RU Rah! Rah!

Who woulda thunk it! A Rutgers football team playing on national television tonight in a game with major bowl repercussions for their opponent (Louisville) -- and themselves. This is a school that won all of eight games in the first three years of Coach Greg Schiano's regime. This year, they're 8-0. In the lean years, Schiano basically said: give me better players using better facilities and I'll show you. Guess he was right.

Now everyone seems to be on the Rutgers football bandwagon. Senate President Richard J. Codey, the former acting governor, this week urged everyone to show their support by wearing scarlet and black today. How Codey, an unabashed Seton Hall basketball backer, can suddenly become a huge Rutgers football fan shows he's a man in search of a winning sports program, not a university. (Seton Hall doesn't have a football team.)

We'll see how the Scarlet Knights do in prime time. They lost to Louisville by a whopping 51 points on the road last year. Tonight, they have the home field and undoubtedly the largest football crowd ever on campus. They're ranked No. 13 in the bowl championship ratings, Louisville is No. 3. The game starts at 0-0. Rutgers fans can only hope for what was unthinkable not long ago.