Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Rutgers lineman Mike Gilmartin celebrates after teammate Jeremy Ito kicked the eventual game-winning field goal with 13 seconds left to lift the No. 15 Scarlet Knights to 28-25 come-from-behind victory over No. 3 Louisville on Thursday.

This season, off to their best start 1976, the next step for the Scarlet Knights was to show if they could compete with the nation’s best.

The answer: Absolutely.

Louisville jumped out to a 25-7 lead in the first half behind Brohm and a 100-yard kickoff return by JaJuan Spillman and it looked as if the Cardinals were on their way to a BCS boosting romp.

But laughingstocks no more, the Scarlet Knights came charging back to tie it in the fourth quarter behind speedy tailback Rice and a relentless pass rush.

Rutgers gave the 2,000 fans packed into the temporary stands behind the south end zone something to go crazy about when Kenny Britt reached high for a pass over the middle and broke free for a 67-yard reception right in their direction. Louisville’s William Gay caught Britt from behind and stripped the ball, but it bounced right back to the Rutgers’ receiver, who covered it at the 4.

And if that wasn’t enough to swing momentum Rutgers’ way, Rice’s 4-yard TD sweep on the next play surely was. The 2-point conversion cut it to 25-22 with 4:42 left in the third quarter.

After struggling early to slow down Brohm and the No. 2 offense in the country, Meekins and the hard-rushing Scarlet Knights held the Cardinals without a first down for the first 26 minutes of the second half.

When Ito nailed a 46-yard field goal with 10:17 left in the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 25, the cannon behind the south end zone boomed and the record crowd was in a white-towel waving frenzy.

“They were an undefeated team so we knew it was going to be tough,” Louisville running back Kolby Smith said, “and it was a home game for them and we heard it was going to be their biggest crowd ever. We just wanted to come in and execute. But tonight we didn’t.”

Students started lining up outside the stadium more than four hours before kickoff for the most important college football game in New Jersey since, well, maybe the first one was played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. Never before had Rutgers played in a game matching ranked teams.

Now the Scarlet Knights have won one and can start wondering where they will be ranked when the next Bowl Championship Series standings come out Sunday.

“Hopefully we go up,” Rice said. “I’m just glad we won this game.”

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