Football Loses to Iowa

Friday, September 19

Piscataway, N.J.

8:00 PM

Rutgers University

3-1 , 0-1

Iowa

3-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Iowa

Rutgers

Photo by: Cos Lymperopoulos

Sep 19 | Football

Box Score Game Book Postgame Press Conference Postgame Quotes Season Statistics Photo Gallery

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers football (3-1, 0-1) lost to Iowa (3-1, 1-0), 38-28, on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet Knights held a lead in the fourth quarter before the Hawkeyes produced back-to-back touchdowns to close out the road win.

The announced attendance of 55,942 marked the 10th home sellout for the Scarlet Knights since 2022 and the largest home crowd in program history.

QB Athan Kaliakmanis completed 24 passes for a career-high 330 yards along with two rushing scores, while RB Antwan Raymond added two touchdowns on the ground. WR Ian Strong finished with a career-high 151 receiving yards.

DB Jett Elad produced a team-high nine tackles. DB Cam Miller and DL Eric O'Neill added sacks, with O'Neill finishing the night with two tackles-for-loss.

FIRST QUARTER

Iowa got on the board first thanks to a kickoff return, but Rutgers responded on its opening possession. Kaliakmanis found WR DT Sheffield for a 40-yard reception in Hawkeyes' territory, while Raymond punched it in on the next play for a five-yard touchdown run. The scoring drive made it 7-7 with 12:39 left in the quarter.

The Scarlet Knights' defense forced a three-and-out, giving RU another opportunity to score. Kaliakmanis completed four passes on the ensuing possession before taking it in himself for a four-yard rushing score. His first touchdown on the ground this season put Rutgers ahead 14-7 at the 6:03 mark in the first.

Iowa added a late touchdown to tie the score at 14-14 after the first 15.

SECOND QUARTER

Kaliakmanis produced another rushing touchdown, this one on a quarterback keeper at the one-yard line to put Rutgers back on top, 21-14.

The back-and-forth game continued, as Iowa QB Mark Gronowski capped a Hawkeyes' scoring drive with a touchdown run of his own for the third tie of the night at 21-21 with eight minutes left before halftime. Both defenses held down the stretch to make it 21-21 heading into the locker room.

THIRD QUARTER

No scoring occurred over the next 15 minutes, but several big plays occurred before the end of the third. O'Neill registered the 30th sack of his career, while Kaliakmanis connected with Strong three plays later for a 43-yard reception.

FOURTH QUARTER

After Iowa made a field goal to take a lead, Rutgers marched right down the field for a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Kaliakmanis completed 5-of-6 passes for 65 yards, including four to Strong, to set up a one-yard rushing touchdown by Raymond. Raymond's seventh touchdown of the season made it 28-24 with 9:44 left in the game.

The Hawkeyes closed the game with back-to-back touchdowns to secure the 38-28 victory.

NOTES

• The attendance mark of 55,942 set a stadium record as the 10th sellout since 2022.
• QB Athan Kaliakmanis threw for a career-high 330 passing yards on 24 completions, while posting his second collegiate game with two rushing touchdowns. He is up to 3,846 passing yards for Rutgers, eighth-most in program history.
• RB Antwan Raymond recorded his third straight game with multiple rushing touchdowns and has scored in six consecutive games overall, the longest streak since Ray Rice (13 consecutive) from 2006-07. He has reached the end zone 12 times in the past six games.
• WR Ian Strong recorded a career-high 151 receiving yards, his fourth consecutive game in triple figures and most by a Scarlet Knight in a game since Raheem Blackshear had 162 at Wisconsin in 2018. He joins Kenny Britt (five consecutive) and Tiquan Underwood (four consecutive) as Scarlet Knights to post 100 or more receiving yards in four straight games played.
• WR KJ Duff recorded a career-high seven receptions.
• DL Eric O'Neill picked up a sack and now has 30 for his career. DB Cam Miller had his first sack for Rutgers and fifth career.
• P Jacob Anderson booted a career-long 68-yard punt downed at the four yard line.
• Rutgers wrapped up hosting four home games in a span of 23 days, the most home games in the shortest amount of time since playing four in a row at home over 22 days in Oct. 1973 (6-27). It was the first time opening with four consecutive home games since 2007.
• Consecutive games played: DL Jordan Thompson (42), DB Cam Miller (41), DB Timmy Ward (38), TE Colin Weber (32), PK Jai Patel (30), OL Gus Zilinskas (30)

UP NEXT

Rutgers heads on the road for the first time this season to face Minnesota Sept. 27 at Huntington Bank Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon ET/11 a.m. local on Big Ten Network. The Scarlet Knights won last season's matchup in New Jersey, 26-19.

Follow Rutgers football on X (@RFootball & @RUboardwalk), Facebook (/RFootballShow) and Instagram (@rfootball & @ruboardwalk) for the latest news and updates. Also subscribe to the YouTube channel.