Rutgers’ football season opener vs. Temple at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, has been postponed to Saturday, at a time still TBD, due to the aftermath of Ida.
The remnants of what was Hurricane Ida were still a tropical depression as the storm moved through the Tri-State area Wednesday night into Thursday morning, dropping nearly a foot of rain in some spots and causing major flooding as well as loss of life, and parts of New York and New Jersey were still under states of emergency as of Thursday.
The National Weather Service reported 6.53 inches of rain in New Brunswick proper, and many roads around the New Brunswick/Piscataway area, including several leading to Rutgers’ campus, are closed – including Route 18, a major thoroughfare in the area, which is underwater in spots after the Raritan River overflowed its banks.
Both the Scarlet Knights and Owls squads were holed up in hotels near campus Wednesday, but school officials told NJ.com they were uncertain about game officials making it for the 6:35 p.m. kickoff, or if roads would even be open by then.
Prior to the announcement of the postponement, Piscataway Township officials released a statement early Thursday morning calling on Rutgers to keep fans away from the stadium if the game was to be played.
“While Piscataway is a strong supporter of Rutgers University and fervent fans of Rutgers Football, if the Rutgers-Temple football game is still going to take place this evening, the Township is calling on the University to do so without fans. Township infrastructure is overwhelmed by the damage of Hurricane Ida and evacuations are still taking place this morning. Most importantly, search and rescue operations are ongoing. Piscataway Public Works and our first responders worked through the night to help residents and significant work continues today. Roadways in the Township cannot handle an influx of tens of thousands of people coming to the football game.”
The Philadelphia area also saw similar effects from Ida, including a tornado that touched down in Mullica Hill, N.J., causing a swath of destruction.
Rutgers announced earlier in the week that tickets for the general public were sold out, and this was set to be the Scarlet Knights’ first sellout since 53,292 saw Rutgers take on Michigan in October 2016. This would also be their first home game with fans of any kind since the end of the 2019 season, as the team was 0-5 at home in an empty SHI Stadium last season.
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