PISCATAWAY – The numbers tell the whole story.

More than 500 total yards of offense. Seven touchdowns. Nearly 300 rushing yards with 230 more through the air.

All of it fueled Rutgers Saturday in a 49-17 victory over Akron at SHI Stadium.

All of it was a sign of what the Scarlet Knights’ offense could be.

“I thought (offensive coordinator) Kirk (Ciarrocca) called a great game,” coach Greg Schiano said. “You go over 500 yards on offense, that was good, but it’s all about the players executing.”

Star running back Kyle Monangai was sensational once again, running for a career-high 208 yards with three touchdowns.

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis had a solid performance, going 14-of-23 passing for 230 yards, overcoming an early interception in the process.

He connected with seven different receivers – including a beautiful 58-yard touchdown pass to Chris Long late in the third quarter, perfectly hitting Long in stride.

“We got the look we wanted and we just executed the play,” Kaliakmanis said. “That was really it. Chris made a hell of a catch, hell of a job by the O-line with the protection. Just an awesome job from everybody, all the 10 other guys, they all did their jobs.”

Rutgers football's offense showing signs of progress

Two games – especially against overmatched opponents in Howard and Akron – are not enough to judge what Rutgers’ offense could be. The opponents are going to get tougher, the defenses more challenging and tougher.

But for a team whose offense was far too unproductive last season, these first two contests showed that the Scarlet Knights have a quarterback who can make the throws he needs to make and he has receivers he can depend on.

“They help me out a lot,” Kaliakmanis said of those receivers. “Today I don’t feel like I started out as fast and they were just making plays. It’s just not even them. The O-line, too, it’s everybody executing their job. We could do that. We execute our job, we chop our job and we’re just going to stay in the moment and focus. We know if we do that, it’ll be a success for us.”

Not to mention Monangai, whose 204-yard day followed up a 165-yard showing against Howard.

“He's a really patient runner, has great vision, and then when he decides to go, he's violent,” Schiano said. “I mean, he's going to go.”

Not that Monangai would accept any credit.

Rutgers football's offensive line 'getting better and better every week'

“That’s the five guys up front,” Monangai said. “They allow us to do our job. That’s kudos to them. Two-hundred (yards) is great, but I’ve got to give them their props. All five of them.”

The growth of Pat Flaherty’s unit can’t be overstated.

“I thought our offensive line, they're just getting better and better every week,” Schiano said. “They're working at it in practice. Our pad level is getting better and better every week. When you get tired, your pad level starts to come up. So it's part conditioning, it's part technique.”

Again, it’s only two games.

Not nearly enough to draw any firm conclusions.

But Rutgers’ offense needed to make progress.

So far, so good.

“I definitely saw progress within the offense,” Kaliakmanis said. “But we’re never there yet. We’ve got a lot of details to clean up for sure to get to where we want to go. And we know what. We’re never satisfied.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Offense vs. Akron shows clear signs of progress