After three straight losses to open the season, Rutgers football won in dominant fashion on Friday night against Howard, defeating the Bison 58-7 in a game they had wrapped up well before the halftime whistle.
On offense, the Scarlet Knights scored on 10 of their 12 possessions and recorded 534 yards of output in a turnover-less performance from Dylan Lonergan, while on defense, Rutgers produced multiple sacks while Bradlee Jones recorded two interceptions. Even on special teams, Dane Pizzaro attempted
and made three field goals, with a long of 47 yards, while making all seven extra points on a busy night for the starting kicker.
Here are my takeaways from a stress-free night in Piscataway as Greg Schiano finally reached his milestone 100th career win as the head coach of the Scarlet Knights.
Offense Explodes Behind Duff, Raymond, and Lonergan
The Rutgers offense wasted no time getting to work against Howard, with Antwan Raymond taking off for a 51-yard burst while Dylan Lonergan capped it off with a 16-yard strike to Ben Black III for six. On the next offensive possession, Lonergan found who else but KJ Duff for a 75-yard touchdown, in which Duff immediately beat his defender on an inside release, made a bobbling catch downfield, and outraced Bison defenders for a touchdown.
It was KJ Duff’s fifth-straight game with a touchdown, setting a school record. The starting offense was far from done, with Antwan Raymond adding two more rushing scores in the second quarter to reach a hat trick while recording 140 total yards on the day. Meanwhile, Duff totaled five catches for 131 yards and his 77-yard score.
Backup running back Clay Thevenin had 69 yards and a rushing score, with most of his production coming on the first Rutgers drive of the third quarter. In the receiving game, Jourdin Houston has become a reliable target over the middle, hauling in three catches for 50 yards, with Ben Black III catching two passes for 17 yards and the game’s opening touchdown.
Dylan Lonergan struggled with throwing interceptions and turnovers in previous matchups, so it was important for him to have a clean game regardless of the competition level. He ended the night going 12-17 for 214 yards and two scores, with a QBR of 93.8 and an average completion distance of 12.6 yards. This week was a good confidence-builder, as he will be under much more duress against the Hoosiers next Saturday.
Defense Creates Sacks, Forces Turnovers and Short Fields
On the other side of the football, the Rutgers defense put on a show after allowing 42 points to USC and blowing coverages left and right against the Massachusetts teams they opened with. Howard quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins was limited to 5-14 with two interceptions, both of which went to Rutgers cornerback Bradlee Jones.
Despite Scroggins completing an 18-yard low throw to Austin Hunter to move the Bison to their 45-yard line, he underthrew his receiver two plays later, while Jones jumped the route and made a nice play on the ball. Jones came up with his first and second interceptions of his collegiate career after transferring up from The Citadel.
Besides the two interceptions, Rutgers recovered a fumble, winning the turnover battle three to nothing. Many of Howard’s other drives ended in three-and-outs, as the Bison hurt themselves with unnecessary penalties while already trailing and playing at a huge talent disadvantage. They also had trouble with a couple of high snaps, and often lost yardage between penalties, snap miscues, and sacks.
After the Scarlet Knights rarely pressured, let alone, sacked any of their first three quarterbacks, Rutgers got after Ja’Shawn Scroggins early and often, bringing the heat and bringing him down. Moses Walker followed up a strong start to his season with a five tackle performance that included 2.5 TFLs and 0.5 sacks (combining with Malachi Davis), while Rondo Porter and Keshon Griffin got solo sacks, with the Griffin sack also resulting in a fumble recovered by Rutgers.
J’Dan Burnett and Sekou Kromah combined for another sack on Howard’s backup quarterback Isaiah Freeman, with Burnett registering 1.5 TFLs. In coverage, the pass rush made life easier for the secondary, although Scroggins missed several throws to his receivers that would have kept the chains moving. The one defensive breakdown came on a 75-yard rushing touchdown by Howard running back Eden James, son of NFL Hall of Famer Edgerrin James, in which he cut to the edge and ran up the left sideline for the Bison’s lone points.
It was a strong defensive performance, although questions remain as to whether they can continue that upward trend against a bigger offensive front and more talented skill players as they will have next week against Indiana.
Rutgers Plays Backups and Beyond in Second Half
In the third quarter, Rutgers began to play their backups, with AJ Surace coming in mid third-quarter as Rutgers was up 48-7 against their FCS foe. Surace struggled to get going initially and the Knights went three-and-out following two incompletions intended for Dyzier Carter and Vernon Allen III.
With Howard unable to move the ball or flip the field, AJ Surace started at the Howard 35 and completed his first pass to Kam Anthony, but another couple of incompletions stalled the drive and resulted in a Dane Pizarro field goal to send Rutgers up 44 points.On his third drive, Surace was assisted with a pass interference penalty on a pass intended for Elias Coke before tight end Ben Rothhaar took a one-yard reception 23 yards.
After a few runs from longtime reserve running back Ja’Shon Benjamin, Surace connected with Allen III for a nine-yard touchdown. However, compared to Lonergan’s efficient performance, Surace still struggled with a statline of 3-7 for 40 yards and one touchdown, posting a QBR of just 14.0. This should do it for any remaining questions about the starting quarterback job for 2026 as we enter the gauntlet of Big Ten play.
For Rutgers’ final drive of the game, Sean Ashenfelder saw the field and completed a pass to backup tight end Kam Anthony. But the drive was dominated by the play of four-star 2026 commit and Penn State flip Aiden Gibson, who picked up 37 yards on nine carries, including gains of seven, five, and nine yards. As a potential future star for RU, Gibson proved to perform well in what may be the only action he sees as a true freshman.
On defense, many of the second and third-stringers saw productive snaps as well, including freshman defensive back JJ Conyers, who finished second on the team with four total tackles and tied Walker for the team lead at three solo tackles. Several other younger defensive backs recorded tackles in reserve action for the Knights, including defensive backs Tariq Hayer, Zahmir Dawud, Messiah Tilson and RJ Wortman.
At linebacker, Kamar Archie and Abram Wright made two tackles each, as did Ty Morris and DK Gilley (STUD). All in all, nearly every defensive player on the roster recorded a tackle or other statistic, as the Scarlet Knights got to play their two and three-deeps on both sides of the football.
Greg Schiano Notches His 100th Career Win Ahead of Indiana
In the seventh year of the second Greg Schiano era, the longtime Rutgers head coach in his 18th season with the program notched his 100th career win, reaching a milestone victory weeks after many thought it would happen.
He has led Rutgers to some memorable victories, including the 2006 “Pandemonium in Piscataway” 28-25 upset over #3 Louisville, knocking off #2 USF 30-27 in 2007, and a 54-34 thumping on the road at #17 Pittsburgh, in which Mike Teel threw six touchdown passes to spark a seven-game win streak that turned around 2008.
The second Schiano era started with a seven-turnover showing from Rutgers to take down Michigan State in East Lansing during the COVID-shortened Big Ten-only season. In 2023, the Knights rallied from down 24-6 to take down the Spartans 27-24 on a wild and rainy day in Piscataway, and capped the season off with a 31-24 win over blue-blood Miami at the Pinstripe Bowl.
In 2024, Rutgers got its first-ever victory at Lane Stadium by taking down Virginia Tech 26-23 before knocking off defending national runner-ups Washington during the Friday night blackout game to open Big Ten play. And despite a four-game slide, the Knights rallied back to finish the regular season 7-5 and narrowly fall to Kansas State 44-41 in a high-powered offensive shootout that previewed the 2024 season.
But there have also been more than enough disappointments. From not being able to beat a ranked opponent, including falling heartbreakingly short against #24 Illinois to losing routinely to above-average but not always ranked teams like Iowa and Wisconsin, Rutgers has yet to climb into the upper-middle of the Big Ten even after all of these rebuilding seasons.
Then one year after fielding one of the worst defenses in Big Ten history and falling back to 5-7, Rutgers’ 2026 season began with getting dominated thoroughly by UMass. The defense was lackluster, while the offense possessed unforeseen struggles as Dylan Lonergan and AJ Surace were each lackluster in their first few weeks.
Although a narrow loss to USC and yesterday’s blowout win over Howard revived some of the expectations, the team will return to much tougher competition when #5 Indiana comes to town next week for the program’s homecoming and blackout game.
While time and his ongoing performance will tell on how long Schiano remains head coach, but he has become synonymous with Rutgers football over his two stints. Here’s hoping he is able to revive this team, bring the Scarlet Knights back to respectability, and this conversation goes off the table.
Until next week, Rutgers nation. Enjoy the victory. We’ve needed this one badly.
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