Rutgers Escapes With Last Minute Victory Over Temple

Today we spell redemption G-A-R-Y

 How can you not feel great for Gary Nova right now? After all the negativity he had to go through last week, dealing with empty threats of being benched and hearing from fans and the media about how awful he is and how the next opponent's quarterback should have his job, he shut everyone up with one of the best games of his career in the Scarlet Knights come from behind 23-20 victory over Temple. The team once again turned in a very poor performance overall, but they were able to pull out a victory late against the 1-7 Owls.

Rutgers began the game offensively with a very conservative game plan and rightfully so after Nova's previous two games. They ran the ball on their first eleven offensive plays, but still managed to move the ball into Temple territory on each of their first two possessions on the back of Justin Goodwin. Yet somehow, they came away with zero points. They could not convert a fourth and one on their first possession, as Temple linebacker Nate D.Smith burst through the line unblocked to bring Goodwin down in the backfield and a penalty besieged their second possession, forcing them to punt from Temple's 35. If you follow Big 10 people on twitter, you will realize Kirk Ferentz does this all the time too, so Rutgers will fit right in.

Late in the first quarter, Nova was finally allowed to throw the football, and his fine passing eventually resulted in three points. He picked up a first down completing a pair of passes to tight end Tyler Kroft, and he threw a nice ball on a corner route to Brandon Coleman to get into Temple territory. He hit Leonte Carroo on a crossing route to get the Knights down to Temple's four, but three consecutive penalties set Rutgers back and they had to settle for a field goal. They weren't action penalties either, they were mental errors that were the result of the team being undisciplined and disorganized. That's coaching, if you ask me.

Following a three and out on the previous possession, Nova led the team on an impressive drive while going uptempo with just over a minute left in the half. They didn't have any time outs left, since they wasted them earlier (coaching), and had to settle for a 40 yard field goal attempt that Kyle Federico missed.*He completed first down passes to Coleman, Pratt and Carroo on the drive that ultimately resulted in zero points.

*Rutgers has two! Two! Place kickers on scholarship and they can't even make a chip shot field goal.

The Knights began the second half offensively with a three and out, but struck quick with a three play touchdown drive the next time they had the ball. Gary Nova made perhaps the most impressive throw of his career, stepping up in the pocket to elude a pass rusher while keeping his eyes down field and hitting his second read, Quron Pratt, on a deep crossing route over the middle. Pratt made a nice run after the catch, and the play got Rutgers down to Temple's 6 after the 41 yard gain. Michael Burton was finally rewarded for all his great blocking this year with the a score of his own on a toss from Nova, on Jon Gruden's favorite play, Spider 2 Y banana. And then of course Federico missed the extra point.


Rutgers moved the ball again on their next possession as Nova converted a pair of third downs with passes to Carroo and Pratt, but the drive once again stalled out in Temple territory and Rutgers was forced to punt. On their final possession of the third quarter, Savon Huggins (remember him?) took a screen pass 14 yards, but Rutgers once again had to punt after Nova was sacked. On that play he was sacked, Temple jumped offsides, but the top notch, world class Big East officials missed it. Even more stunningly, it was the second time in the game Temple got away with jumping offsides on defense. Incredible.

Trailing by four early in the fourth quarter, the Knights' defense came up with a big turnover, and Ron Prince called for the home run ball on the first play after the sudden change. Nova connected with his trusty side kick Carroo on the go route for a 34 yard score off a play action fake. Rutgers had its' first lead of the day, but unfortunately, it didn't last long, as the defense gave it right back. Rutgers offense seemed poised to create another lead change, thanks to some Temple penalties and a couple scrambles by Nova, but Goodwin lost a fumble in the redzone and the Owls recovered with 8:54 remaining. It seemed like the cutback lane was open for Goodwin on the play, but he ran into traffic and lost the ball.

Rutgers came dangerously close to not getting the ball back (more on that in a bit), but they did get another opportunity to win the game. With the ball at their own 28 with 1:53 left, Gary Nova would have to lead another fourth quarter comeback, and that's just what he did. Looking very comfortable once again going uptempo, Nova completed short passes to Huggins and Kroft to get Rutgers to midfield. Pratt hauled in another pass for a first down, but after a sack, Rutgers faced a do or die 4th and 10 from the Temple 33. And as he has done so many times this year, Gary Nova found Leonte Carroo open down the sideline for a deep bomb that resulted in a touchdown. It was a very risky throw, but his trust and confidence in throwing to Carroo really showed and he threw a beautiful ball for the game winning score with just :35 seconds left.

Nova had a phenomenal day, obviously, and the rest of the offense was pretty good too. Nova made some great decisions, even tucking the ball and running when nothing was there. They ran the ball very effectively early in the game, but saw a drop off later as they failed to secure blocks at the second level of Temple's defense. The offensive line was blowing Temple off the ball, and they did a good job in pass protecting, even though they allowed two sacks (remember: Temple was offside on one of those). It was nice to see Carroo, Pratt and Kroft reemerge after being put in hibernation, and Ron Prince called yet another solid game. It wasn't all peaches and cream though. Rutgers was very inefficient in the redzone, making four trips inside the 20 and coming away with only three points on those possessions.This has been a problem with this offense for a few years now. I'm also not sure why Savon Huggins doesn't get the ball at all. He hasn't lived up to the hype, but he's still and ok option, especially in short yardage situations and when Goodwin is struggling a bit.

 The defense had some what of a bounce back game after being embarrassed a few times this year, but they were merely solid and not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination. Things got off to a great start for Knights' defense, as freshman Delon Stephenson, making the first start of his career, intercepted PJ Walker's first pass on the second play of the game. They followed that up by forcing a three and out, thanks to two plays in the backfield. Djwany Mera stuffed a Zaire Williams run for a loss of five, and wide receiver Ruhan Peele sacked Walker on a corner blitz while temporarily filing in on the depleted secondary.

After those two impressive stops, Temple started to find their groove offensively. Walker moved the ball down field with the quick underneath passing game, and Williams broke off a pair of eleven yard runs. Walker capped the drive with a nice deep ball to Robbie Anderson over tight coverage from Stephenson in the endzone for six points. The Owls once again moved the ball on their next possession, but they wound up punting from midfield, and that really helped them in the field position battle. Especially after Nick Marsh shanked a 26 yard punt. Beginning at Rutgers' 36, the Owls drove methodically into the endzone, with some nice runs and the short passing game. Walker hit Kevin Harper in the flat for the score. Temple went into the break with a 13-3 lead.

Ike Holmes batted down a third down pass to force a three and out on Temple's first possession of the second half, and Kevin Snyder and Darius Hamilton teamed up to stop Walker on a read option to force another three and out the next time the Scarlet Knight defense took the field. The Owls managed to get their lone first down of the third quarter on their final drive of the period, but Marcus Thompson made  tackle for loss and Quanzell Lambert chased down a scrambling Walker on third down to force another punt. Jamal Merrell intercepted a pass from Walker early in the fourth quarter, and that  eventually led to Rutgers taking the lead for the first time. The defense looked dominant, but unfortunately, that didn't last.

Walker continued to gash the Scarlet Knights with the short passing game, and the Owls continued to pick up first downs by taking small bites. Temple converted a fourth and one along the way, and Kenneth Harper took a third down hand off twenty five yards for the score, making Rutgers' first lead short lived. On the play, Rutgers was bringing pressure off the right side, and everyone else was bailing. There was nobody on the left to defend the run, except for Darius Hamilton who was being triple teamed.

Temple got the ball back with 8:54 left in the game, and they very nearly ran out the entire clock. The Owls were piling up 5 yard run after five yard run, and were chewing up a ton of clock. It wasn't like they were just out physicaling Rutgers upfront, it was a matter of being out schemed. Rutgers inexplicably was playing with two deep safeties against a run first offense, and when a linebacker had to go out to cover the slot receiver, the Knights were left with six defenders in the box against six blockers, plus the tailback and the running quarterback they had to account for. So that's basically 6 against 8. You are not going to get many stops this way. They respected Temple's passing game more than Houston's or SMU's or Fresno State's, which absolutely blows my mind. The lack options int he secondary may have something to do with that, but still. Fortunately, Kevin Snyder and Steve Longa met in the backfield on a cross dog blitz to bring down Harper on a fourth down play to force the turn over on downs and get the offense back on the field to win the game.

Temple did get the ball back with 35 seconds left, but Peele put his helmet on the ball while making a tackle, and forced the ball out and also recovered it. One game in and he's already the team's best defensive back!

I thought the secondary played their best game of the season against Temple. Peele made some big plays and I thought Stephenson and Glashen were  pretty solid. Jonathan Aiken did a nice job filling in for the injured Lorenzo Waters, and Waters absence may have been a reason why they didn't bring a safety down in run support more. Walker completed 67% if his passes, but only averaged 6.5 yards per attempt. The run defense gave up more yards than they should, but again, it was a numbers issue. Holmes and Hamilton (who is third on the team in passes defended, by the way) were both doubled on almost every play, but Longa and Snyder did a nice job cleaning up and preventing big runs.

Rutgers escaped with a win, and although it was to get back in the win column, the cracks in the program's foundation were on full display. They were sloppy, undisciplined, borderline unprepared and out schemed. There is too much talent on the roster for the team to struggle and need some luck to beat Temple like this, and it was just more fuel to the fire for a fan base quickly turning against Kyle Flood after a very, very bad month. The school is just 5-6 in their last 11 games dating back to last season, and they have not beaten a winning team in that time. Flood needs to pretty much win 4/5 to end the season to inspire confidence in the fan base.