Instant takeaways | Rutgers football holds off Washington, stays undefeated at 4-0

Posted by Admin September 28, 2024 Football

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PISCATAWAY – Rutgers football’s undefeated start continues.

The Scarlet Knights turned in a solid showing on both sides of the ball and held off a late Washington comeback attempt to escape with a 21-18 victory at a raucous SHI Stadium Friday night.

Greg Schiano’s team improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2012 with its win over the Huskies, who went to the national championship game last season.

“Not our best showing,” Schiano said. “Not our best execution. Some of that has to do with how good Washington is. I think a lot of it has to do with how good Washington is. But find a way to win. That’s what these kids did, and they kept chopping.”

This was the biggest win the Scarlet Knights have had in years, and it came on national television. It was also Rutgers’ first Big Ten game of the season.

Rutgers running back Sam Brown had a 37-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and that made the difference because Washington scored a touchdown with less than two minutes left and converted the two-point attempt to pull to within three.

The Scarlet Knights went three-and-out on their ensuing drive.

Washington, which committed multiple costly penalties throughout the game, took over at its own 39 with 35 seconds left.

The Huskies attempted a 55-yard field goal with three seconds left (one of three field goals they missed) but kicker Grady Gross’ kick was wide left.

Rutgers held on.

Washington had more total offensive yards (521) than Rutgers (299), but in the end the final score was in the Scarlet Knights’ favor.

Here are some takeaways:

Rutgers football’s offense continues to play well with Athan Kaliakmanis at quarterback

This was perhaps the Scarlet Knights’ best offensive performance, and it ironically came against the toughest defense they’ve faced so far.

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis finished 14-of-24 passing for 115 yards and one touchdown. He made some excellent throws, including a touchdown pass to Ian Strong, and again managed the offense well.

“I thought he that be played really well,” Schiano said. “It was nuts out there tonight. There was a lot of things to fix and a lot of things going on. But I thought Athan was a cool customer out there and delivered some really good balls.”

Kaliakmanis made some huge plays on Rutgers’ first scoring drive.

On third-and-10 from the Rutgers 37, he hit Chris Long for a 19-yard pass. On second-and-9 from the Washington 43, Kaliakmanis kept it and ran 13 yards for a first down. Then on third-and-9 from the Huskies 29 he threw to Dymere Miller for a 12-yard pass to again keep the drive going.

It ended with a one-yard touchdown run from Kyle Monangai.

Overall, Rutgers went 7-of-15 on third down.

The offense overall was balanced and effective against Washington’s defense, led by coordinator Steve Belichick. It definitely wasn’t perfect − there were several drops by receivers −but it was productive enough to get the win.

For Rutgers, that’s all that matters.

“Hats off to Steven and his staff,” Schiano said. “They gave us a lot of problems blitzing, running through linebackers, playing through different fronts, mixing it up. I thought they did a good job. But the offense and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Kirk) Ciarrocca, they found a way to score enough. That was really big.”

Huge play from linebacker Tyreem Powell

Early in the fourth quarter Washington got deep into Rutgers territory.

With the Scarlet Knights up 14-3, the Huskies had fourth-and-goal at the 2.

Quarterback Will Rogers, who was 26-of-36 passing for 306 yards, threw into the end zone for Giles Jackson but Rutgers linebacker Tyreem Powell tipped it to force the turnover on downs.

Had the Huskies scored there, the entire complexion of the game changes.

Rutgers gets a gift from Washington and takes advantage of it

It was a wild sequence in the second quarter.

Rutgers brought out the field-goal unit on fourth-and-5 from the 20 to allow Jai Patel to attempt a 38-yard field goal.

Washington managed to block the kick in what looked like a tough blow for Rutgers – but then the Huskies got called for an illegal substitution.

The Scarlet Knights had first-and-10 at the Washington 15. They needed one play to get into the end zone.

Kaliakmanis threw a perfect pass into the end zone for Ian Strong, who made a great catch with a defender on top of him for the touchdown that put Rutgers up 14-3.

“I saw Ian, I was like, ‘It’s going to Ian,'” Kaliakmanis said. “One-on-one, I trust him to go make a play. He’s super-athletic. He can jump out the gym. I threw it up. I knew he was going to make the play.”

It was a bad mistake by Washington but Rutgers did what it needed to do to capitalize on it.

“Great throw by Athan,” Strong said. “Great protection from the O-line.”

Another 100-yard game from Kyle Monangai

Monangai continues to post eye-popping performances.

The running back finished with 133 yards on 25 carries and one touchdown – he punched it in from a yard out in the second quarter.

In the third quarter Rutgers had a first-and-10 at its own 2-yard line but Monangai took the handoff and rumbled for a 40-yard run, bouncing off multiple Washington defenders and avoiding tackles along the way.

Monangai’s profile continues to rise – this performance on national television certainly helped.

The Don Bosco Prep product also passed Isiah Pacheco for seventh place on Rutgers’ all-time rushing list.

Great atmosphere at SHI Stadium

For a while now, ever since it was moved to Friday night in primetime, this game has had the potential to be a special environment in Piscataway.

Well, that’s exactly what happened.

It was a sell-out crowd. The student section was packed well before kickoff. There was a pre-game light and fireworks show and another light show at halftime with the band wearing headlamps.

The crowd was loud and engaged from the start.

It’s been a while since Rutgers had this type of home atmosphere.

The fans did their part and Rutgers put on a good show.