more than general butthurtedness, and I quoted only the part that was in any way worth responding to because it was the only part that could be discerned as being directed at me. Nice passive-aggressive attitude.

Too bad you weren't on the admissions board of Rutgers, or else you surely would have not wasted the admission offer that I received. Looking back, I actually found it funny how much Rutgers was an afterthought after I had been accepted to UConn, TCNJ, Northeastern, and the like. Hell, I probably would have gone to Rowan as an engineering student before I went to Rutgers.

Rutgers is at best am in-state fall-back. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can reconcile your attending.

 

[buggsy]

"Son," in this case, a clueless child flailing around trying to justify their actions or beliefs in order to satisfy others, to whom said beliefs ultimately mean nothing.

I can't help if you are offended by my opinions of RU. That speaks more of your subconsciously similar opinion of RU. Your holding offense adds more weight to my criticisms than anything. Your post was little more than general butthurtedness, and I quoted only the part that was in any way worth responding to because it was the only part that could be discerned as being directed at me. Nice passive-aggressive attitude.

Too bad you weren't on the admissions board of Rutgers, or else you surely would have not wasted the admission offer that I received. Looking back, I actually found it funny how much Rutgers was an afterthought after I had been accepted to UConn, TCNJ, Northeastern, and the like. Hell, I probably would have gone to Rowan as an engineering student before I went to Rutgers.

Rutgers is at best am in-state fall-back. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can reconcile your attending.

I will not and do not accept that. Nice try in insulting me once again. but you fail. I gave you several reasons, non sports related, why I am proud of my university. Why don't you give me some reasons as relevant as the ones I provided...why you're proud of UCONN.

Rutgers is everything as a flagship state university that UCONN is....and in my opinion, more. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you will see what the Big Ten saw when choosing Rutgers over UCONN.

I'm not offended by your opinions of Rutgers. I'm offended by your sheer ignorance and stupidity of about the flagship university of your home state.

You must not have tried very hard in high school. If you did, you wouldn't be so under-educated. Unless you applied to UConn in the last two years, Rutgers was ranked ahead of UCONN in the USN&WR for like the last 50 years running ...and remains ahead of UCONN in all BUT the USN&WR to this day. That is the only rag that puts UCONN ahead of Rutgers.

If you think you are going to tell Rutgers fans that we are nothing but a safety school, you're out of your league, son. We have way too much to be proud of as an institution...to be insulted by a flea like you....who most likely did not get in to Rutgers. All those other schools you mentioned? Sure you got in to them.

I would be pissed if I couldn't get into my flagship state university, especially since they are on their way to the Big Ten.

I get it. I get your hate. If I didn't try hard enough in high school, I would be mad too.