2006 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

2006 Big East Conference football standings
	$ – BCS representative as conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

2006 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
2006 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
Texas Bowl champion
Texas Bowl, W 37–10 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 12
2006 record	11–2 (5–2 Big East)
Head coach	Greg Schiano (6th season);
Co-offensive coordinator	Craig Ver Steeg (4th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	John McNulty (1st as OC, 3rd overall season)
Defensive coordinator	Greg Schiano (2nd season)
Home stadium	Rutgers Stadium; (Capacity: 41,500)
	Seasons ← 2005 2007 →

The 2006 Rutgers Scarlet Knights campaign was considered by many to be the breakout season for the Rutgers football team. Led by Draddy Trophy winning senior fullback Brian Leonard, sophomore quarterback Mike Teel, senior defensive captain and two time national defensive player of the week defensive tackle , sophomore halfback Ray Rice, sophomore wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, junior defensive tackle Eric Foster, and junior kicker Jeremy Ito, Rutgers finished the season ranked 12th in the Associated Press and Coaches polls, won eleven of thirteen games, and recorded the first bowl game win in school history.

The team started off the season going undefeated through nine games, including a dramatic win over then-3rd ranked Louisville, which was highlighted by kicker Jeremy Ito's last minute field goal to seal the win. After they were defeated by both West Virginia and Cincinnati, they received an invitation to play Kansas State in the inaugural Texas Bowl. Rutgers defeated Kansas State 37-10 for the first bowl game win in school history. Halfback Ray Rice was named the game's MVP and ran for 170 yards and one touchdown in twenty-four carries.^[1] Due to his tremendous 2006 season, in which he ran for 1,794 yards and scored twenty touchdowns, Rice won Big East Player of the Year honors. He also finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting and was a finalist for the Maxwell Award.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	3:30 pm	at North Carolina*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, North Carolina	ABC	W 21–16	50,000
September 9	12:00 pm	Illinois*		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPN2	W 33–0	41,036
September 16	3:30 pm	Ohio*		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	MSG	W 24–7	41,102
September 23	2:00 pm	Howard*	No. 23	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	MSG	W 56–7	35,558
September 29	8:00 pm	at South Florida	No. 23	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida	ESPN2	W 22–20	32,493
October 14	1:30 pm	at Navy*	No. 24	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, Maryland	CSTV	W 34–0	36,918
October 21	5:45 pm	at Pittsburgh	No. 19	Heinz Field Pittsburgh	ESPN2	W 20–10	49,620
October 29	8:00 pm	Connecticut	No. 16	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPN	W 24–13	43,620
November 9	7:45 pm	No. 3 Louisville	No. 15	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPN	W 28–25	44,111
November 18	7:45 pm	at Cincinnati	No. 7	Nippert Stadium Cincinnati	ESPN2	L 11–30	27,804
November 25	12:00 pm	Syracuse	No. 15	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPNU	W 38–7	43,791
December 2	7:45 pm	at No. 15 West Virginia	No. 13	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN	L 39–41 ^3OT	60,299
December 28	8:00 pm	vs. Kansas State*	No. 16	Reliant Stadium Houston, Texas (Texas Bowl)	NFL Network	W 37–10	52,210
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern time

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	23	24	24	19	16	15	15	7	15	13	16	12
Coaches	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	23	24	19	16	15	14	8	16	13	17	12
Harris	Not released				23	24	24	19	15	14	13	7	15	13	16	Not released
BCS	Not released							16	14	12	13	6	14	13	16	Not released

References[]

^ "Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Kansas State Wildcats - Recap - December 28, 2006". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.

[1] "Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Kansas State Wildcats - Recap - December 28, 2006". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.

[1]

v t Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
Venues	College Field (1869–1890) Neilson Field (1891–1938) Rutgers Stadium (1938–1992) Giants Stadium (1993) SHI Stadium (1994–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Princeton
Culture & lore	Marching band First American football game (painting)
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

2006 Big East Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 6 Louisville $		6	–	1		12	–	1
No. 10 West Virginia		5	–	2		11	–	2
No. 12 Rutgers		5	–	2		11	–	2
South Florida		4	–	3		9	–	4
Cincinnati		4	–	3		8	–	5
Pittsburgh		2	–	5		6	–	6
Connecticut		1	–	6		4	–	8
Syracuse		1	–	6		4	–	8

$ – BCS representative as conference champion Rankings from AP Poll