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    • Rutgers football is 4-0 and showing its identity. Again.
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    Rutgers football is 4-0 and showing its identity. Again.

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    PISCATAWAY – As soon as Washington kicker Grady Gross’ 55-yard field goal attempt sailed left of the goal post and the final seconds of the game ticked down, the scoreboard indicated exactly what Rutgers football needed.

    Rutgers 21, Washington 18.

    It was not an easy victory. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t emphatic.

    But it didn’t have to be that way.

    The Scarlet Knights won for the second week in a row by withstanding a late comeback attempt from their opponent. They dealt with adversity, played the things they were supposed to and escaped with a win.

    It was the kind of game Rutgers probably wouldn’t win a few years ago. Earlier in Greg Schiano’s second stint, when the momentum swung toward the Scarlet Knights’ opponent sideline, they generally couldn’t get it back.

    That’s the mark of a younger team, one that isn’t used to dealing with adversity or finding a way to win.

    More: Rutgers football: ‘Insane’ crowd sent Washington packing Jersey-style

    A lot has changed.

    “We’re a disciplined, strong football team and it’s going to take a while for us to develop into that because that comes with time,” coach Greg Schiano said. “Unfortunately, there’s no way to speed it up unless you just have incredible talent, better than everyone else, and that’s not us. All those little things add up.”

    This game could have escaped Rutgers’ grasp.

    More: Defense pushes Rutgers football to 4-0 start with big stops in Big Ten win over Washington

    ‘Shows the toughness of our team’

    The Scarlet Knights had an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter after Sam Brown’s 37-yard touchdown run.

    They held it until Washington scored a touchdown with less than two minutes left and ran the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game.

    After a Rutgers three-and-out, Washington got the ball back with 35 seconds left. Washington picked up a first down, but Rutgers cornerback Robert Longerbeam broke up a pass. After two short passes, the Huskies attempted the field goal that ultimately gave the Scarlet Knights the victory.

    Rutgers did not wither.

    “It just shows the strength of our team,” quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis said. “It shows that we stay in the moment, but that we also execute. When something goes wrong, when something goes great, we find ourselves in the present. We keep it calm, we are never too high or too low. We’re always just calm. I think that will show.”

    It wasn’t that different from the previous win, a 26-23 victory over Virginia Tech, with the Hokies scoring back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter to cut the Scarlet Knights’ lead.

    Rutgers’ ability to persevere is no accident.

    Rutgers football is preparing for adversity

    “Definitely a lot of maturity and growth,” said running back Kyle Monangai, who ran for 133 yards and one touchdown. “We practice moments like this week after week. When the pressure of the situation reaches that point, everyone is calm because we know the escape, we know the way out because we have practiced it again and again and repeated these moments. When these big moments happen where a lot of people get tense and things like that, we’ve practiced this so many times that you have to have confidence in your work and what you have to do.”

    Rutgers is preparing for setbacks.

    That work pays off.

    “Our guys, I told them, are working so hard on things that I don’t even know if other programs are thinking about because they have to,” Schiano said. “But you know, it showed up tonight, so I was happy for them. Sometimes you do all that and it doesn’t show up. I say: there are no guarantees, guys, but I’m happy if there is for them.’

    In many ways, that kind of identity mirrors the way Rutgers won during Schiano’s first stint.

    Strong, opportunistic defense. Solid special teams. Strong running game.

    Rutgers is a team that must capitalize on its opponents’ mistakes while minimizing its own.

    This does not mean that this will always work.

    Rutgers has tougher opponents ahead, including Nebraska and USC on the road.

    But the Scarlet Knights prove they are not an easy team to beat. They prove that they are a team that can handle adversity.

    In the Big Ten, that goes a long way.

    Not every team has to be brave or hard to win.

    But at the moment that is Rutger’s identity.

    And that’s fine with the Scarlet Knights.

    “We embrace that if we have to,” Monangai said. “It doesn’t always have to be this way, but if it has to be this way, we have to fight that way.”

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