Rutgers keeps bowl hopes alive with home win over Maryland

Antwan Raymond rushed for a career-high 240 yards and Athan Kaliakmanis passed for four touchdowns to keep Rutgers’ postseason hopes alive in a 35-20 win over Maryland on Saturday n Piscataway, N.J..Rutgers (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) plays at Ohio State in two weeks before hosting Penn State on Nov.29th to try and secure a bowl bid for the third straight season.Raymond’s 240 yards are the most in the Big Ten this season and the third highest in the country this season behind Cameron Dickey of Texas Tech and Ahmad Hardy of Missouri.

The sophomore ran for a TD and carried the ball 41 times for a 5.9-yard average.It’s the third highest yards gained in Rutgers’ program history.

Ray Rice holds the top two rushing marks for the school.Raymond, who has taken over the bulk of the carries for Rutgers since Kyle Monangai graduated and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in this years’ NFL draft, now has 1,000 yards for the season.Raymond’s 41 carries are tied with Savon Huggins and Jawan Jamison for the most in Scarlet Knights history.This is the first time in school history that Rutgers has consecutive 1,000-yard rushers in a season.

Monangai ran for 1,279 yards in 2024.“It’s definitely a special, special moment for sure,” said Raymond.“All the work that we put in, not just me, but the coaches, all the other running backs, all the work we put in.”“I’m not surprised about anything that’s going my way, because I know I work so hard for this.

I put my whole life into this.I come from really far away, (Quebec, Canada).

I left my family, so I think that I’ve done a lot of sacrifices to be here.”There was an inkling this could be a big day for Raymond from the beginning.He set the tone by running the ball six straight times up the middle for 30 yards in the Scarlet Knights’ first possession.This was the Scarlet Knights most balanced game of the season.

They were 9 of 12 on third down, passed for 229 yards and ran for 256 yards.“Every game, we anticip...