100% Cotten
9/27/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
by Stan Cotten
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I'll never forget it. It was early November, 1979. I was a freshman at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, one year before getting my start in radio play-by-play at nearby Carson-Newman College. Tennessee was preparing to host Rutgers in a game at Neyland Stadium, where the Vols seemingly never lost, especially to an underdog team like Rutgers. So high was the confidence of Vol fans, that one of the themes of the week became, "What's a Rutgers?" I guess I fell for it, too. Hey, I was a freshman. What did I know?
You know where this is going. Rutgers won that game, shocking the heavily favored Volunteers 13-7 in the first ever meeting between the two schools. Tennessee fans have never, and will never, forget that day. And I learned the importance of homework.
So what is a Rutgers? Just the birthplace of college football, that's all. Rutgers defeated Princeton 6-4 in the first intercollegiate football game ever played on November 6, 1869, on a site where the present-day Rutgers gymnasium now stands in New Brunswick, NJ.
Secondly, Rutgers is Wake Forest's opponent this weekend at Groves Stadium in Winston-Salem. The Scarlet Knights are hungry after starting 0-3 and nearly getting skunked last week at home against Boston College. The Deacs will be favored after coming off of their 31-7 thumping of ACC rival N.C. State. If Wake can hold serve and send Rutgers away 0-4, the Demon Deacons would be 3-1 for the first time ever under Coach Jim Caldwell. It would also be the Deacs's best start since 1987 when Wake jumped out to a 5-0 beginning.
The Deacs, unlike Tennessee twenty years ago, do have a little recent history with Rutgers to help them get ready for the game. Wake played the Scarlet Knights in 1997, winning 28-14 in Piscataway, New Jersey. It was a game the Deacons could have easily lost.
Current Wake quarterback Ben Sankey got his first ever college start against Rutgers back in 1997. The Deacs shot out of the gates quickly leading 14-0 after the first quarter on a cold, rainy day. Matt Burdick added a field goal to make it 17-0, and it looked like Wake Forest would put away the Scarlet Knights. But Rutgers, 0-9 on the season and nothing to play for except pride and the future, hit the Deacs with two touchdown passes in the last 3:50 of the first half to make it a contest, 17-14 Wake at halftime.
The Deacs got things turned around in the third quarter, adding a touchdown and another Burdick field goal, and the Wake defense pitched a shutout over the final 30 minutes to lift Wake to the win. The Deacons gave up only two first downs and 35 yards in total offense to Rutgers in the second half.
Sankey's numbers were admirable, especially for the first start of his career (he subbed for injured starter Brian Kuklick). He finished the day 14-20 for 158 yards without an interception. Sankey scored on a one yard plunge and also ran for a Wake two point conversion to end the scoring with :21 seconds left in the third quarter.
Two of the Scarlet Knight's to performers that day return this week for another shot at Wake Forest. The most dangerous is quarterback Mike McMahon who threw for just under two hundred yards and two touchdowns as a freshman against the Deacs. Jacki Crooks rushed for only 37 yards against Wake in '97, but he is the top returnee for Rutgers in both rushing and receiving from a year ago.
Tennessee wasn't ready for Rutgers in 1979. But Wake Forest will be this week. The Deacs know first hand what a Rutgers is.
