Athan Kaliakmanis threw for 259 yards and a career-best four touchdowns, including two to Ian Strong, as Rutgers topped Miami of Ohio 45-17 Saturday in Piscataway, N.J.
Kaliakmanis completed 26 of his 36 passes as the Scarlet Knights (2-0) beat an opponent from the MAC for the second week in a row.
Strong benefited from the effective passing attack, catching nine passes for 116 yards. Rutgers rolled up 421 yards.
The RedHawks (0-2) faced an opponent from the Big Ten for the second straight week and lost despite DeQuan Finn having a hand in the majority of Miami of Ohio’s 368 yards. He threw for 251 and rushed for 85 and a score.
Keith Reynolds had seven catches for 120 yards. Kam Perry finished with four catches and 108 yards.
The game was delayed by an hour because of lightning in the area. It didn’t take Rutgers long to score once the action was underway.
Kaliakmanis completed all seven of his passes on the Scarlet Knights’ opening drive, the last finding a wide-open Ian Strong, who caught the ball from 14 yards out for a 7-0 lead with 7:25 to go in the first quarter.
Miami of Ohio responded as Finn hit Perry on a 62-yard pass where Perry eluded a diving defender and nearly scored before getting stopped just short of the goal line.
D’Shawntae Jones finished the four-play drive with a 1-yard run up the middle, tying the score at 7-7 with 5:11 left.
Rutgers seemed poised to score another touchdown early in the second, sitting in a first-and-goal situation at the 7-yard line.
But Kaliakmanis threw two incompletions and was then sacked by Jackson Kuwatch on third down for a loss of 14 yards, forcing the Scarlet Knights to settle for a 39-yard field goal by Jai Patel.
Finn had the RedHawks in position to potentially take the lead, but a throw on first-and-10 from the 25 of Rutgers was picked off by a leaping Bo Mascoe, who ran it back 68 yards before being tackled at the 12.
Three plays later, Antwan Raymond ran 2 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead with 8:18 to play in the half. Raymond also scored with 1:53 left in the game to cap the scoring.
Rutgers surged in front with a 24-7 cushion with 1:20 remaining after Kaliakmanis connected with KJ Duff on an 11-yard touchdown toss.
Miami of Ohio nearly answered as Finn threw to Deion Colzie, who tried to snag it with one hand in the end zone. The RedHawks settled for a 40-yard field goal by Dom Dzioban and trailed 24-10 at halftime.
After forcing Rutgers to punt on its first drive of the second half, thanks to Koy Beasley breaking up a third down pass, Miami of Ohio went to work.
Finn hit Reynolds on a 69-yard pass in the middle of the field. Three plays later, he cut to his right and dove for the end zone on a 5-yard run, sliding out of bounds as he reached for the pylon as the RedHawks closed the gap to 24-17 with 10:21 left in the third.
Strong and DT Sheffield both caught touchdown passes in the second half to help Rutgers put the game out of reach in a wire-to-wire win.
Defensively, Kuwatch and Eli Blakey recorded 11 and 10 tackles, respectively for Miami of Ohio. Jett Elad and Kaj Sanders led Rutgers with five tackles each.
