Takeaways from win over Akron

PISCATAWAY – Rutgers football is 2-0.

The Scarlet Knights beat Akron 49-17 on Saturday at SHI Stadium to pick up their second-straight win and keep their early-season momentum going.

Rutgers now has a bye week before playing at Virginia Tech on Sept. 21 for its first road game of the season.

Here are some instant takeaways:

Career day for Rutgers football running back Kyle Monangai

Monangai continues to post big performance after big performance.

One week after rushing for 165 yards against Howard, the Don Bosco Prep product piled up 208 yards on 27 carries with three touchdowns against Akron.

Monangai became the first Scarlet Knight to rush for at least 200 yards since Josh Hicks eclipsed that mark in 2014. He also now ranks ninth in program history with 2,315 career rushing yards.

Monangai deflected credit to the offensive line (left tackle Hollin Pierce, left guard Bryan Felter, center Gus Zilinskas, right guard Kobe Asamoah and right tackle Tyler Needham).

“That’s the five guys up front,” Monangai said. “They allow us to do our job. That’s kudos to them. Two-hundred (yards) is great, but I’ve got to give them their props. All five of them.”

Monangai rushed for 162 yards on 17 carries in the first half, including a 46-yard run in the first quarter to get down to the Akron 3-yard line. Monangai then ran it in from there for a touchdown.

He had a 62-yard run – a career high – in the second quarter to help set up Athan Kaliakmanis’ six-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver KJ Duff.

Monangai also had a one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a two-yard scoring run in the third.

“When everybody’s doing their job and Kyle gets the ball,'” Kaliakmanis said, “it’s like, ‘Go, Kyle, go.’”

It’s hard to imagine where this Rutgers offense would be without Monangai, who two games into the season is on pace for another 1,000-yard rushing season.

Solid showing from Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis on strong day for offense

Kaliakmanis finished 14-of-23 passing for 230 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

It was the first time Rutgers, which finished with 515 total yards of offense, has had back-to-back games with at least three passing touchdowns since 2015.

Kaliakmanis’ best pass came with just more than three minutes left in the third quarter. Rutgers had second-and-6 from its own 42 when Kaliakmanis threw down the field to Chris Long, hitting the receiver in stride as Long cruised into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown catch.

Kaliakmanis also had a nice pass earlier in the quarter on second-and-7 from the Rutgers 40, hitting Dymere Miller in stride over the middle for a 22-yard pass to pick up a first down.

The drive ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Monangai that put Rutgers up 28-10.

Still no Tyreem Powell

The linebacker was again listed as questionable on the availability report, but again he didn’t play.

Powell, recovering from a torn Achilles, will benefit from the bye week before Rutgers hits the road to play Virginia Tech on Sept. 21.

There’s a strong chance that’s when Powell will make his season debut.

Rutgers football in good shape heading into first bye week, which is coming at a good time

On paper, these first two games against Howard and Akron were very winnable for Rutgers.

Well, the Scarlet Knights did exactly what they needed to do by winning both of them pretty easily.

And when the schedule came out, having a bye week after two games seemed pretty strange but now it’s coming at a fortuitous time considering how banged up Rutgers is.

Not only will it give Powell another week to get healthy, but also defensive end Wesley Bailey, who hasn’t played the first two games, and running back Sam Brown, who was out against Akron.

Extra points

Rutgers went 6-of-9 on third down. …Safety Desmond Igbinosun led the defense with six tackles. …Defensive back Shaquan Loyal recorded an interception. …Chris Long finished with four catches for 87 yards. …Akron finished with 156 rushing yards, but 73 of those yards came on Jordon Simmons’ touchdown run in the fourth quarter. …Freshman running back Antwan Raymond finished with 77 yards on 17 carries with one touchdown, his second TD in as many games. …Dymere Miller had four catches for 77 yards.