Rutgers completed its upset win over Boston College in last week's season opener with a bruising running game, but turned its own offense on its head to run away from Wagner in Saturday's home opener.
The Scarlet Knights flashed a tease of last week's winning formula by running 11 straight rushing plays in an opening touchdown drive, then unleashed three touchdown passes of at least 40 yards in their next three drives, all from different quarterbacks, in an all-out aerial assault to spark the rout.
Gavin Wimsatt, Evan Simon, and Johnny Langan all dropped dimes through the air to send RU on its way to a 66-7 blowout win and a 2-0 start to the season.
The Scarlet Knights began Saturday with an opening drive that resembled their last one, when they grounded the football for 11 rushing plays during a 12-play, 96-yard touchdown march to stun Boston College.
In their first drive against the Seahawks, Rutgers pounded the ball into the trenches again, running the ball for all 11 plays of the 62-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard push from Kyle Monangai on a direct snap, the second play from RU out of the Wildcat formation on the drive.
Rutgers still experimented with its quarterbacks, with Wimsatt seeing the majority of the snaps on the opening drive before Simon took over for the second drive. After missing an open Aron Cruickshank, the duo connected on the very next play, with Simon dropping a 40-yard touchdown pass right into Cruickshank's lap to make it 14-0 Scarlet Knights with 4:51 to go in the first quarter.
It was Wimsatt's turn just minutes later after another RU stop, and he needed just one play to loft a 41-yard touchdown pass to Chris Long, who hauled in his first career touchdown in style with a nifty one-handed grab that he secured just before hitting the turf below.
Another RU quarterback took his turn to burn the Seahawks through the air on the next drive, as Langan found Isaiah Washington through coverage for a 43-yard strike to make it 28-0 Rutgers, and make it three different quarterbacks to log a touchdown pass on three straight drives for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers entered the break having allowed -8 rushing yards, and finished the day allowing just 19.
More Scarlet Knights were able to log their first career scores in a breezy second half, with Samuel Brown and Rashad Rochelle pounding in touchdowns.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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