It appears some of the Rutgers denizens in Piscataway took the “rivalry” aspect of the game against Penn State a little bit too far for the administration’s liking.
In a statement credited to Julie Hermann and sent out Monday morning, the RU athletic director apologized for what she described as the “inappropriate and offensive” signs made and t-shirts worn by Scarlet Knight fans before and during the primetime affair Saturday night. That game marked RU’s first-ever game a against a Big Ten team as a member of that conference, and a record crowd of 53,774 were on hand to witness it. And the debauchery.
Suffice to say, most of what Hermann deemed “inappropriate and offensive” alluded to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal of nearly three years ago.
One of the more salacious photos -- we’ll link to it HERE but won’t post it on CFT -- shows a certain sex act between what appears to be a stick figure-type young boy and an adult on a Penn State banner. As you would expect, there were the obligatory “Ped State” t-shirts as well. One of those types of t-shirts made a brief appearance on RU’s official Facebook page:
On behalf of Rutgers University and the Athletic Department, we would like to apologize for the regrettable actions of a handful of Rutgers fans on Saturday that do not convey the message of good, competitive spirit that we look forward to having with our new Big Ten rival Penn State University.
Some of the signage and t-shirts that we have been made aware of were both inappropriate and offensive.
I have spoken with and apologized to the Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour and I would like to apologize equally to the Penn State University fans, as well as Rutgers fans that were subjected to this classless display that does not represent the ethos of our university, athletic department or fan base.
The two inappropriate pictures that appeared briefly on our Facebook page as part of a 200-picture montage were immediately removed when we were alerted to their content.
It is unfortunate that the actions of a few spoiled an otherwise historic and recording-setting night that Rutgers fans provided for our first Big Ten football game.