By Quintus McDonald
The opening Big Ten Conference game between Penn State and Rutgers Universities this past Saturday marked the beginning of a rivalry. That game — which Penn State won 13-10 — was a more natural fit than the Penn State vs. Ohio State rivalry that has been in existence since PSU’s entry into the Big Ten.
The fact of the matter is that routinely, Rutgers has been on the schedule as a home game for Penn State… typically late in the season. Many things could be suggested about the meeting of the two teams, one of which is that the New Jersey college wasn’t able to keep many of its top athletes from leaving their home state and going to other colleges to play ball. Over the past 10-15 years however, Rutgers has made a concerted effort to bring the football program to national recognition This means that the Garden States doesn’t let talent escape to places like Maryland or, more importantly, Penn State.
This “Boarder War” has been escalated beyond the recruiting wars of mid January through spring football. It has grown up into a Divisional, Conference Rival, legitimized by the dog fight we witnessed on Saturday evening. Rutgers entered the game with 12 young men from Pennsylvania on their roster, with Penn State boasting 15 from New Jersey.
Having been awarded the New Jersey and USA Today National High School Defensive Player of the Year, I too was once heavily recruited by both schools. I chose Happy Valley over my home state institution. It is safe to say that there was and will be no love loss between these two universities as they do battle for the very rich talent pool that is New Jersey, in the coming years.
Penn State versus Rutgers could be the next Big Ten rivalry in the New Jersey/New York market that the conference will love showing off.
We Are.