PISCATAWAY - If things work out the way everyone hopes they will around High Point Solutions Stadium in the years to comes, it’s spectacular fall afternoons like Saturday, and the events that played out on the field against Purdue, that will be looked back at as the building blocks of a successful Big Ten program.

Because this is what progress looks like when you’re trying to claw your way up the standings in one of the most competitive leagues on the college football landscape.

For the second straight week Rutgers beat a team they had a chance to beat, and one they likely wouldn’t have beaten a year ago.

And this time it came down to one play, with the Scarlet Knights stopping a two-point conversion attempt with 25 seconds to play to preserve a 14-12 victory.

It wasn't pretty at times, but that’s progress.

There was an energy and excitement on the field and in the stands, from the moment Gus Edwards broke a 74-yard touchdown run on the home team’s second play from scrimmage, until David Blough's pass went out of the back of the end zone incomplete on the conversion try.

Most of all, these are the kind of days everyone needs, physically and emotionally, with the Scarlet Knights having been bruised and battered, on and off the field, over the past few years.

Now head coach Chris Ash has his first home Big Ten victory, a week after getting his first Big Ten victory, all part of the Scarlet Knights’ evolution. And they've never had back-to-back Big Ten wins before.

``It’s been great. We’ve got to keep that up, celebrating after the games,'' Edwards said. ``We need that. We need W’s after the week of work we put in.''

``I work for the players, and the fact that I get to watch them celebrate the way they have the last two weekends, that's all the gratification I need,'' Ash said. ``That's the only thing I worry about. I don't care if it's two wins in a row, three. Every Saturday we get one win and they get to celebrate like that, man, that's so rewarding as a coach, and that's all I care about.''

The defense made a handful of key stops in the fourth quarter, with the fans on their feet when they were needed most, right to the end.

Rutgers football: Five takeaways from Rutgers' 14-12 win over Purdue

There was a big stop on a fourth-and one from the Rutgers 31-yard-line with 10:56 to play, leading 14-6. Then cornerback Damon Hayes picked off a deep pass to end Purdue’s next series. And finally, they turned Purdue back on a fourth down with 3:58 to play at the Purdue 48-yard-line.

And it’s likely that what happened against Purdue, with the confidence gained from winning two Big Ten games, or two more than they won a year ago, will only help them when Maryland comes to town in two weeks, or when they travel to Indiana on Nov. 18.

Heck, it can’t help but serve them well next Saturday at Michigan, at Penn State on Nov. 11 or at home against Michigan State on Nov. 24, with those three teams beating Rutgers by a combined 166-0 last season.

``It definitely changes our mentality,'' left guard Dorian Miller said. ``I think we’re going to go into next week just how we went into last week. It’s a brand now week, a brand new team, the offensive line is going to say, `put it on our back and hopefully we can move the ball.' ''

After what we’ve seen the past two weeks, they won’t get beaten nearly as badly in those games, and that’s growth.

Perhaps you consider wins against the likes of Illinois and Purdue as baby steps. But the reality is that these last two weekends represent giant leaps for a program trying to make its way back from the abyss.

Stephen Edelson is an Asbury Park Press columnist: sedelson@gannettnj.com