Kyle Monangai was limited to a season-low rushing total as the Rutgers football running back was constantly swarmed in the backfield by Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon.
Monangai had 16 rushing yards as Rutgers (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) lost 24-13 at Wisconsin.
The season-low comes against the backdrop of a season where Monangai twice has topped triple-digit rushing in his first five games. On the year, he has 487 rushing yards through six games. He also has six rushing touchdowns.
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell said after the game that stopping Monangai was important for Wisconsin, who improved to 4-1 (2-0 Big Ten) on the season.
“It was a focus for us. So it wasn’t, like, you know, it was just something that happened. You know, we knew coming in here that if we didn’t win the rushing battle, it was not going to be a great thing for us,” Fickell said about Monangai.
“So the whole emphasis was winning the rushing battle. And that means different things sometimes. It doesn’t just mean yards. But it means the ability to, you know, take the people out what they want to do. It didn’t mean that we had to hand the ball off 50 times and make sure we were ahead of them in the rushing game. It had a lot to do with our ability to stop the run, establish the line of scrimmage. And I know the guys upfront did a great job from the opening snap to the end.
“Obviously, the second half, I think they had to change a little bit being down. Probably threw the ball a little bit more than they wanted to. But, nonetheless, it was because the guys up-front.”
Rutgers struggled to get their ground game going, netting 64 yards of rushing.
[lawrence-related id=30890,30884]
Wisconsin controlled both lines of scrimmage with 213 rushing yards in the win.