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Rutgers Introduces World to the Fake Tush Push Play in Wild Bowl Game

Bowl season is the time for trick plays.

Kyle Koster

Rutgers lines up for a tush push trick play.
Rutgers lines up for a tush push trick play. / The Knight Report on X
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The Philadelphia Eagles have been so succesful with the Tush Push play that all other football teams would be remiss if they didn't try to copy it in short-yardarge situations. It's the type of brute force Rutgers coach Greg Schiano appreciates, so it was no surprise to see the Scarlet Knights lineup in the rear-end-pushing formation in the Rate Bowl Thursday night against Kansas State. But they had something special up their sleeves and ran it to perfection when quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis took the snap and did a Statue of Liberty-like handoff behind his back instead of plunging into the line.

The Wildcats defense was fooled by this sorcery and allowed Antwan Raymond to scamper in for a one-yard score that gave Rutgers a 41-29 lead early in the fourth quarter.

So sneaky. And credit to Rutgers for busting the play out because if you can't run something strange in a bowl game the day after Christmas, then when can you?

Unfortunately for the Scarlet Knights, the 12-point lead would evaporate as Kansas State mounted a late comeback to win, 44–41.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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