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Forget ‘Johnny Offense.’ For Raiqwon O’Neal, well, just call him ‘Raiqwon Offense.’
The Rutgers senior offensive lineman had a big afternoon blocking well and scoring points, with O’Neal catching a pass behind the line of scrimmage on a trick play to put Rutgers up 31-3 late in the third quarter. The starting left tackle looked athletic and nimble in rumbling into the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown play.
With 32 seconds left in the third quarter and Rutgers facing third-and-5 at the Indiana 7-yard line, quarterback Noah Vedral threw back to left tackle O’Neal on a designed trick play. O’Neal expertly made the catch and took the ball, running down the sideline then diving into the endzone and hitting the pylon with the ball for a touchdown.
After review, the touchdown stood as the play was determined a backward pass. It was a big day for O’Neal blocking as well as Rutgers was efficient on offense and took advantage of five Indiana turnovers to stake themselves to a big lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The big guy gets a TD for @RFootball! 😤 pic.twitter.com/63Z4Dcv0fa
— Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) November 13, 2021
The touchdown goes down as a rushing play even though Vedral threw the ball.
Rutgers came into the game 4-5 (1-5 Big Ten) and needing two wins to become bowl eligible.
O’Neal had a similar touchdown catch last year in a game at Ohio State.