The Scarlet Knights added their second win of the season to their record this past Saturday. They squared up against the Temple Owls in a game that ended in a 36-7 win for the Scarlet Knights. Regardless of pre-season expectations, Rutgers is showing growth at 2-0 on the season.
Gavin Wimsatt, Kyle Monangai and the rest of the Rutgers football team handled the inclement weather conditions surprisingly well. New Jersey experienced on-and-off thunderstorms the entire weekend and the weather held no mercy for the state university’s football schedule. Despite a drenched field and a slippery ball, they accumulated 452 total yards – 198 passing, and 254 rushing.
Rutgers Offense is Moving
Although it’s early in the season, Rutgers has shown their strength to lay in their running backs. For the second week in a row, the team played sans Aaron Young due to injury. While Young was noted to be a key returner for Rutgers’ offense, his replacements have not weakened the team’s performance. Monangai picked up 28 carries for a total of 165 yards. He is the team’s clear leader in rushing yards with Ja’shon Benjamin following him with 36 total yards this week.
What amounts to an offensive outpouring for Rutgers came with four touchdowns (Benjamin, Monangai, Samuel Brown V, Al-Shadee Salaam), and three field goals from Jai Patel. Wimsatt held strong in his position as the starting quarterback and is on pace to surpass all of his 2022 stats but with fewer interceptions.
And Their Defense is a Brick Wall
Rutgers’ defense has also been showing major improvements thus far this season. Between the first two games of the season, only two touchdowns were let up. Their eyes have been glued to that ball – two interceptions were achieved this week, seen from Shaquan Loyal and Jordan Thompson.
When the defense takes the field, all eyes are on the junior defensive back from Mays Landing, Max Melton. Max is the younger brother of current Packers wide receiver, Bo Melton. And way before we saw Bo in scarlet red, their father Gary played as a Scarlet Knight’s wide receiver. Melton kicked off week one with a notable interception and pass breakup against Northwestern. In week two, we saw one tackle and one assist from him. If you listen to what Meltson told the media after the win over Northwestern, the signs have been there. “I think it was just letting people know that we’re not the we’re not the regular Rutgers. You got us all for the past however many years like eight years, whatever it was,” he said.“We’re about our business this year, we’re going to go out and get the job done. Like we’re gonna we’re up for the task. We’re gonna do everything it takes to get that task done and completed. So that’s what you guys saw today.”
Temple Did Not Look as Impressive
In previous years, the matchup between the Owls and Scarlet Knights was much closer. This year, the Owls’ performance did not match up to their competition’s. While quarterback E.J. Warner threw for 230 yards and one touchdown, we’re reminded of those two interceptions he threw as well. And while we saw Monangai carry the ball 28 times for Rutgers, Joquez Smith was Temple’s leading running back with only nine carries. Temple punted seven times, as opposed to three from Rutgers. Total plays for each team were almost equal at 72 for Temple and 73 for Rutgers. However, Rutgers possessed the ball for nearly 35 minutes and held Temple to 25 minutes.
Due Up
Back for round three, Rutgers plays on The Banks again this upcoming Saturday against Virginia Tech. The Scarlet Knights started last season 3-0 before dropping the next three. The improvement bell curve is out there for them.
Photo courtesy: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
