PISCATAWAY, NJ – – Kyle Monangai ran for 132 yards and a touchdown and Rutgers held on 21-18 against Washington on Friday night when Huskies kicker Grady Gross missed a 55-yard attempt as time expired.

Rutgers won the Big Ten opener and improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2012. Washington (3-2, 1-1) played its first Big Ten road game.

Washington cut it to three with 1:40 left on Will Rogers III’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Boston and a 2-point conversion pass to Keleki Latu. The Huskies got the ball back with 35 seconds left, with Gross’ attempt to force overtime sailing wide left.

“Our guys are learning how to do it,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “We’re learning step by step. They (Washington) are a good attacking football team and they’re hard to tackle. We missed a whole bunch of tackles, but we made them when we needed to. So very happy for our guys. I am proud of the way they fought.

Washington had a 521-299 edge in total yards, but missed three field goals, was penalized six times for 69 yards and went 2 for 12 on third downs.

Rogers was 26 of 36 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 second in passing yards and TDs.

Rutgers took a 21-10 lead on Samuel Brown V’s 37-yard touchdown up the middle with 10:57 left.

The Huskies had cut the score to 14-10 on Rogers’ 51-yard TD pass to Boston down the right sideline with 4:23 left in the third.

Monangai gave the Scarlet Knights a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown.

The senior running back, who led the Big Ten in rushing last season, wasn’t surprised by his team’s resilience.

“I didn’t learn anything new,” Monangai said. “I already knew we are a resilient team. We will continue to lean on each other when times get tough. Like I said, we know what we are. We just try to push through it every Saturday.”

Athan Kaliakmanis threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ian Strong with 30 seconds left in the half to make it 14-3. The score was set up after Washington was called for an illegal substitution after blocking Jai Patel’s field goal attempt.

Washington’s Vince Holmes ran onto the field, thinking the game was dead and the Huskies had recovered. But the ball was still loose. The five-yard penalty gave Rutgers a first down and the Scarlet Knights scored on the next play.

“It was a 60-minute game,” first-year Washington coach Jedd Fisch said. “But I told the team, you can’t play against two teams. You can’t play against ourselves and our opponent. If you get a penalty on a blocked field goal and if you miss three field goals, there are too many things that came back.” to get us.

“Not to take anything away from Rutgers, but we didn’t handle our penalties and that’s the saddest part of the night.”

Kaliakmanis was 14 of 24 for 115 yards.

NEXT

Washington: Host to defend national champion Michigan this Saturday

Rutgers: This Saturday at Nebraska.

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