Pat Hobbs has an idea of what to add to the Fun Slide, the food trucks and the carnival games lining “The Rutgers Boardwalk” outside of the football stadium.

“You have everything that you would have at the boardwalk except a roller coaster,” the Rutgers athletics director told The Post about three hours before the 2023 season kicked off, as 53,026 fans swarmed a pregame experience designed to cross tailgating with the Jersey Shore. “I still want a roller coaster on game day.”

For a change Sunday, the Rutgers football team didn’t take its fans on an emotional roller-coaster ride once the game started. The Scarlet Knights’ 24-7 victory against Northwestern was more like a comfortable Ferris wheel loop for the second-largest crowd ever to watch the home team win in Piscataway, N.J.

The pivotal fourth season of head coach Greg Schiano’s second turn at the helm began by leaving donors, prominent football alumni and those close to the program with a shared feeling that the team has matured beyond the stage of being the token get-well game for its rivals.

Rutgers identified a bleeding Big Ten opponent — Northwestern has lost 12 straight games and still is reeling from head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s scandalous firing in July — pounced early and never let up.

“It gives everybody hope,” cornerback Max Melton said. “Like, ‘We got it this year. We are what we say we are this year.’”

Not a moment too soon, either.

The Big Ten is one year away from becoming an 18-team behemoth by adding USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, which has fueled speculation that the next round of expansion will include college football’s “haves” uniting and breaking away from its “have-nots.”

In a world where the Big Ten can start the downfall of its longtime partner in ideals, the Pac-12, and Texas A&M can be left out of the SEC’s plan to add rival Texas, a knife-wielding Brutus always lurks around the corner.

How can Rutgers — the biggest winners of conference expansion when saved from the crumbling Big East version 1.0 by the Big Ten in 2012 — ever rest easy?

“I have 100 percent confidence that we will always have a seat at the big table,” Hobbs said. “We are the New York foothold for the conference, and the conference wants to go from New York to California.

“Any talk of relegation is misplaced. We are going to invest in the programs knowing that we have a seat at that table. I don’t worry about that. I know other people have [speculated] about that, but Rutgers is in the top tier to stay.”

Sunday was exactly the scene that Rutgers wanted to portray to new Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti (hired in April) on his first visit to campus and to a CBS national audience looking for an appetizer to next week’s NFL slate. Fall semester classes don’t start until Tuesday, but about 10,000 fans jammed the student section by noon.

“Let’s start that tradition,” Schiano said. “That would be great: Pack that student section every week.”

The Scarlet Knights need to hold up their end of the bargain on the scoreboard, however. One year ago, Rutgers lost five Big Ten games after holding first-half leads.

Perhaps sensing the need to change the narrative, Schiano aggressively went for three fourth downs (all converted) that fueled back-to-back 16-play touchdown drives in the first quarter.

“I wish I could tell you because it would write a nice story,” Schiano said. “But, no, it was just what the plan was to win the game today.”

Suddenly, with games against Temple, sputtering Virginia Tech, Michigan and Wagner on tap, a 4-1 September feels like a possibility entering the meat of the Big Ten schedule. And when it gets meatier next year with West Coast trips against teams with realistic College Football Playoff aspirations?

“Greg and I have always described the Big Ten as the biggest mountain to climb. Well, the biggest mountain just got bigger with the addition of those four teams,” Hobbs said. “We are still going to believe that they can get to championship-level football and we can still compete.”

What proof is there? In a not-so-coincidental twist, Rutgers men’s basketball team hosted recruit Dylan Harper on a visit at the game.

Harper, the No. 2-ranked player nationally in the class of 2024, reportedly is thought to favor Rutgers as his destination. Teaming Harper with No. 3 recruit Ace Bailey is the key to that resurgent program — with two NCAA Tournament appearances in the last three years — taking to the next step.

“If you look at the quality of the talent that we’ve been able to attract and as we continue to invest … we’ve done it in basketball,” Hobbs said. “If we can do it in basketball, we believe we can do it in football. I believe Greg has put together the staff and the operation to accomplish that today.”

Hobbs’ task is to continue fundraising so that Rutgers doesn’t have to pick between enhancing facilities and paying NIL deals to keep its best athletes out of the NCAA transfer portal. Another massive campaign — like the $100 million one launched upon his arrival in 2016 — is in the works.

“The answer is we need to continue to do everything,” Hobbs said. “We need our donors who have supported us in the past to continue to do so and we need to add more donors and we need to continue to invest in buildings. The NIL world is fast-evolving. I think our student-athletes are a very valuable brand.”

Winning helps. For the second time in 10 seasons, Rutgers is 1-0 in Big Ten play. The only other time (2020) was also the last time that Rutgers boasted a winning conference record at any point in a season.

“I think this season we are going to see the next step forward for our program,” Hobbs said. “The way Greg builds programs is to develop players, so going into Year 4, I have a lot of optimism.”

By Sunday evening, his optimism was shared by many. Northwestern is the Big Ten’s get-well game now.

Today’s back page

Read more:

⚾ Jasson Dominguez’s moonshot home run propels Yankees to rare sweep of Astros

🎾 US Open defending champ Iga Swiatek falls to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko

⚾ SHERMAN: Pete Alonso’s historic home run prowess makes Mets contract situation trickier

🏈 COSTELLO: Aaron Rodgers brings résumé, leadership style Jets haven’t seen for years

🏈 SCHWARTZ: Andrew Thomas’ dominance brings comfort, stability to Giants’ O-line

Crash for Caleb

After watching USC quarterback Caleb Williams drop back, dart forward as the edges of his pocket collapsed, cut left and then juke right to set up an on-the-run touchdown pass Saturday against Nevada, the Arizona Cardinals might want to cut a few more starters just to ensure that their tank is successful.

Week 1 of the NFL season officially is here and all the 0-0 records have fans across the country dreaming of a magical ride to the Super Bowl.

Well, except those in Arizona, where the Cardinals cut two quarterbacks (projected starter Colt McCoy and backup Jeff Driskel) to go with recently acquired journeyman Josh Dobbs as the starter and rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Tune as the backup. Yes, that stinks of a plan for a new general manager and head coach trying to pile up losses to draft Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 and simultaneously unload Kyler Murray’s $230 million contract once he is healthy.

Of course, not all tanks go as expected. Looking like they were going to “Tank for Tua” in 2019, the Dolphins started 0-7 … and then won of five their last nine games to slip to the No. 5 pick, where they drafted Tua Tagovailoa, anyway, after he was jumped by Joe Burrow atop the 2020 NFL Draft.

So, which other teams could ruin the Cardinals’ tankathon?

Buccaneers: It’s the Baker Mayfield Show — for now. Probably with a short leash before former second-round pick Kyle Trask takes over at quarterback. The NFC South is weak, which could lead the Buccaneers to win more than expected. Head coach Todd Bowles’ conservative game-management style, though, should seal enough close losses.

Vikings: A split between the Vikings and Kirk Cousins is coming sooner rather than later. If it is after this season — he is a free agent who’ll leave the Vikings with a $28 million dead cap in 2024, according to spotrac.com — why not bench him to “evaluate” rookie Jaren Hall if the Lions jump to the top of the NFC North? Head coach Kevin O’Connell has the equity to endure an ugly season after last year’s division title. Veterans who might have balked at this plan (Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen and Za’Darius Smith) were jettisoned.

Raiders: Is Jimmy Garoppolo the long-term answer? Not with his injury history. The AFC is so loaded that any team in that conference has an inherent advantage — when the name of the game is frequently losing — over the NFC’s bottom-feeders. Head coach Josh McDaniels — a quarterback guru — must be salivating.

Commanders: All the ingredients are here for an early tank. A new owner who wants to put his mark on the franchise. A front office that made no serious move for a quarterback all offseason so that 2022 fifth-round pick Sam Howell can start. A head coach (Ron Rivera) on the hot seat, who seems to be saying hard-to-believe things every time he gets in front of cameras.

Not armed or dangerous

As the Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez turned his first MLB swing into a home run and his teammate Austin Wells debuted a left-handed swing built for the Bronx, and the Mets’ Ronnie Mauricio followed up a hard-hit double (117 miles per hour off the bat) in his first game with a stolen base in his second, a dead MLB season in New York temporarily came alive this weekend.

The Yankees put forth a 25-and-under left-center side of the field with Wells catching, Oswaldo Peraza at third base, Anthony Volpe at shortstop, Everson Periera in left field and Dominguez in center field.

The Mets can almost match the youth movement when Francisco Alvarez is catching, Mark Vientos is at third base, Mauricio is at second base and Brett Baty is in left field.

It all sounds so promising except … where are the pitchers?

The Yankees got a combined 5 ⅔ scoreless innings in back-to-back wins against Astros from Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito, both of whom debuted earlier in the season to less fanfare because reaching the playoffs still was the primary regular-season objective.

Now, Vasquez, who is the No. 14-ranked prospect in the organization by MLB pipeline, and Brito deserve as much attention in September as anyone else because the Yankees’ two best pitching prospects — No. 4 Chase Hampton and No. 5 Drew Thorpe — still are in Double-A.

The Mets’ top pitching prospect — No. 9 Mike Vasil — is at Triple-A, with No. 10 Blake Tidwell behind at Double-A.

If Yankees and Mets fans are looking for a quick turnaround, well, it’s going to take more than the bats.

The Braves didn’t just become the model MLB organization for developing a lineup that includes Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies. The homegrown rotation anchored by Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Kyle Wright and Bryce Elder is just as responsible — if not more — for an MLB-best 90-46 record.

It’s a reminder that — with all due respect to top hitting prospects Luisangel Acuña and Drew Gilbert — the Mets should’ve targeted pitching prospects when dealing Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

And it certainly reinforces that the Yankees missed the boat by not being sellers at the Aug. 1 trade deadline in hopes of finding more pitching success than veterans Carlos Rodon or Frankie Montas have brought.

For now, a few home runs and stolen bases will erase the stench of a miserable season. For the future, it’s an arms race — and the Yankees and Mets still are behind the curve.