5:30 p.m. | ESPN
Chase Field Phoenix, Arizona
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Notes
NOTABLE
• Rutgers travels to Arizona to take on Kansas State in the 2024 Rate Bowl at Chase Field. The Scarlet Knights are 6-2 in bowl games under head coach Greg Schiano and 7-5 overall. • Rutgers seeks to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since winning four in a row from 2006-09. The Scarlet Knights are bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time since four straight appearances from 2011-14. • Rutgers has secured a winning season in back-to-back years for the first time since 2011-12. • Rutgers won seven games in the regular season for the first time since 2014 and seeks to win an eighth for the first time since the 8-5 2014 campaign. • Rutgers won a program-best four Big Ten games. • This will be the second time Rutgers appears in the Rate Bowl, joining the Pinstripe Bowl as the only bowls the Scarlet Knights have played in multiple times. • Schiano’s six bowl victories are tied for second among active Big Ten head coaches. In addition to the 6-2 bowl record, Rutgers is 13-6 coming off bye weeks and 12-4 in season openers under Schiano. • Rutgers won three games and posted a winning record (3-1) in November for the first time since 2011. • Rutgers is averaging 27.9 points per game, on track for its best mark since 2009 (28.8). • Rutgers scored at least 30 points in three consecutive Big Ten games for the first time since joining the conference. The last time the Scarlet Knights posted 30 or more points in four straight games in the same season was a streak of five in a row in 2008. • Rutgers saw 12 different players recognized in the All-Big Ten voting, highlighted by RB Kyle Monangai (first), OL Hollin Pierce (second) and LB Dariel Djabome (third) earning spots on the first-three teams. • Rutgers has won 10 consecutive non-conference games and 14 of the last 15. The Scarlet Knights last had a double-digit winning streak in non-conference play when winning 11 straight between 2008-10. RU is 53-20 overall in such games under Schiano. • Rutgers is 2-0 in bowl games against opponents representing the Big 12. The Scarlet Knights defeated Kansas State in the 2006 Texas Bowl and Iowa State in the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl. • Rutgers is 17-2 since 2020 when not committing a turnover in a game. • Rutgers ranks second nationally in fewest fumbles lost (2), third in fewest turnovers surrendered (8), fifth in blocked punts (2), eighth in fewest penalties per game (4.25) and 20th in time of possession (31:58). The Scarlet Knights also rank third in the Big Ten with 176.3 rushing yards per game. • Rutgers has scored 63 non-offensive touchdowns under Schiano, including 12 since 2020. • Rutgers has blocked 73 kicks (43 punts, 17 field goals, 13 extra points) under Schiano. • Max Melton is currently a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals. He played in 43 games (40 starts) in four seasons (2020-23) with the Scarlet Knights, totaling eight interceptions, 22 pass breakups, 114 tackles, four blocked punts and four fumble recoveries. The Mays Landing, New Jersey, native was selected in the second round (pick 43) of the 2024 NFL Draft, the highest RU pick since 2010. • Rutgers, “The Birthplace of College Football,” has played 1,421 games in program history on record dating back to 1869, the most in the sport.
RATE BOWL
• This will mark Rutgers’ second trip to the Rate Bowl. The game was titled the Insight Bowl when the Scarlet Knights took on Arizona State in 2005. • This will mark the 35th game in the bowl’s history overall. • The Rate Bowl became the first bowl to be regularly played at an MLB ballpark when it was staged in downtown Phoenix in 2000. This year will mark the 15th time the game will be played at Chase Field. • “Some of the best football this season was played in the Big Ten and Big 12 and we are proud that the Rate Bowl is the only bowl game that annually matches teams from these outstanding conferences. The Phoenix community is excited to welcome student-athletes, coaches, fans, alumni and families to the Valley of the Sun this holiday season to make lifetime memories for all involved,” said Fiesta Sports Foundation Executive Director & CEO Erik Moses. “With an afternoon kickoff in downtown Phoenix, we expect a fun day and hard-fought game between two strong teams in Rutgers and Kansas State.” • This will be the Scarlet Knights’ seventh bowl game at an MLB stadium: > 2005 Insight Bowl (Arizona Diamondbacks): Chase Field > 2008 International Bowl (Toronto Blue Jays): Rogers Centre > 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl (Tampa Bay Rays): Tropicana Field > 2011 New Era Pinstripe Bowl (New York Yankees): Yankee Stadium > 2013 New Era Pinstripe Bowl (New York Yankees): Yankee Stadium > 2023 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl (New York Yankees): Yankee Stadium > 2024 Rate Bowl (Arizona Diamondbacks): Chase Field • Overall, this will be the Scarlet Knights’ 52nd game at an MLB stadium. > Yankee Stadium (New York): 13 > Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia): 12 > Polo Grounds (New York): 11 > Ebbets Field (New York): 3 > Nickerson Field (Boston): 3 > Chase Field (Phoenix): 2 > Fenway Park (Boston): 2 > Baltimore Stadium (Baltimore): 1 > Navin Field (Detroit): 1 > Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati): 1 > Rogers Centre (Toronto): 1 > Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh): 1 > Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Fla.): 1
VERSUS KANSAS STATE
• Rutgers will face Kansas State for the second time in a bowl game. The Wildcats join Arizona State as a repeat bowl opponent for the Scarlet Knights. • In the 2006 Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Rutgers defeated Kansas State, 37- 10, for the program’s first bowl championship. The win capped an 11-2 season for the Scarlet Knights that saw a final AP ranking of No. 12. • Ray Rice rushed for 170 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown to earn the game’s Most Valuable Player. Mike Teel went 16-for-28 passing for 268 yards and two touchdown passes to Tim Brown, who finished with 101 receiving yards on four catches. Clark Harris totaled seven receptions for 122 yards. • The defense held Kansas State to six first downs, 31 rushing yards, 162 yards of total offense, 1-for-10 on third down and no touchdowns in the game. Quintero Frierson had a 27-yard pick-six, while Ron Girault also had an interception. Jamaal Westerman had two sacks and recovered a fumble forced by Ramel Meekins. • Rutgers wide receivers coach Dave Brock spent two seasons (2007-08) on the Kansas State staff, including serving as offensive coordinator in 2008. • Rutgers game highs versus Kansas State: Rushing Yards: Ray Rice, 170 (2006) Passing Yards: Mike Teel, 368 (2006) Receiving Yards: Clark Harris, 122 (2006)
Kansas State Wildcats Notes
Coming off an 8-4 regular season, Kansas State will be in search of its third-straight year with nine or more wins and its second-straight bowl victory as the Wildcats face Rutgers in the Rate Bowl on Thursday, December 26 inside Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. MST (4:30 p.m. CT), will be shown to a national audience on ESPN. The Rate Bowl marks the 26th bowl game all-time for the Wildcats, who are advancing to a bowl for a fifth time in six years under head coach Chris Klieman. This is the eighth time K-State will play in a bowl game in Arizona, including the fifth in what is now known as the Rate Bowl. K-State is looking for its fifth bowl victory in its last seven tries for the first time in school history. In fact, the Wildcats’ 4-2 bowl record since 2017 is tied for the third best among current Big 12 programs. The Wildcats are playing a Big Ten team in a bowl game for the fifth time in school history and the first since the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (an earlier iteration of the Rate Bowl) when K-State defeated Michigan, 31-14.
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS
K-State is the only team in the Big 12 to collect at least eight wins in a four-season stretch and one of just nine Power 4 programs to claim that feat. A win in the Rate Bowl would give the Wildcats at least nine wins in each of the last three seasons and join Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon in that regard. The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from a 1-3 mark in November after beginning the year at 7-1 and ranking as high as No. 16 in the Associated Press Top 25. Key victories this season included a win at Tulane, which resided in the top 25 for a majority of the season, wins against teams ranked No. 20 at the time (Arizona and Oklahoma State), handing Colorado its only home loss of the season and defeating instate rival Kansas for the 16th-straight season, which is tied for the longest active winning streak among uninterrupted series. The Wildcats are led on offense by sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson, who is looking to become the first signal caller in school history to lead the Wildcats to a bowl victory in each of his first two seasons. The top dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2023, Johnson is one of only two Power 4 quarterbacks – the other being Alabama’s Jalen Milroe – to enter bowl season with at least 2,500 passing yards and 525 rushing yards during the regular season. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Johnson is also one of just six Power 4 quarterbacks and one of two in the Big 12 to record at least 22 touchdown passes and six rushing touchdowns. Johnson’s favorite target this season has been sophomore wide receiver Jayce Brown, who has hauled in 42 receptions for 763 yards and five touchdowns. His receiving yardage total is the most by a Wildcat since Tyler Lockett in 2014, while it ranks second in school history among sophomores. He has tallied 18.17 yards per reception this season to rank eighth nationally and tops in the Big 12 among players with at least 40 receptions. His career 17.4 yards per catch currently ranks sixth in school history. The Wildcats were led on the ground throughout the regular season by DJ Giddens, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist who set the school record with 6.55 yards per carry this year and enters bowl season ranked ninth 12th nationally with 1,343 yards. However, Giddens announced he is entering the NFL Draft and will not participate in the bowl. That opens the door for sophomore Dylan Edwards and redshirt freshman Joe Jackson, who have combined for 527 rushing yards and four touchdowns this season. Kansas State is one of only three Power 4 schools to enter bowl season ranked in the top 25 nationally in both rushing offense and rushing defense, the latter ranking 22nd nationally and tops in the Big 12 by surrendering only 114.9 rushing yards per game, which is the lowest allowed by the Wildcats since 2009 (105.4). K-State is also looking to put together its fourth-straight season allowing less than 22.0 points per game, which would be its longest streak since doing so 13-straight years from 1991-2003. K-State’s leading tackler is sophomore Austin Romaine, who has 89 tackles this season to rank ninth in the Big 12. He is looking to become K-State’s first player with 100 tackles in a season since Elijah Lee had 118 stops in 2016. The 2024 Rate Bowl will also be the final game for a pair of sixth-year seniors in defensive end Brendan Mott and linebacker Austin Moore. Mott was named the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, K-State’s conference-leading sixth Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year accolade since the award was introduced following the 2006 season, two more than the next closest school (Texas – 4). Moore enters the final game of his career with a team-best 39-consecutive starts since the beginning of 2022, and he has totaled 229 career tackles, including 30.5 tackles for loss.
A LOOK AT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers finished the regular season winning three of its final four games after winning its first four of the season before dropping all four contests in the month of October. The early-season portion of Rutgers’ scheduled included two wins in six days at Virginia Tech and at home against Washington in the Big Ten opener. It’s three wins in the final four games including a pair of road wins – at Maryland (31-17) and at Michigan State (41-14). The Scarlet Knights are seeing consecutive bowl victories for the first time since 2006 through 2009, a streak that began with a win over K-State in the 2006 Texas Bowl. Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis has attempted every pass for Rutgers this season, going 199-of-363 through the air for 2,459 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Scarlet Knights as led in the ground game by Kyle Monangai with 1,279 yards and 13 touchdowns on 256 carries. Wide receiver Dymere Miller has a team-high 731 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 57 catches. Linebacker Dariel Djabome has a team-best 102 tackles and paces the squad with 7.0 tackles for loss. Jordan Walker has a team-best 4.0 sacks, while Shaquan Loyal has two interceptions.
WILDCATS HEADED TO RATE BOWL
• Coming off an 8-4 regular season, Kansas State earned its 26th bowl berth all time and fifth under head coach Chris Klieman as the Wildcats will face Rutgers in the Rate Bowl on Thursday, December 26, inside Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. • Of K-State’s 26 total bowl appearances all-time, 24 of those have come since 1993. • The Wildcats hold an 11-14 record in bowl games and are looking to win their fifth bowl game in their last seven appearances for the first time in school history. • In fact, over the first 20 years of the Big 12 era (1996-2015), Kansas State went 5-10 (.333) in bowl games, the worst mark by any current conference member in that span. Since then, the Wildcats have gone 4-2 (.667) in bowl games, which is tied for third-best among current Big 12 teams. • K-State has traveled to bowl games in nine different states with Arizona (5-Copper/Insight/Buffalo Wild Wings/Cactus/Rate, 3-Fiesta) and Texas (3-Cotton, 3-Texas, 2-Alamo) being the most frequent destinations.
K-STATE IN ARIZONA
• This year marks the eighth time K-State will play in an Arizona bowl, including the fourth time since the 2012 season. • The Wildcats hold a 4-3 record in Arizona bowl games, including each of the last two trips – a 31-14 victory over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and a 35-17 win over UCLA in the 2017 Cactus Bowl. • This is the fifth time K-State will play in what is now known as the Rate Bowl as it also played in the game in 1993 (known as Copper Bowl and played in Tucson, Arizona), 2001 (Insight.com Bowl), 2013 (Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl) and 2017 (Cactus Bowl).
CATS AND SCARLET KNIGHTS
• The 2024 Rate Bowl represents the second all-time meeting between Kansas State and Rutgers. • The first meeting between the two programs also came in a bowl game as the Scarlet Knights earned a 34-10 win in the inaugural Texas Bowl in 2006.
K-STATE AND THE BIG TEN
• Kansas State will be playing its 134th game all-time against current members of the Big Ten, but it will be just the 31st against conference members when in the Big Ten at the time of the matchup. • K-State holds a 25-105-3 record against current members of the Big Ten but a 6-23-1 mark against the conference when taking out previous matchups against Nebraska, Oregon, Rutgers, UCLA and USC when they were members of other conferences. • This is the fifth time in school history that Kansas State will face a Big Ten team in a bowl game with the last being a 31-14 victory over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, which was also the last time overall that the Wildcats faced a Big Ten foe. The other three times were losses to Wisconsin in the 1982 Independence Bowl, Purdue in the 1998 Alamo Bowl and Ohio State in the 2004 (post-2003 season) Fiesta Bowl.
BOWLING AGAIN
• In an era of college football where over 80 teams play in the postseason each year, K-State is one of just 16 Power 4 schools to advance to a bowl in 13 of the last 15 years. • The Wildcats are one of only three Big 12 teams to accomplish the feat, joining BYU and Oklahoma State. • Since 1993, Kansas State has advanced to 25 bowl games, which is tied for 16th nationally and ranks second among current Big 12 teams.
EIGHT IS GREAT…
• K-State has now won at least eight games in each of the last four seasons. It is the Wildcats’ longest streak since doing so over the 2011 (10), 2012 (11), 2013 (8) and 2014 (9) seasons. • The Wildcats are tied for fifth in the country with their four-straight seasons of at least eight wins and are one of only nine programs to accomplish the feat. • K-State has 35 wins since 2021, which is tied for 17th nationally and ranks first among active Big 12 teams.
… BUT NINE WOULD BE DIVINE
• Kansas State is looking for its ninth win of the season in the 2024 Rate Bowl. • It would be the third-straight season the Wildcats won at least nine games, which hasn’t happened since doing so every year from 1993 through 2000. • K-State would join Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon as the only teams in the nation to win at least nine games each of the last three seasons. • Kansas State has produced 17 seasons with at least nine wins: 1910 (10), 1993 (9), 1994 (9), 1995 (10), 1996 (9), 1997 (11), 1998 (11), 1999 (11), 2000 (11), 2002 (11), 2003 (11), 2011 (10), 2012 (11), 2014 (9), 2016 (9), 2022 (9) and 2023 (9).
