Although the game ended up being played 48 hours later than it was intended due to Hurricane Ida, it was worth the wait for Rutgers faithful as they saw their team cruise to a 61-14 season-opening victory over Temple in what was the program’s first home game in front of fans since Nov. 23, 2019.
Here are three thoughts after the game:
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Easy Like Saturday Morning
Outside of a brief period in the third quarter where Temple made things interesting, this was mostly an easy day at the office for the Scarlet Knights as they scored their most points against an FBS opponent since Dec. 4, 2008 when they defeated Louisville 63-14.
“When they came out and scored to start the second half I knew that that was a pivotal time for this football team to see what we did,” Head Coach Greg Schiano said in his postgame press conference. “Were we going to be able to take momentum back or was this going to go down to the end and be decided by a field goal? We needed to do what we did today.”
While Rutgers jumped out to an early 26-0 lead, things started to get dicey following a three-yard touchdown run from Temple QB D’Wan Mathis that cut the game to 26-14. However, the Scarlet Knights were able to turn to their playmakers to make big-time plays as Bo Melton would go on to score a 40-yard touchdown to once again make it a three-possession game. And, following an ankle injury that knocked Mathis out of the game, Melton’s younger brother Max recorded a pick-six off Justin Lynch that put the game out of reach as the Scarlet Knights went into the fourth quarter up 40-14.
“That was crazy,” Bo said. “I really don’t care about my touchdown, I really care about his more just because I know the hard work that we put in going against each other every single day.”
A Defensive Masterclass
While there is always room for improvement, it is hard to imagine Schiano and Defensive Coordinator Robb Smith could have drawn up a game any better on the defensive end as the unit recorded five takeaways, three sacks, held Temple to just 261 total yards, and limited them to 2-13 on third-down and 1-3 on fourth.
“I think you look at it at halftime, I told the team there was a pretty big differential in the score but there wasn't really a differential in yards and those kinds of things, the third-down conversions,” Schiano said. “The difference was the takeaways in the first half.”
The defense also accounted for Rutgers’ first score of the season as they dropped Mathis in the end zone for a safety to take an early 2-0 lead. If the Scarlet Knights can play with this type of defensive intensity week in and week out chances are they will find themselves in just about every game.
A Troublesome Passing Attack?
While it is hard to say you can come away feeling worried about anything following a 47-point win, Rutgers still does not seem comfortable letting quarterback Noah Vedral throw the ball downfield consistently. Finishing the day 15-27 passing for 138 yards and one touchdown, most of Vedral’s passes were short and easy routes that were designed for the receiver to make the plays.
“It wasn’t like things were just clicking and we’ll find out why that is,” Schiano said. “You have to find a way to keep poking and prodding and finding out where you’re going to be able to make some yards and then make some points. That’s what we did today and eventually got it rolling a little bit with the help of some more takeaways and some good kicking plays.”
If the Scarlet Knights are going to be successful in the gauntlet known as the Big Ten they are going to have to be willing to throw the ball down the field more consistently.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Schiano said. “It was nice to be able to win the game convincingly in the second half and be able to learn from all the mistakes we had from a good victory, but we’ve really got to get better here between now and next Saturday going up to Syracuse.”
Rutgers will return to action next Saturday when they travel to the Carrier Dome to take on old Big East rival Syracuse at 2 p.m. (ET) on the ACC Network.
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