Schiano Leads Rutgers to Bowl Victory

In his 11th season as the head football coach at Rutgers, Greg Schiano has won four previous bowl games, but none were played and won anywhere remotely close to the school.

Schiano, a Wyckoff native, and Rutgers grabbed their fifth bowl victory Friday evening with a 27-13 win over Iowa State in the second annual New Era Pinstripe Bowl played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx before 38,328 fans.

The Scarlet Knights (9-4) beat Army at the stadium earlier in the year, but this week's game came with a weeklong celebration leading up to the football festivities.

Throughout the week, representatives from the team could be seen at the New York Stock Exchange, the National September 11 Memorial, dinner at the Yankee Stadium’s Legends Suite Club, having breakfast at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square, taking a World Yacht Club boat cruise around New York Harbor or speaking with kids from the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in the Bronx.

"It was an awesome week for our players, our coaches, our families and our fans," said Schiano. "Everything was first class. I’m really proud of our kids. We worked really hard in preparation."

Rutgers led 17-6 at halftime. Both teams played scoreless football in the third quarter and the Scarlet Knights sealed the victory with an 86-yard touchdown pass from Chas Dodd to Brandon Coleman with 5:47 left in the ball game. 

Schiano led Rutgers to bowl wins in 2009 (St. Petersburg Bowl vs. UCF), 2008 (PapaJohns.com Bowl vs. NC State), 2007 (International Bowl vs. Ball State) and 2006 (Texas Bowl vs. Kansas State).

Rutgers played football at the original Yankee Stadium as far back as 1926, but prior to their game against Army in November, had not been in the Bronx since 1948.

"To be able to come here, and then to win this thing, to win it at home is wonderful," Schiano said. "Hats off to the Yankees and New Era. They put on a first class week for us. It’s always nice to win in the end, that’s for sure.

"We’ve been a pretty consistent program going to bowl games, winning bowl games. We got to get to the next level. These guys, this group of players, this group of coaches, they’re going to get us to the top, to the championship level."