Iowa football vs. Rutgers Fun Facts, the Sheryl Lee Ralph edition

Fun Facts: Iowa-Rutgers, Sheryl Lee Ralph edition

One of the Big Ten’s great rivalries ... is not this game. But here is a lot of minutiae about it, anyway.

Sep. 22, 2022 10:32 am, Updated: Sep. 22, 2022 12:26 pm

Sheryl Lee Ralph poses in the press room with the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for "Abbott Elementary" at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 12. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)

The Iowa-Rutgers “rivalry” resumes, with Fun Facts o’ Plenty.

1. Rutgers has lost its last 19 Big Ten home games, dating to 2017.

2. The first game of what would eventually become American football was played at College Field in New Brunswick, N.J. The field is now a parking lot on the Rutgers campus.

3. Rutgers has scored a total of seven points in its two games against Iowa. The Hawkeyes allowed just 125 yards and five first downs to the Scarlet Knights in their most recent meeting, Iowa’s 30-0 win in 2019 at Kinnick Stadium.

4. Iowa’s defense leads the nation in fewest yards allowed per play, at 2.9.

5. Rutgers accepted a Gator Bowl invitation eight days before that game last year. The Scarlet Knights lost to finish with a 5-8 record.

6. Iowa has no players from New Jersey or New York. Many Hawkeye standouts of the past came from those two states, including Andre Tippett, Ronnie Harmon, Shonn Greene and Mike Daniels.

7. Rutgers has not thrown a touchdown pass against an FBS opponent since October 2021, covering eight games.

8. Rutgers hasn’t been in the AP Top 25 since 2012. Only Kansas and Illinois have longer current droughts among Power Five conference teams.

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9. Sheryl Lee Ralph, who won an Emmy award earlier this month, graduated from Rutgers when she was 19.

10. Next week, Rutgers plays Ohio State (47.7 points per game) and Iowa plays Michigan (55.3).

11. Against Nevada, Kaleb Johnson became the first Hawkeye with multiple 40+ yard TD runs in the same game since Tavian Banks vs. Northern Iowa in 1997.

12. Rutgers has allowed 1.1 yards per rushing attempt, second in the nation to James Madison.

13. Iowa is one of 18 teams that hasn’t allowed a first-quarter score and one of 12 that hasn’t allowed a third-quarter score.

14. Rutgers has never won more than three games in a Big Ten season since its first football season in the league, 2014.

15. Iowa is 1-2 all-time in New Jersey. In games at East Rutherford, the Hawkeyes lost to Tennessee in 1987 and to North Carolina State in 1992. They won at Rutgers in 2016.

16. Duke, Kansas, Indiana and Rutgers are a combined 12-0. They were a combined 12-37 last season.

17. Kurt Warner’s son, E.J. Warner, started at quarterback for Temple in its 16-14 loss to Rutgers last Saturday. Another of Warner’s sons, Kade Warner, has eight catches and a touchdown this season for Kansas State.

18. The Big Ten team with the best winning percentage in bowl games since 2001 is … Rutgers (6-4, .600). Iowa is 9-9.

19. The first classes at Rutgers were held in a tavern, the Sign of the Red Lion in New Brunswick.

20. Iowa and New Jersey are among 17 states with one registered vehicle plate that says "UNHINGD.“