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PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Enter Jakob Anderson's name into the quarterback competition. The Rutgers football punter threw a 40-yard pass in Saturday's 42-35 loss to No. 12 USC. Anderson grew up playing Australian rules football, a game with plenty of violent hitting and contact, but one in which the ball is not passed forward like it is in the version he now plays in the Big Ten. So this was an entirely new skill set for the Rutgers punter. However, it did not look new for Anderson. At 2:31 in the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights punter hit safety Jesse Ofurie in stride with a well-thrown ball that resulted in a first down and provided a needed jolt for the offense. "When I first got here, it was something that I knew I had to work on. It definitely wasn't a skill of mine," Anderson said when asked by Scarlet Nation about the fake punt. "In Australia we pass the ball by kicking it, so it's something that I'm not extremely comfortable with. I dedicate a little bit of time each week to it. You just never know what could come up and what you have to be ready for. I was glad that I was comfortable enough to execute it tonight." Five plays after Anderson's throw, Rutgers quarterback Dylan Lonergan found Elias Coke for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Anderson's throw was the pivotal moment in a touchdown drive that cut USC's lead to 17-14. The play — and his passing motion — were something that Anderson has been working on with special teams coordinator Eddie Allen. It was the kind of special teams play that Rutgers was known for during head coach Greg Schiano's first tenure with the program. The little bit of trickeration helped Rutgers hang in the game as it nearly knocked off a ranked opponent. "Jakob did a great job, as did Jesse," Schiano said. "You know, Jakob Anderson grew up in Australia. They don't throw footballs. He's worked very hard to be able to do that over the last two years." Rutgers just ran a fake punt from its own goal line on 4th-and-21... And got all the way past the 50-yard line 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/V7jxZdMiHG — FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 19, 2026 On the season, Anderson is averaging 48.3 yards per punt, by far the best mark of his career. This includes a 70-yard punt on Saturday that took a strong bounce and resulted in a touchback. This offseason, Rutgers brought in former punter Adam Korsak to join the staff. A former Ray Guy Award winner as the nation's top punter, Korsak brings plenty of Big Ten experience from his time at Rutgers. He has worked with Anderson to help take his punting to the next level. "I owe a lot to Adam. He's probably the best mentor I could have, especially in the scheme we run here. Adam's obviously probably the best to ever do it at this level, and the way he went about his craft - it was awesome," Anderson said. "And to have him here working with me, something I'm very grateful for, and you know, obviously there's a lot of other punters in the Big Ten and around the country, and I know they're all jealous that I get to have Adam at my disposal from day to day. So very fortunate, and I've got a great relationship with him. So it's really cool to have him here." After the game, he told Korsak that throwing a pass, however, "might be the one thing I do in my career (that) you won't."