Rutgers Shredded on Defense, Blown out by Oregon, 56-10

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights faced off against the No. 8 Oregon Ducks on a warm October evening in front of a boisterous crowd at SHI Stadium. The Knights won the toss and deferred to the Ducks. On the Ducks' first drive, on third and 11 from their own 24, quarterback Dante Moore completed a short pass in the right flat to Gary Bryant. Safety Jett Elad forced the ball free on the tackle, and defensive lineman Jordan Walker snatched it out of the air at the Oregon 32. Little did Scarlet Knights fans know this would be the highlight of the evening for Rutgers.

The Rutgers offense came out attacking, with Kaliakmanis targeting star receiver KJ Duff. Still, Oregon's elite secondary prevented a completion, and Rutgers settled for a career-long 51-yard field goal by placekicker Jai Patel to take a 3-0 lead.

Oh, what a Knight! #CHOP pic.twitter.com/jNa3mPCKvW
— Rutgers Scarlet Knights (@RUAthletics) October 18, 2025

Those would be the only points in the first half for Rutgers as Oregon scored the next 42 points, putting the game out of reach by halftime. By the end of the third quarter, it was 56-3 Ducks, and the fourth quarter was an opportunity for the backups on both squads to get playing time. With the 56-10 drubbing, Rutgers drops its fourth straight game, falling to 3-4 (0-4 B1G), while Oregon improves to 6-1 (3-1).

The Ducks ran wild, amassing 415 yards and four touchdowns in the game, averaging over eleven yards per carry. Oregon added 335 yards in the air for four touchdowns for a staggering 750 yards total. On the defensive side, Oregon's defense shut down what was a powerful Knights attack coming into this game.

The Oregon line pressured Kaliakmanis all evening, leading to a woeful stat line: eight completions on 25 attempts for 79 yards, two picks, and three sacks. The most notable incompletion was an overthrow to DT Sheffield, who was streaking uncovered down the sideline in the second quarter for what should have been an easy touchdown. Rutgers could never get its running game going, with Antwan Raymond running hard but netting only 59 yards on 18 carries. In mop-up duty, Ja'Shon Benjamin carried 18 times for 74 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown run on third and seven late in the fourth quarter.

While fans didn't expect the Knights to defeat an Oregon Ducks team with its ears pinned back after being stung at home last weekend by Indiana, it was fair to expect a better effort and a more tolerable score. At 3-4 with five games remaining, the near misses against Iowa and Minnesota earlier this season loom even larger as the path to six wins and bowl eligibility is nearly closed off.

Schiano was asked post-game if he was embarrassed about allowing 750 yards on defense.

"Embarrassed" is a tough word. Embarrassed would be if you didn't have guys and players and coaches that are working their tail off. I'm very disappointed in those numbers. I would agree with you, 750 is a huge number, one that I've never -- I can't say I've never seen it, but I don't remember it ever. So yeah, we have to -- again, I have to take a hard look at everything, everyone, and you know, 40 minutes after the game is not the time to take a look at it. I'll have to have some tough nights and days here and figure out what we need to do."

Rutgers senior captain Jordan Walker was more pointed in his comments about his unit's performance, and allowing 750 yards.

“I’m sick to my stomach. I didn’t know that was a real (thing), but I’m actually feeling that. First of all, you can’t stop nobody if you don’t get set,” Walker said. “We got to just get back to the books, watch film harder. I got to make sure all my guys are doing what they got to do. Just be ready to play football, because it didn’t look like we were ready to play football a lot of the plays."

Walker noted there was miscommunication on the plays that "even a high school kid could see".

“You got to study, know what your opponent’s gonna do and you got to be ready for when that moment arises. You got be there to make the play. If you’re not there, if you’re not set, it’s pretty hard to make a play, even if you know what play is coming.”

"Sick to my stomach, I didn’t know that was a real phrase, but I’m actually feeling that," - Jordan Walker said after the Rutgers football team's 56-10 loss to Oregon.

"You gotta be a man, if you don’t wanna be a man, don’t come back tomorrow."https://t.co/ov9jz6kJUh
— Targum Sports (@TargumSports) October 19, 2025

While Walker said all the right things, ultimately, the awful performance falls on the coaches. One has to wonder what new president William Take and athletic director Keli Zinn thought of last night's performance, or lack thereof, and what changes are needed moving forward to ensure this result doesn't happen again anytime soon.

Rutgers suffered one key injury in the game - star receiver Ian Strong went down in the second quarter with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He returned for one play, then left the field and did not emerge from the locker room after halftime. Schiano was aksed postgame on the severity of the injury.

“If it was a 7-point ball game, would he have kept playing? Who knows,” Schiano said. “We tried and it wasn’t where he could play and I didn’t want to get him hurt worse. That’s often times what happens if you can’t play at full speed and you take a shot. The game at halftime was out of hand.”

Next Up

At Purdue next Saturday on the Big Ten Network. An absolute must-win to get the season back on track against a mutually desperate Boilermakers team that was shutout by Northwestern, 19-0, yesterday.

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