{"id":70974,"date":"2024-12-26T22:15:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T03:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=70974"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:38:24","slug":"kansas-state-comes-back-to-beat-rutgers-in-the-rate-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/12\/26\/kansas-state-comes-back-to-beat-rutgers-in-the-rate-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas State Comes Back to Beat Rutgers in the Rate Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024 Rate Bowl was the only postseason matchup between a Big 12 team and a Big Ten team.\u00a0 The Rate Bowl was set up as a showdown of star running backs<\/a>, but that did not happen.\u00a0 For Kansas State, star DJ Giddens<\/a>, a second-team All-Big 12 honoree, sat the game out.\u00a0 For Rutgers, first-team All-Big Ten performer leader Kyle Monangai<\/a> missed the game.\u00a0 Despite the stars sitting out, the offenses stood out for both teams.\u00a0 In a back-and-forth game, Kansas State beat Rutgers 44-41 in the Rate Bowl.\u00a0 Coming back from a 17-point deficit, the Kansas State defense stepped up when it meant the most in the fourth quarter to deliver the win.<\/p>\n

It is hard to imagine how the game would have been much different if Giddens and Monangai had played.\u00a0 The offenses came to prove themselves.\u00a0 Both Kansas State and Rutgers were able to run the ball well all game.\u00a0 By the final whistle, the teams put up 85 points and 936 yards.\u00a0 Kansas State set a school record with 535 yards.\u00a0 This game also helped prove that culture matters.\u00a0 Both teams played solid, fundamental football.\u00a0 Despite Giddens and Monangai moving on, the future is bright for both Kansas State and Rutgers.<\/p>\n

The Rate Bowl was a seesaw battle between these teams.\u00a0 Kansas State started the scoring with a 3-0 lead.\u00a0 Then, Rutgers dominated to build a 34-17 lead in the third quarter.\u00a0 However, the Scarlet Knights were put on the defensive the rest of the way as their offense stalled while Kansas State kept attacking.\u00a0 Kansas State took the lead back with just over four minutes left in the game and held on to win 44-41.<\/p>\n

Key Takeaways: Kansas State Comes Back to Beat Rutgers in the Rate Bowl<\/h2>\n

Rutgers and Kansas State faced off in the Rate Bowl, and Kansas State emerged victorious, 44-41.\u00a0 The offenses came to play, despite each team missing their top weapon at the running back position.<\/p>\n

Next Man Up<\/h3>\n

The major stars that played running back all season for each of these teams were missing.\u00a0 For Kansas State, it was Giddens.\u00a0 For Rutgers, it was Monangai.\u00a0 However, looking at the glass half-full, this game gave the coaches a chance to evaluate some younger players.\u00a0 From the get-go, Kansas State coach Chris Klieman gave Dylan Edwards<\/a> opportunities.\u00a0 Edwards is the likely heir apparent to Giddens in the Wildcat backfield.\u00a0 He made his presence felt early, including a 43-yard run on the first Kansas State offensive possession of the game.\u00a0 By the end of the Rate Bowl, Edwards had set a school bowl record with 196 rushing yards.\u00a0 Joe Jackson<\/a> also saw some quality snaps, with quarterback Avery Johnson<\/a> contributing to the running game as well.<\/p>\n

On the Rutgers side, coach Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights gave Antwan Raymond<\/a> the first shot at running back.\u00a0 Raymond finished with over 100 yards and three touchdowns.\u00a0 Ja’Shon Benjamin<\/a> also contributed to the success of both the ground game and the passing attack.\u00a0 The run-pass-option (RPO) helped Rutgers establish some flow to the offense early on, and was managed well by quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis<\/a>.\u00a0 Kaliakmanis came into the game with a relatively low completion percentage, and this game was a continuation of that.\u00a0 However, this is somewhat by design as Rutgers has used the passing game primarily as a way to take chances down the field.\u00a0 For example, Kaliakmanis connected with Ian Strong<\/a> on a 60-yard completion that helped further open up the running game.<\/p>\n

Coaching Adjustments<\/h3>\n

In most games, in-game adjustments are the difference between winning and losing.\u00a0 However, what does not get enough attention are the adjustments necessitated by the nature of college football and bowl games.\u00a0 There was a lot of horsepower taken out of this game with Giddens and Monangai skipping.\u00a0 However, both teams were still well-prepared and played a good, disciplined, and high-scoring game.<\/p>\n

Kansas State was able to fill the hole left by the absence of Giddens.\u00a0 While Edwards received the majority of the snaps from the running back position, there were a few players who were able to take advantage of the opportunities presented.\u00a0 Jackson and Johnson also ran well.\u00a0 Ironically, the passing attack was more of a challenge for the Wildcats, with Jayce Brown<\/a> leading the way in catching the ball.\u00a0 The Kansas State defense was able to make the needed adjustments to clamp down on the Rutgers offense late in the game.<\/p>\n

Rutgers saw a lot of change prior to the Rate Bowl.\u00a0 Monangai did not play.\u00a0 Additionally, the Scarlet Knights were down a defensive coordinator.\u00a0 Joe Harasymiak was hired as the head coach at UMass.\u00a0 In the Rate Bowl, Schiano served as the defensive playcaller.\u00a0 On offense, Monangai still contributed.\u00a0 Coming off the field at halftime, Schiano complemented the performance of Raymond, while commenting “He’s been running the ball well, and Kyle’s been coaching the heck out of him.”\u00a0 Schiano has also been a huge fan of disciplined special teams.\u00a0 When the offense was sputtering in the late third quarter, Christian Dremel<\/a> broke through with a 61-yard punt return to set up Raymond’s third touchdown.<\/p>\n

By the Numbers: Kansas State Comes Back to Beat Rutgers in the Rate Bowl<\/h3>\n

Offense<\/h3>\n

Passing:\u00a0<\/strong>Kansas State threw for 195 yards, compared to 237 for Rutgers.\u00a0 Johnson completed 15 of 30 for 195 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception.\u00a0 For Rutgers, Kaliakmanis completed 14 of 32 for 237 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.<\/p>\n

Rushing:\u00a0<\/strong>Kansas State had 351 yards, compared to 164 yards for Rutgers.\u00a0 Edwards led Kansas State, and all players, with 196 rushing yards on 18 carries, and two touchdowns.\u00a0 Johnson added 51 yards on 11 carries, adding a touchdown.\u00a0 Rutgers was led by Raymond, who had 113 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns.\u00a0 Benjamin rushed seven times, gaining 33 yards with a touchdown.<\/p>\n

Receiving: <\/strong>Brown led Kansas State with 60 yards on five catches.\u00a0 The Kansas State receiving touchdowns were scored by Jackson, Edwards, and Garrett Oakley<\/a>.\u00a0 For Rutgers, Strong led the team with a game-high 105 yards on five receptions.\u00a0 Benjamin had the only Rutgers receiving touchdown.<\/p>\n

Defense\/Special Teams<\/h3>\n

Defense:\u00a0<\/strong>Austin Romaine<\/a> had seven tackles to lead Kansas State.\u00a0 Cody Stufflebean<\/a> and Chiddi Obiazor<\/a> had one sack each, while Jack Fabris<\/a>, Damian Ilalio<\/a>, Desmond Purnell<\/a>, and Travis Bates all added a half-sack each.\u00a0 \u00a0Additionally, Daniel Cobbs<\/a> had the Kansas State interception.\u00a0 Tyreem Powell<\/a> and Robert Longerbeam<\/a> led Rutgers with a game-high eight tackles each.\u00a0 Shaquan Loyal<\/a> had a sack, with Kyonte Hamilton<\/a> and Dariel Djabome<\/a> contributing a half-sack each.\u00a0 The Rutgers interception was by\u00a0Longerbeam.<\/p>\n

Special Teams:\u00a0<\/strong>For Kansas State, Chris Tennant converted his only field goal attempt.\u00a0 He converted all three of his extra-point attempts.\u00a0 Simon McClannan<\/a> punted four times, averaging 46.5 yards per punt.\u00a0 For Rutgers, Jai Patel converted both of his field goal attempts, as well as all five extra-point tries.\u00a0 Jakob Anderson<\/a> punted four times, averaging 44.5 yards per punt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024 Rate Bowl was the only postseason matchup between a Big 12 team and a Big Ten team.\u00a0 The Rate Bowl was set up as a showdown of star running backs, but that did not happen.\u00a0 For Kansas State, star DJ Giddens, a second-team All-Big 12 honoree, sat the game out.\u00a0 For Rutgers, first-team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":70988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7361,6,5,35671],"tags":[2956,34648,614,34649,9371,588,34539,455,34647],"class_list":["post-70974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowl-games","category-big12","category-bigten","category-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-chris-klieman","tag-chris-tennant","tag-greg-schiano","tag-jai-patel","tag-joe-harasymiak","tag-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-rate-bowl","tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights","tag-travis-bates"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70989,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70974\/revisions\/70989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}