Rutgers, welcome to the party.

College football is often described as a celebration. Crowds of 80,000 or more routinely pack stadiums throughout the country on fall Saturdays. In many parts of the nation, the importance of the local college team dwarfs anything the pros have to offer.

But the college football phenomenon, with its RV caravans and its rabid fan bases, has largely skipped the New York metropolitan area for the last half-century. New York may be the capital of industry, finance, and advertising, but its biggest participation in one of the nation’s most popular sports has been largely through its population of displaced alumni.

All that is set to change tonight in Piscataway, as close to 50,000 fans — a number boosted by temporary bleachers set up to accommodate extra students — are expected to form an overflow crowd at Rutgers Stadium to watch no. 13. Rutgers take on no. 3 Louisville (7:30 p.m., ESPN) in what is easily the biggest game in the long but often downtrodden history of the Rutgers program, a history that dates famously to college football’s first game in 1869.

How rare is a game of this magnitude for Rutgers? This is the program’s first game in 137 seasons in which both teams are ranked. With a win, Rutgers (8–0, 3–0 Big East) can do the unthinkable — legitimately inject itself into the national-title discussion. Louisville (8–0, 3–0) is already there, having moved to third in the Bowl Championship Series standings with a 44–34 win over previously unbeaten West Virginia last Thursday.

Though there will be more big games to come if Rutgers wins (the Scarlet Knights still have to face West Virginia December 2) tonight represents the pinnacle of a six-year rebuilding effort under head coach Greg Schiano.

This is all new for Rutgers and its fans — sold-out stadiums, national TV, talk of BCS bids, but it has been building since Schiano left his defensive coordinator position at Miami (Fla.) in December, 2000,to take over a hopeless situation at New Jersey’s flagship state university. Even if Schiano then envisioned a moment like this one, few would have shared the coach’s optimism. Progress was painstakingly slow at times as Schiano worked his South Florida ties to improve recruiting. A breakthrough came only last season, when Rutgers qualified for a bowl for the first time in 27 years and finished 7–5.

Even with the momentum of last year, this season has exceeded expectations. Rutgers has navigated some tricky road dates, hanging on at South Florida, destroying Navy, and running all over Pittsburgh, and held serve at home to arrive at this game undefeated.

The game itself is a matchup of an explosive offense (Louisville) against staunch defense (Rutgers). As is often the case when top units face each other, it will be the other matchup — that of Rutgers’ ground-oriented offense against Louisville’s potentially vulnerable defense — that will likely determine the winner.

Still, the most important matchup in this game may be Louisville against its own emotional state. It was just a week ago that the Cardinals played the biggest game in their program history. They fed off a raucous home crowd in the win over West Virginia. While Louisville was riding that emotional roller coaster, Rutgers had the week off to prepare. Emotion is the great equalizer in a sport that asks its players to do things — such as run full speed into someone running full speed the opposite direction — that the brain would rather not do. It’s easier to do those things with backing of tens of thousands of screaming fans. As a result, if Louisville is even the least bit flat coming off the high of last week, the Cardinals could get run out of the stadium early.

Louisville coach Bobby Petrino’s job this week is as much therapist as strategist. He must prepare his team to face the opposite of what it enjoyed last Thursday. Louisville must not commit early mistakes, lest the crowd help turn the game into a feeding frenzy.

Assuming Louisville survives the game’s early moments, the Cardinals hope to have the same explosive offense they enjoyed against West Virginia. Quarterback Brian Brohm played his best game since returning from a thumb injury, completing 19-of-26 passes for 354 yards and no interceptions. Louisville also managed 114 yards on the ground.

Rutgers ranks second nationally in total defense, but Louisville is far and away the best offense it has faced. Its undersized defensive line will be giving up close to 50 pounds a man against the Louisville linemen, but the unit must clog up rushing lanes for Kolby Smith and put pressure on Brohm.

If Brohm has time in the pocket, Louisville’s big receivers, led by 6-foot-6 Mario Urrutia, could have a field day against Rutgers’ smallish secondary. Urrutia averages 20.6 yards a catch for his career, best among all active college players.

The most encouraging sign for Rutgers coming out of the Louisville-West Virginia game was the ability of the Mountaineers to run the ball. West Virginia piled up 318 yards rushing and five touchdowns, and averaged 6.4 yards a carry.

For Rutgers, sophomore Ray Rice is third in the nation at 150.4 yards rushing a game. If he has the same success West Virginia did against Louisville and Rutgers protects the ball, the Knights will be in this game to the end. Rice and backfield mate Brian Leonard need to keep the pressure off quarterback Mike Teel, who has led a woeful passing attack this season (no. 114 of 119 teams in Division IA). Because of that, Rutgers cannot fall behind and win. They must get an early lead, then pound away with Rice and hope to slow the Cardinals’ passing attack.

Even if Rutgers loses, the fact that the school is in the national spotlight is validation that Schiano’s plan is working. But a win will fully awaken the press and broadcasting capital of the world that a budding college football power is right down the turnpike.

If that happens, Rutgers might want to think about making those temporary stands permanent.

Mr. Levine is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.