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Official RutgersAl Temple Recap

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Gameball goes to Shaquan Loyal, for his interception leading to a 43 yard TD return. Changed the complexion of the game and bailed out a struggling offense, which was unable to score an offensive touchdown

Offensive MVP is #21 Johnny Langan, who carried 9 times for 79 yards, including 5 times for 38 yards to close out the game. Probably don’t win the game without Johnny’s efforts and smart plays.

Defensive MVP is #71 Aaron Lewis, who had 11 tackles, including 2 TFL, as well as numerous penetrations into the backfield, which allowed someone else to make the play. Best game of his career thus far, and if he can carry the same level of play into Big Ten action, he may have an opportunity for All Conference Honors.

60 Minute chop where Strength and Conditioning played a big role. Not sure we would have won a game like this, previous years

With a new QB starter, in Evan Simon, the passing offense will continue to be a work in progress and will likely struggle against superior opponents. The most important thing is he did not turn the ball over. He should get better as the season progresses, but will probably struggle against OSU and similar. confidence, and maturity
Offensive Line, which struggled much of the day, took over towards the end of the game, allowing Rutgers to go on a drive which took well over 7 minutes, in the 4th quarter. While we did not score, as the qb took a bad sack which took us out of FG range, it tired out the Temple defense. On a subsequent drive after Temple turned over on downs, Johnny could have scored , but elected to go down near the goal line, so that Rutgers could run out the game clock, rather than give Temple an opportunity.

Temple run blitzes mitigated the effectiveness of the Rutgers rushing attack. gameplan was obviously vanilla, plays were way too predictable, and no adjustments were made to counter the strategies the defense was employing. Similar observations were made during GS 1.0 for games like Buffalo, Villanova, New Hampshire, FIU, and a myriad of others.
Big Ten opponents will probably use similar strategies, daring Rutgers to throw.

There is no obvious WR#1, with Taj Harris caliber talent. This could be problematic during Big Ten play. Ryan and Cruickshank appear to be the two most obvious candidates, and hopefully someone grows into this role. I don’t know who we will trust when it’s 3rd and 8, and we need 10 yards.

Carries were surprisingly close to evenly split, among the running backs, with Monangai getting 7, Salaam getting 8, and Brown getting 8. Brown was the most effective runner of the three, gaining 32 yards.

Longerbeam could have had 2 pick 6’s, though 1 would have been canceled due to a penalty on someone else

Christian Izien is playing himself into NFL consideration with 7 tackles and one key pass breakup. Jennings, Powell, and Igbinosun also had strong games statistically.

Though their efforts did not show up in the stat sheet, the defensive line played particularly well, against the run, allowing others, like the aforementioned in the previous point, to pile up stats. On one key fourth down play, Ahanotu penetrated into the backfield, which allowed Kessawn Abraham to tackle the Temple QB for a loss. Rutgers defense held Temple to 1.6 yards per rush (49 yards total) while Rutgers offense averaged 3.5 yards per rush (142 yards total).

We are unable to generate an effective pass rush, only rushing four. In response, we started using various pressures, which the Temple QB was able to beat at times, throwing to a receiver who had run into the area which was vacated. This is a risk we will have to take during Big Ten play.

This was an unholy, gutsy Greg Schiano win against a feisty opponent who had a good quarterback. We won a war of attrition, running the ball and playing tough defense, which generated a key turnover.

QB Noah Vedrals return would improve offensive effectiveness and efficiency due to his experience and maturity, especially reading defenses, and more quickly recognizing opportunities. He would optimize Rutgers chances for success. Hope he returns for Nebraska or sooner.
 
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