Rutgers scored on all four first-quarter possessions Saturday afternoon as the host Scarlet Knights rolled to a 66-7 victory over Wagner in Piscataway, N.J.
Rutgers finished with 585 yards of total offense, including 323 on the ground, while improving to 2-0 for the second straight season.
Samuel Brown V rushed 12 times for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Al-Shadee Salaam rushed eight times for a team-high 69 yards and a touchdown while Kyle Monangai collected 58 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Rashad Rochelle added 11 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown.
As was the case in a season-opening win over Boston College on Sept. 3, Rutgers utilized three quarterbacks. Evan Simon was 10-of-13 passing for 156 yards and two touchdowns while Gavin Wimsatt and Johnny Langan each threw a touchdown.
The 66 points were the most for Rutgers since a 68-6 win over Colgate on Sept. 3, 1993 while the margin of victory was the Scarlet Knights’ largest since a 65-0 victory over Morgan State on Sept. 16, 2017.
Quarterback Nick Kargman was 12-of-23 passing for 92 yards and a touchdown pass to Jayvin Little for FCS member Wagner (0-2), which lost its 22nd straight game dating back to the 2019 season.
Christian Davis had an interception on defense for the Seahawks.
Wagner received the opening kickoff and drove beyond midfield before Kargman’s fourth-down pass from the Rutgers 38-yard-line fell incomplete. The Scarlet Knights ran the ball on every play of the subsequent 11-play drive, which Monangai capped with a 2-yard touchdown.
Wagner went three-and-out on its next three possessions. The Scarlet Knights answered with a touchdown pass each time — one apiece from Simon (40 yards to Aron Cruickshank) Wimsatt (41 yards to Chris Long) and Langan (43 yards to Isaiah Washington as time expired).
Kargman opened the second by directing Wagner on its lone touchdown drive, which ended with his 8-yard pass to Little. Jude McAtamney booted a 49-yard field goal with 4:31 left and Simon tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Langan — listed as a tight end — to put Rutgers up 38-7 at the half.
Salaam’s 25-yard touchdown run and Brown’s 2-yard scoring plunge capped consecutive third-quarter drives for Rutgers. Rochelle and Samuel scored on back-to-back drives in the fourth.
–Field Level Media
