They Play One More

When Rutgers was announced as one of the expansion teams back in 2012, the Scarlet Knights were coming off their most successful stint in the Big East, under Greg Schiano’s first term, then under Kyle Flood. This led to some of their fans, the loud ones, to proclaim they’d compete in the Big Ten. We at BSD coined the term “Big Ten Powerhouse Rutgers”, or BTPR for short, to commemorate the sleeping giant’s entrance into the Big Ten.

12 years and a lot of futility later, BTPR seems more mean than it it did back in 2012, until Saturday night. Penn State was in a battle with Rutgers from start to finish, and, with this being the smallest margin of victory over the Knights since 2014, where Penn State beat them by three, 13-10.

The Penn State defense had no answer for Athan Kaliakmanis and Antwan Raymod, making this game track meet where the last team with the ball was likely going to win. Rutgers opened up the scoring with a 75-yard drive, that quickly got answered by the Nittany Lions. Penn State would take the lead after taking over on downs from their own 22, and, for a second, it looked like this would be a typical game between the Lions and the Scarlet Knights.

No.

Rutgers proceeded to march right down the filed on another 75-yard touchdown drive, which Penn State answered once more to go up 21-14. Then, you guessed it, Rutgers tied it up once more late in the second quarter. Ethan Grunkemeyer had a masterful drive to take the slight lead going in into halftime, then orchestrated another field goal drive coming out of the third to put Penn State up six.

Then it happened. Rutgers, behind Kaliakmanis and Raymond, who had been torching the Lions all game long, engineered another drive, 89-yards this time, to take the 1-point lead. Nittany Lions answered once more, but couldn’t convert the two-point try, and went up five instead. Rutgers did convert their try after the ensuing touchdown, went up three, stopped Penn State on their next possession, and were ready to put the game away.

Then, the sequence that changed the game happened. Kaliakmanis was getting ready to pass, Dani Dennis-Sutton was on pursuit, and as he tried to get the ball out, it just slipped right off his hands. Amare Campbell scooped up the loose ball, took it to the end zone, and the Nittany Lions prevailed, 40-36.

Penn State now looks to avoid a losing season in whatever bowl game awaits. The Nittany Lions needed a perfect 3-0 finish to avoid their first losing season since 2020, and that’s exactly what they did. Now we await the bowl opponent, and, more importantly, the name of the next person who will lead Penn State at the beginning of the 2026 football season.

Stats and Storylines

55 – The new total touchdown record, which Nicholas Singleton broke in this game. He’s also now the rushing touchdowns leader, a record also held by Saquon Barkley.

226 – Rushing yards by Kaytron Allen, putting him above 4,000 for the season.

81% – Ethan Grunkemeyer’s completion percentage for the game. That puts him a hair under 70 percent for the season, with his worst outing being his first start at Iowa.

Highlights