Team: Rutgers Scarlet Nights
Stadium: Rutgers Stadium
Conference: Big East
Sport: College Football
Background: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on November 10, 1766 as "Queen's College," in honor of King George III's consort, Charlotte. The original purpose of Queen's College was the education of future ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church. (Ironically, given the tenets of Christianity, the college first met at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion, on what is today the grounds of the Johnson & Johnson Corporation corporate headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.) It admitted its first students in 1771 and granted its first degree in 1774, to Matthew Leydt. When the American Revolution broke out, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private houses, in and near New Brunswick. Queen's College closed in 1795, due to a lack of money, and reopened in 1808. The next year, the college got a building of its own, which is now called "Old Queen's" (and which still stands). However, this was not enough to prevent Queen's College from closing down a second time, in 1812.