It wasn’t pretty, but the Rutgers Scarlet Knights did exactly what they needed to do in order to hold down the Temple Owls by the score of 16-14, improving their overall record to 3-0.
The win marks the second straight season Rutgers starts a season at 3-0.
As they have al month, Rutgers relied heavily on their ground game, which ate up 142 yards on the ground, and a stifling defense that kept Temple under 300 yards of offense.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game came with 4:09 to go in the second quarter when Shaquan Loyal stepped in front of an E.J. Warner pass, tipped it in the air, picked it off and brought it back to the house for a touchdown, handing Rutgers a 10-7 lead.
The rest of the afternoon proved to be a defensive slug-fest with missed opportunities sprinkled in. Thanks to the versatility of tight end Johnny Langan, Rutgers fed him the ball out of the backfield nine times for 79-yards, while Samuel Brown added 30 yards on eight carries. Those two played a big role in Rutgers adding two Jude McAtamney field goals to take a 16-7 lead.
Under center, neither Evan Simon (9-of-15, 52 yards passing) nor Gavin Wissmatt (1-of-2 for 7 yards) stood out through the air. Although Simon’s 18-yard completion to Shameen Jones, and Simon’s own 11-yard run moved the ball to the Temple 26, setting up for the final field goal of the day.
Rutgers did get a scare when Warner hit Jordan Smith for a 47-yard touchdown with 14:15 to go in the game that cut the contest down to a two-point Rutgers lead. However an excellent job of ball control by RU, kept the ball out of Warner’s hands for nearly eight minutes. The only disappointment for Rutgers was the holding call and a delay of game that kicked Rutgers out of field goal range.
At the end of the day it was up to Rutgers’ defense to step up. And they did, forcing three straight Warner incompletions, including a fourth and four at the Temple 41 with 2:25 to go.
Rutgers (3-0) will host Iowa next Saturday night at SHI Stadium at 7 p.m. Our pregame coverage begins at 4:30 on Fox Sports New Jersey 93.5 FM, 1450 AM.