Football Beats Purdue, 27-24

Saturday, October 25

West Lafayette, Ind.

Noon

Rutgers University

4-4 , 1-4

Purdue

2-6 , 0-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Rutgers

Purdue

Photo by: AJ Mast

Oct 25 | Football

Box Score Game Book Postgame Press Conference Statistics Photo Gallery

RUTGERS 27 (4-4, 1-4), PURDUE 24 (2-6, 0-5)
ROSS-ADE STADIUM • WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.
OCTOBER 25, 2025 • ATTENDANCE: 55,289

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers football (4-4, 1-4) used a 30-yard field goal from PK Jai Patel as time expired to earn a 27-24 win at Purdue (2-6, 0-5) on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium.

With the game tied and just over a minute left, DL Farell Gnago forced a fumble, which was recovered by DB Jett Elad to set up Patel's game-winning kick.

QB Athan Kaliakmanis finished the day 19-of-27 with 359 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown, marking his fourth 300-yard game of the season. WR KJ Duff had a career day, bringing in six catches for 241 yards to set an RU Big Ten record and adding a 72-yard touchdown catch. It was the sixth 200-yard receiving game in program history and he finished seven yards shy of tying the program record.

RB Antwan Raymond rushed for 116 yards and his 10th rushing score of the season.

DB Kaj Sanders paced the defense with 10 tackles, while Gnago and DB Jacobie Henderson each recorded a tackle-for-loss.

FIRST QUARTER

After the Scarlet Knights punted on their opening drive, the Boilermakers took an early lead with an eight-yard touchdown pass. Purdue would add onto its lead thanks to a short field goal, making it 10-0 after the first quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

The RU defense buckled down in the second quarter, allowing just four yards of offense from Purdue. The Scarlet Knights orchestrated a 17-play, 85-yard scoring drive to end the half, getting on the board with a one-yard touchdown rush from Raymond, bringing the score to 10-7 at the half.

THIRD QUARTER

Getting the ball out of the locker room, the Boilermakers marched down the field in four plays, scoring on a three-yard touchdown pass and taking the 17-7 lead.

After the RU defense forced a punt, Kaliakmanis found Duff on a 72-yard strike to make it a three-point game at 17-14.

FOURTH QUARTER

The teams went back-and-forth in the final frame, with Kaliakmanis giving RU a 21-17 lead on a QB sneak with under eight minutes remaining. Purdue answered back on the ensuing drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to retake the lead at 24-21.

After Rutgers' drive stalled inside the five-yard line, Patel converted a 20-yard field goal to tie the game with 1:05 remaining.

On the first play of Purdue's next drive, DL Jordan Walker jumped up and deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage. After the Boilermaker quarterback caught the deflection, Gnago punched the ball loose and Elad pounced on it to give the Scarlet Knights the ball at the 30-yard line with 59 seconds left.

Rushes of 11 and six yards from RB Ja'shon Benjamin set up a 30-yard field goal for Patel, who calmly knocked it through as time expired to give Rutgers the win.

WALK-OFF FG, @RFootball ‼️ pic.twitter.com/crCMcfCTYm
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 25, 2025

NOTES

• Rutgers improved to 3-0 all-time versus Purdue and 2-0 at Ross-Ade Stadium. It marked the Scarlet Knights' first game at Ross-Ade Stadium with fans, having previously visited in 2020.
• Rutgers completed a fourth-quarter comeback win for the 17th time under head coach Greg Schiano, who won his 98th game overall leading the Scarlet Knights. RU improved to 93-33 under Schiano when holding an opponent under 30 points, 69-21 when totaling more yards of offense, 13-4 when compiling at least 500 yards of offense and 60-37 when allowing less than 200 passing yards.
• Rutgers totaled 543 yards of offense, its most in a Big Ten game since recording 596 at Indiana in 2015.
• Rutgers had players reach 200 receiving yards and 100 rushing yards in the same game for the second time in program history, also happening versus Buffalo in 2007.
• Rutgers held Purdue to 1-for-9 on third down for the game and to four yards of offense in the second quarter.
• QB Athan Kaliakmanis threw for 359 yards, his fourth 300-yard passing game of the season, including a career-long 72-yard completion to WR KJ Duff. The last Rutgers quarterback with four 300-yard passing yards games in a single season was Mike Teel, who had five such games in 2008. Kaliakmanis added his third rushing score of the season, sixth of his career.
• RB Antwan Raymond rushed for 116 yards on a career-high 29 attempts. He scored his 10th rushing touchdown of the season.
• RB Ja'shon Benjamin set a new career high for rushing yards in a game for the second straight week, totaling 78 yards on eight carries.
• WR KJ Duff recorded a career-high 241 receiving yards, second most in a game in program history behind Tiquan Underwood's 248 versus Buffalo in 2007. It was the most for a Scarlet Knight in a conference game, the sixth 200-yard receiving game in the school record book and first since Brandon Coleman's 223 at Connecticut in 2011. Duff's performance included a 72-yard touchdown catch, the longest RU completion since Aron Cruickshank's 75-yard touchdown against Ohio State in 2021, and put him over 1,000 career receiving yards (1,186) in 21 games played.
• WR Ben Black recorded a career-high four receptions, including two to move the chains on fourth down.
• DL Farell Gnago recorded his first career forced fumble and DB Jett Elad picked up his third career fumble recovery.
• DB Kaj Sanders led the team with a career-high 10 tackles.
• PK Jai Patel made two field goals to increase his career total to 40, as he now has 12 career games with multiple makes. He converted his second career game-winner under two minutes in the fourth quarter, also done last season at Virginia Tech. It was the first walk-off winner as time expired for the Scarlet Knights since Kyle Federico's 26-yard conversion to beat Indiana in 2015.
• OL Bryan Felter became the 22nd player in program history to appear in 52 games for Rutgers.
• Consecutive games played: DL Jordan Thompson (46), DB Cam Miller (45), DB Timmy Ward (42), TE Colin Weber (36), PK Jai Patel (34), OL Gus Zilinskas (34)

UP NEXT

Rutgers is on the road for the fourth time in five games to face No. 23 Illinois Nov. 1. Kickoff is set for noon ET/11 a.m. local on NBC. The Scarlet Knights won the last meeting at Memorial Stadium in 2021, 20-14.

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