Football Defeats Wagner, 52-3

Saturday, September 30

Piscataway, N.J.

3:30 PM

Rutgers University

4-1 , 1-1

Wagner

2-3 , 2-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Wagner

Rutgers

Photo by: Gabby Ricciardi

Sep 30 | Football

Box Score Game Book Head Coach Greg Schiano Postgame Press Conference Postgame Quotes Statistics Photo Gallery

RUTGERS 52 (4-1), WAGNER 3 (2-3)
SHI STADIUM • PISCATAWAY, N.J.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 • ATTENDANCE: 40,165

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers football (4-1) delivered a 52-3 victory over Wagner (2-3) on Saturday afternoon at SHI Stadium. Facing the Seahawks in Piscataway for the second consecutive season, the Scarlet Knights allowed seven or fewer points for the third time in 2023 and secured their best start to a season since the 2014 campaign.

QB Gavin Wimsatt finished 12-of-19 for 146 passing yards along with a four-yard touchdown to WR Christian Dremel. RU tallied six rushing touchdowns on the day, which included two from Wimsatt and one apiece from RB Ja'shon Benjamin, RB Samuel Brown V, RB Kyle Monangai and RB Aaron Young.

The defense allowed just 106 total yards on the day, holding Wagner to six first downs and five completed passes. DL Aaron Lewis contributed five tackles and a career-high two sacks, while LB Mohamed Toure collected seven tackles and added a half a sack.

FIRST QUARTER

Rutgers forced the Seahawks to punt on their opening possession and followed with a 44-yard field goal from PK Jai Patel. After another defensive stand, The Scarlet Knights muscled a 10-play, 51-yard scoring drive to close the quarter. Monangai carried the ball five times to get Rutgers into the red zone, while Wimsatt found Dremel for a four-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-0 Scarlet Knights right before the first break.

SECOND QUARTER

Wimsatt orchestrated another touchdown drive to open the second quarter, capped by a one-yard scoring run from Brown V. Wimsatt connected on several long passes to setup the score, which included a deep 41-yard completion to WR JaQuae Jackson and a 17-yard pass to Dremel to the one-yard line. Brown V's touchdown made it 17-0 Rutgers with nine minutes to play before the half.

The Scarlet Knights would add one more touchdown before the halftime cannon. After he pushed RU into goal-line territory with a 12-yard pass to Jackson, Wimsatt rushed for a five-yard touchdown. A field goal from Wagner would follow in the final minutes, as Rutgers took a 24-3 lead into the locker room.

The Scarlet Knights held the visitors to just 55 total yards in the first half, as Lewis (2.0), Toure (0.5) and DL Isiah Iton (0.5) all registered sacks.

THIRD QUARTER

WR Rashad Rochelle opened the second half with an exclamation point, returning a kick 88 yards to the Wagner 12-yard line. Wimsatt tallied his second rushing score – this one from seven yards out – to put Rutgers up 31-3. On its next possession, Monangai found the end zone for the sixth time this season.

FOURTH QUARTER

It was Benjamin's turn out of the backfield to start the fourth quarter, as he capped a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a six-yard touchdown. RB Aaron Young followed suit on the final drive of the game for the offense, as he carried nine times for 61 yards on the drive, capping it off with a three-yard touchdown rush to make it 52-7.

NOTES

Rutgers improved to 4-1 for the first time since starting 5-1 in 2014.
Rutgers defeated Wagner for the second time in as many years. The Seahawks became the first team to visit Piscataway in back-to-back seasons since Buffalo in 2002 and 2003.
Rutgers improved to 10-3 in September games since 2021.
Rutgers is 11-1 since 2020 when not committing a turnover in a game.
Rutgers has scored 154 points, the most through five games since posting 200 in 2013.
Rutgers won its 10th consecutive non-conference game in the regular season dating back to 2019. The Scarlet Knights are now 49-20 in non-conference games under head coach Greg Schiano overall, having swept the non-conference portion of the schedule for the third-straight year.
Rutgers won its first four home games in a season for the first time since 2011.
Rutgers has scored first in all five games this season. That includes points on the first offensive drive in 4-of-5 games.
Rutgers has allowed 64 points overall, the fewest through five games since permitting 54 in 2012.
Rutgers allowed 106 yards, the fewest for the Scarlet Knights in a game under Schiano. It was also the 20th time under Schiano allowing no offensive touchdowns.
Rutgers improved to 62-33 under Schiano when scoring first, 8-0 when scoring at least 50 yards, 29-0 when allowing less than 10 points, 14-4 when allowing less than 100 yards passing and 29-9 when committing no turnovers.
Rutgers had its third game of the season with at least 250 rushing yards.
Rutgers has allowed just two sacks through five games.
Rutgers allowed only six first downs, the fewest since permitting six in the 2017 game versus Morgan State.
Rutgers allowed only 23 passing yards, the fewest since permitting 16 in the 2009 game at Army.
Rutgers picked up five conversions on fourth down, the most in a game this century.
WR Christian Dremel scored a four-yard touchdown, his third receiving touchdown in as many games. The last Scarlet Knight to achieve the feat was Andre Patton in 2016 (Howard, New Mexico, Iowa).
RB Samuel Brown V scored his second rushing touchdown of the season, fifth career.
RB Aaron Young scored his first rushing touchdown of the season, seventh career.
QB Gavin Wimsatt threw a passing touchdown for the fifth-straight week to start the season. He added two rushing scores to make it nine touchdowns accounted for in 2023.
DL Aaron Lewis recorded a career-high two sacks.
RB Kyle Monangai collected his sixth rushing touchdown of the season, the most in a season for a Scarlet Knight since Isiah Pacheco recorded seven in 2019.
RB Ja'shon Benjamin scored his first career rushing touchdown, second overall.
Collegiate debut (9): WR Dylan Braithwaite, DB Sage Clawges, WR Deondre Johnson, WR Jesse Ofurie, DL Djibril Abdou Rahman, QB Ajani Sheppard, WR Famah Toure, DB Zilan Williams, LB Abram Wright
LB Deion Jennings, TE Johnny Langan and WR Isaiah Washington all played in their 50th collegiate game.

UP NEXT

Rutgers returns to Big Ten play Oct. 7 to take on Wisconsin on the road. Kickoff is set for noon ET/11 a.m. local on Peacock.

Gallery: (9-30-2023) Football vs. Wagner (9/30/23)

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