Northwestern Beats Rutgers 42-14 as Aidan Chiles Accounts for Five Touchdowns

By the time most of the 27,156 fans at Ryan Field had settled into their seats, the game was close to over. Northwestern scored 21 points in the first quarter, Aidan Chiles had a hand in all three touchdowns, and Rutgers spent the rest of the afternoon chasing a game that got away before it really started.

No. 24 Northwestern beat Rutgers 42-14 on Saturday in Evanston. Chiles threw for 219 yards and three touchdowns, ran for 83 yards and two more scores, and the Wildcats piled up 502 yards of offense against a Rutgers team that actually ran the ball well and still never got close.

Northwestern is now 6-1 and 3-1 in the Big Ten, 5-0 at home for the first time since 1996 and bowl eligible in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2017 and 2018. Rutgers fell to 2-5 and 1-3, a week after a 37-30 win at Maryland.

The fastest start in years

Northwestern did not waste the opening drive. The Wildcats went 75 yards in 10 plays, and Chiles finished it with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Griffin Wilde. Rutgers answered with a 12-play drive that ended with Dane Pizzaro's 43-yard field goal, which made it 7-3.

That was as close as it got. Northwestern needed only five plays to go 75 yards on its next possession, and Chiles kept it himself from the 1 for his eighth rushing touchdown of the season. Then the defense got involved. Michael Kilbane forced a strip sack, his second in as many weeks, and Northwestern took over just 6 yards from the end zone. Two plays later, Chiles found Alex Honig for an 8-yard touchdown, and it was 21-3 after one quarter.

According to Northwestern Athletics, it was the Wildcats' highest-scoring first quarter in Big Ten play since 2011.

The turning point: the strip sack

Every lopsided game has a moment where the trailing team can still make it a fight. For Rutgers, that window was the drive after the Chiles touchdown run. Down 14-3, the Scarlet Knights needed a stop and a score. Instead, Kilbane's strip sack handed Northwestern a short field, and an 11-point game became an 18-point hole before the first quarter ended.

From there, Rutgers was playing catch-up against an offense that was converting nearly everything on third down. Caleb Komolafe broke a 33-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter to make it 28-3, capping a quick five-play, 61-yard drive. Pizzaro hit a 35-yard field goal in the final seconds of the half, and Northwestern took a 28-6 lead into the locker room.

Aidan Chiles keeps adding to his résumé

Chiles was efficient all day, completing 19 of 25 passes. His three touchdown passes went to three different receivers, and he found the end zone twice with his legs. According to Northwestern, he is the only player in the country this season with multiple games of at least three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns.

He had a hand in both fourth-quarter scores, too. First, Chiles hit Drew Wagner for a 4-yard touchdown to finish a 10-play, 68-yard drive and make it 35-14. On the next scoring drive, he kept the ball on a zone read and ran it in for the final points of the day.

Wilde was his favorite target. The receiver caught nine passes for 133 yards and the opening touchdown, and Northwestern noted that he is the first Wildcat with at least 500 receiving yards and five touchdowns in consecutive seasons since Jeremy Ebert in 2010 and 2011.

Caleb Komolafe makes it a two-way problem

Northwestern ran for 283 yards, and Komolafe did a lot of that work. He carried the ball 13 times for 150 yards, an average of 11.5 yards per carry, and he matched his career-long run with a 56-yarder. With Chiles also running for 83, Rutgers had to account for both of them on almost every snap.

That balance was a big reason Northwestern went 9-for-13 on third down and held the ball for 33:15.

Rutgers ran well, but it was not enough

The strange part of this one is that Rutgers moved the ball on the ground. The Scarlet Knights rushed for 244 yards, and Antwan Raymond finished with 150 yards and a touchdown. Clay Thevenin added 116 yards on 14 carries, giving Rutgers two 100-yard rushers in the same game for the first time since Kyle Monangai and Gavin Wimsatt did it at Indiana in 2023.

Raymond's touchdown was a big one for the record book. He broke free for a 46-yard score with 8 seconds left in the third quarter, and quarterback Sean Ashenfelder ran in the two-point conversion to make it 28-14. That touchdown was the 27th of Raymond's career, tying Monangai for seventh in Rutgers history, and his 150 yards moved him into 10th place on the program's career rushing list. It was his fourth 100-yard game of the season.

The problem was everything else. Rutgers threw for just 100 yards, and AJ Surace led the team with 64 passing yards. The Scarlet Knights went 6-for-16 on third down and 2-for-5 on fourth down, and three turnovers killed any chance of a comeback. Rutgers' own game recap (opens in a new tab) has the rest from the visitors' side.

The numbers that tell the story

Northwestern outgained Rutgers 502 to 344 and won the first-down battle 26 to 18. It was the second time this season that the Wildcats topped 500 yards, and the third time they scored at least 40 points.

The defense delivered too. Linebacker Braydon Brus led the team with 10 tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits. Kobie McKinzie, Kilbane and Matthew Smith each added a sack, and Montae Pate and Jalen Lewis both recorded their first interceptions as Wildcats. That added up to three takeaways against a team that came in on a winning note.

Rutgers had its moments on defense. Devonte Anderson had seven tackles and a forced fumble, DK Gilley picked off his first career pass and Rondo Porter added a sack and three tackles for loss. You can find the full breakdown in Northwestern's official box score (opens in a new tab) and game recap (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Northwestern, this was another step in a season that keeps getting better. David Braun became the second coach in program history to win at least six games in three of his first four seasons, joining Pat Fitzgerald. The Wildcats have won four straight and three of their last four meetings with Rutgers.

Braun was not interested in talking about bowl games, though. "For us to even acknowledge the bowls right now would distract us from what's right in front of us," Braun said. What was right in front of them was a trip to Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Autzen Stadium.

For Rutgers, the running game is a real strength, but it is hard to win in the Big Ten with 100 passing yards and three turnovers. Next on the schedule was a home game against Michigan at SHI Stadium on Oct. 31.

The last word

Braun liked a lot of what he saw, including the response after Rutgers cut it to 28-14. "I really liked the way our team responded in the fourth quarter," he said.

He also made it clear that a 28-point win is not the finish line for this group. "This group still needs to find its closer's mentality," Braun said. "When you have someone on their heels, have someone on the ropes in this league, you can't take your foot off the gas."

That is a coach who knows what Oregon is going to look like. Northwestern has earned its ranking. The trip to Oregon was the next chance to show how much higher it could climb.

Sources: Northwestern Athletics recap, box score and schedule, Rutgers Athletics recap and game center. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Northwestern Athletics.