Following a breakout campaign in 2006, there has never been more buzz surrounding the Rutgers football program. Yet the question remains — can the Scarlet Knights build on last year’s success, and in doing so, have a lasting impact on the New York area sports scene? Rutgers won’t gain any traction amid the area’s nine professional franchises unless it can avoid taking a step back this season, which begins with tomorrow’s home opener against Buffalo.

It’s a safe bet that head coach Greg Schiano has spent fall camp trying his best to get his team to actually forget the considerable highlights of last season — the 11 wins, the Texas Bowl triumph, and the program-defining upset of then no. 3 Louisville in November. Dealing with success can be one of the biggest challenges for a football team, particularly one that has little experience in the area.

In reinforcing the point that his team can’t just show up and expect opponents to roll over, Schiano can lean heavily on the hardlearned lessons of 2006. Rutgers was the toast of the town, and indeed, of the nation, following the Louisville game. The coach surely knew the next week’s contest at Cincinnati was a trap, but he wasn’t able to get his players to heed the warning. Nobody was calling WFAN to talk about Rutgers after the Bearcats’ 19-point win.

That Schiano rallied his team to beat Syracuse, give West Virginia all it could handle in a triple-overtime loss, and whip Kansas State in the bowl game is an excellent sign heading into the 2007 season.

Attitude is important for this team, because it surely has the talent to compete with anyone on its schedule. Quarterback Mike Teel is a junior with 16 career starts who played his best football at the end of last season. The offensive line lost two starters, but still might be the best unit in the Big East. Tailback Ray Rice is a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender after running for 1,794 yards and 20 touchdowns a year ago, and wideout Tim Brown showed game-breaking speed in the bowl game. On defense, Rutgers six starters return, including undersized tackle Eric Foster, just the type of havoc-creating run stopper that Schiano loves.

Schiano has reiterated this offseason that there is much work to be done, pointing out that for all the attention, Rutgers merely tied for second in an eight-team conference last season. Still, the Scarlet Knights will never again be the plucky underdog, and they can expect everyone’s best effort — even from hopelessly overmatched teams like Buffalo and Norfolk State. Schiano’s club can win those games without playing its best, but contests against Maryland, Cincinnati, and South Florida are all potential upsets.

Rutgers will take the field most weeks with better talent than its opponent, which is a testament to how far Schiano has brought the program his first six seasons. Even as Rutgers was losing in his early seasons in Piscataway, N.J., Schiano was upgrading recruiting, tirelessly mining New Jersey for the talent that had always gone to the greener pastures of places like Notre Dame and Penn State. The former Miami assistant — who was rewarded with a long-term contract extension this off-season after being a candidate for the open Hurricanes job — also worked his Florida connections to bring athletic players north to a school where they might play immediately.

The result? Rutgers will be favored against each of its first seven opponents, and gets Big East favorite West Virginia at home in the eighth game on October 27. If the coach can keep the players focused, they’ll be 7–0 and the hype surrounding the Mountaineers’ visit will dwarf that of even the Louisville game last season. Win that one, and avoid the inevitable letdown the following week, and Rutgers should be 11–0 heading into the rematch against the Cardinals in Kentucky on December 1.

Only if those two contests have conference, BCS, and potentially even national title implications will we learn if Rutgers can indeed turn New York into a true college football town.

The area has long been labeled a sleeping giant for college football, needing only a competent program to capture the imagination of the populace. That’s exactly what Rutgers provided last year. The Louisville contest was simply the biggest game in the history of a program that hadn’t had many highlights beyond facing Princeton in the first ever college football game in 1869. It was also the biggest college football game in the New York area since top-ranked Army teams were playing at the Polo Grounds in the 1950s.

With so many other sports and entertainment options at their disposal, the area’s residents may never blindly embrace college football the way most of the nation has. But right now, it’s hard to tell. Rutgers tickets are already sold out for the entire season. Want season seats? Better get on the waiting list, which numbered 6,000 at last check. There is talk of expanding Rutgers Stadium past its current capacity of 42,000.

The press is playing its part, too. There was a prime-time preseason special on local network TV, and Schiano’s coaching show will be seen on the NBC affiliate this fall.

Last season’s impact is also obvious in other, less quantifiable ways. Red block “R” stickers were as plentiful as traffic jams on that most venerable of New Jersey institutions, the Garden State Parkway, this summer. Rutgers is hot, and the school’s long-suffering alumni are emerging from the woodwork to show their state pride.

Now all that’s left for Schiano’s team to do is win 11-straight games.

Mr. Levine is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.