PHILADELPHIA — Whatever Rutgers coach Kyle Flood does during halftime, he should keep doing it. Whatever alchemy he brews up for adjustments, he should keep making them. Awful in the first half, his Scarlet Knights were awesome in the second yesterday, drilling Temple 35-10 to stay undefeated.
After digging themselves into a 10-0 halftime hole, the No. 19 Scarlet Knights bludgeoned Temple the rest of the way to raise their record to 7-0 and 4-0 in the Big East. They bounced back the way a ranked team should: with authority. They ran off 35 unanswered points before 35,145 at Lincoln Financial Field, inching closer to their first Big East crown.
“I wish I could tell you it was a magical halftime speech that you give, but the message was very simple: We need to execute better,’’ Flood said. “Offensive football is about an 11-man execution. In the second half you saw that, and the results were obvious.’’
And emphatic. Rutgers outscored Temple 21-0 in the third quarter, and has outscored its foes 68-3 in the third quarter this season. And with non-league home games looming against Kent State and Army before a Nov. 17 clash at Cincinnati, their Orange Bowl dreams are getting close enough to taste.
“It means a lot to us,’’ receiver Mark Harrison said. “We want to keep winning these games and get as close to the Big East championship and the national championship. That’s our dream, and that’s what we’re pushing for.’’
After a shaky first half that saw quarterback Gary Nova throw his first pick in 164 passes, lose a fumble and recover another, and being forced to throw left-handed to avoid a safety, he finished 17-of-27 for 232 yards and TDs to four different receivers. Running back Jawan Jamison had 195 total yards and a score to bury the Owls (3-3, 2-1 Big East).
“We adjusted ourselves, our attitude, our demeanor,’’ said Jamison, who had 114 yards rushing and another 81 receiving. “We had to come out with that fight. We didn’t come out with it in the first half.’’
The Scarlet Knights’ defense kept them in it while the offense spent the first half playing rope-a-dope, searching for Temple’s Achilles’ heel. They allowed 61 yards on the opening drive to the Owls’ spread, then just 130 the rest of the way, forcing three turnovers — including Khaseem Greene’s 19-yard fumble return for a TD.
Rutgers erupted in the third, with Nova pumping right to Brandon Coleman and hitting Tim Wright on the left for a 32-yard TD. Nova threw a 32-yard screen to Jamison for a 14-10 lead, and after Logan Ryan’s pick on the ensuing drive, Nova rolled right and squeezed the ball in to Harrison for a 5-yard score.
“Temple’s a great team, but we just hurt ourselves so much, and we just stopped the bleeding, went out in the second half and did our job,’’ said Nova, who hit D.C. Jefferson for his fourth TD. After Jamil Merrell sacked Temple quarterback Chris Coyer to force a fumble, Greene scooped up the ball and raced in for the final margin.“We got behind each other and fought to the death, fought to the end and got the result we wanted,’’ Greene said. “We didn’t adjust [anything], we just snapped out of it, said we’ve got to play our ball.’’