Rutgers looked very lethargic on offense in the early going. A dropped pass on a third down and a holding penalty caused the Scarlet Knights to have a three and out on both of their only two possessions in the opening quarter. (They only had the ball for three minutes). Things got even worse in the second quarter, when Gary Nova forgot to slide after scrambling for a first down and lost a fumble as a result of the hit he took. Rutgers was able to move the ball a bit on their next possession, with Jawan Jamison and Brandon Coleman hauling in long receptions to get them into Owls' territory, but two false start penalties moved the offense backwards, and they were unsuccessful on a 4th and 1 from the 18, as Coleman dropped Gary Nova's play action pass. Normally, they would have settled for 3 points on that possession, but with kicker Kyle Federico out again, they had to go for it. Another false start penalty led to yet another three and out, and Rutgers tried to run the clock out with plenty of time left before the half. Jamison had other ideas though, as he broke off a 13 yard run with an additional 15 yards tacked on with a personal foul, so Rutgers tried for some points. Things didn't work out though. Nova threw an interception, and the Knights went into the locker room trailing 10-0.
In the second half, Rutgers came out guns a blazzin', scoring a touchdown on their first four drives. They started to open things up a bit more, and that got them firing on all cylinders. Jamison had a few nice runs to open the half, and with Temple's defense starting to creep up defense up, Nova connected with Tim Wright on a deep ball for a 32 yard score to bring the score to 10-7. The second drive of the half was a picture perfect example of what Rutgers' offense should look like. Jamison had a few nice runs, Nova completed a third down pass over the middle to Wright, and Mark Harrison caught a pass 20+ yards down field to get Rutger in position to score. Jamison did the honors on a 32 yard screen pass out of the backfield for 6, making a defender look foolish with a juke move on the way. His TD gave RU the lead for good, 14-10.
Following a Logan Ryan interception, runs by Jamison and Savon Huggins and a catch by DC Jefferson set up another Nova touchdown pass, a 5 yarder to Harrison on a bootleg to make it 21-10. The offense got great field position once again on their next drive, as freshman Leonte Carroo blocked a punt, and Nova threw his 4th TD score of the day on a flag route in the endzone to Jefferson. After a defensive touchdown, the backups took over, and Huggins ran the ball a bunch of times to run out the clock.
The offense was awful in the first half, but they were very impressive in the second half, with a well balanced attack. Jamison was very strong on the ground, and he went over 100 yards for the 6th time this season. Nova looked impressive once again when allowed to make throws other than bombs and screens, and Wright and Jefferson were big targets on third down and Harrison made some big plays. The offensive line overpowered Temple on the ground in the second half, and they only allowed one sack to a Temple team that was amongst the best in the nation at getting after the QB. They may seem overly conservative and sluggish at times, but it's nice to know they can turn it on and pile up the points when they need to.
Temple, unsurprisingly, came out of the gate running the football, and Rutgers had no answer for it early on. The Owls went deep into Scarlet Knight territory on their opening possession, but the Knights were able to get a big stop on a 4th and 1, as Darius Hamilton stuffed Temple QB Chris Coyer on a sneak and caused a fumble. Rutgers was able to force a three and out on the next drive, but the Coyer/Montel Harris combination on the ground marched right down the field at the end of the opening quarter to set up a 4 yard pass from Coyer to Cody Booth. It was a play action pass and there was nobody in coverage for Rutgers, and the pass almost landed incomplete. It gave the Owls a 7-0 lead. The Knights held Temple to a field goal try that missed after Nova's fumble, and it seemed like they were starting to figure things out.
They held the Owls to a three and out again on the next series, but Temple was able to put three points on the board before the half to go up 10-0, after Mason Robinson was called for a ridiculous personal foul penalty for continuing to play after losing his helmet in the middle of a play. I didn't know such a rule existed, but it does and it is stupid. If this is a player safety thing, it still doesn't make any sense. The most dangerous thing you can do on a football field is stop. Even with out a helmet, you are better off going full speed than standing around like an idiot asking to get smoked by an opponent.
Rutgers continued to take away the run at the beginning of the second half, and they forced Temple to throw the ball, leading to a punt on Temple's first possession of the half. The Owls were faced with a 3rd and 9 on their next drive, and Logan Ryan made a nice read while playing zone coverage, and intercepted the pass. Ryan had a fine day, breaking up three passes in addition to the pick, locking things down on Logan Island again. After forcing yet another three and out, Jamil Merrell burst through the line to record a strip sack on a third down. Khaseem Greene scooped the ball up, and ran it into the endzone for a score, to give Rutgers a 35-10 lead. Temple does not excel when forced to throw, and Rutger shut them down. The Owls even had to bring their back up QB in. They had a miniscule 4.2 yards a throw, and any hopes Temple had to make a come back were crushed.
Montel Harris had a decent game, but the Scarlet Knights limited Temple to 2.8 yards a carry overall. After getting punched in the mouth early on, the defense woke up and shut everything down. The score could have been worse than 10-0 at the half, but this group came up huge in order to keep the offense in it. The defensive line got a nice pass rush and brought down Temple's ball carriers other than Harris in the backfield, and rushed the passer effectively. The back 7 totally dominated, giving Temple nothing through the air while also supporting the run on the edge. It was the total domination you have come to expect out of this unit.
Rutgers looked terrible in the first half, and the lackluster play seemed like a three week trend, but they absolutely dominated in the second half, showing why they are a top 15 team. They played exceptionally well in all three facets of the game, and made you forget about that nightmare of a first half. They lost the time of possession battle for, I believe, the first time this year, but it didn't matter. They even cut down on the penalties too. All in all this was probably a nice wake up call for the team and will keep them humble, showing them that they need to come out ready for every opponent. It's better to do that in a win than a loss, especially for a program that has had a number of "WTF?" losses over the years.
Additional Note: Surprisingly, I didn't see any Bill Cosby references during or leading up to the game. But allow me to do that now.
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