Kyle Monangai rushed for 132 yards and scored a touchdown as Rutgers managed to hold off Washington, winning 21-18 on Friday night. The game ended when Huskies kicker Grady Gross missed a 55-yard field goal attempt just as time ran out.
This victory marked Rutgers’ first Big Ten win of the season, improving their record to 4-0 for the first time since 2012. Washington, now at 3-2 and 1-1 in the conference, was playing its first Big Ten road game.
With 1:40 left, Washington narrowed the gap to three points thanks to Will Rogers III’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Boston, followed by a successful 2-point conversion to Keleki Latu.
The Huskies regained possession with 35 seconds remaining, but Gross’ attempt to tie the game missed to the left.
“Our guys are learning how to do it,” said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. “We’re learning one step at a time. They (Washington) are a good offensive football team and they’re hard to tackle.
We missed a boatload of tackles, but we made them when we needed to. So, I’m really happy for our guys. I’m proud of the way they fought.”
Washington had a significant advantage in total yards, 521 to 299, but they missed three field goals, were penalized six times for 69 yards, and converted only 2 of 12 on third downs.
Rogers completed 26 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. He entered the game as the leading active FBS quarterback in career passing attempts, completions, and completion percentage, and was second in passing yards and touchdowns.
Rutgers extended their lead to 21-10 when Samuel Brown V ran for a 37-yard touchdown with 10:57 remaining in the game. Earlier, Washington had made it 14-10 with Rogers’ 51-yard touchdown pass to Boston in the third quarter.
Monangai opened the scoring for Rutgers with a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The senior running back, who led the Big Ten in rushing last season, expressed confidence in his team’s resilience.
“I didn’t learn anything new,” Monangai said. “I knew already we’re a resilient team. We’re going to keep on leaning on each other when times get hard. Like I said, we know what we are. We’re just trying to go through it every Saturday.”
