Temple’s offense can’t find footing in 36-7 loss to Rutgers

By Liam Giannelli

For the third straight year, Temple Football suffered a loss against Rutgers. The Owls’ defense pulled together multiple stops on the Scarlet Knights’ offense, holding quarterback Gavin Wimsatt to 199 passing yards and one touchdown. 

The lack of production from the Temple offense led Rutgers to a 36-7 win.

In the fourth quarter, Scarlet Knights running back Kyle Monangai sliced his way through the defense on the next drive for 57 rushing yards on six carries. This drive resulted in another touchdown for Rutgers and extended its lead to 19-7, after a failed two-point conversion. Monangai finished the game with a career-high 165 rushing yards.

Temple quarterback E.J. Warner threw his first interception of the season on the next play from scrimmage on a ball that went through the hands of tight end Reese Clark. Linebacker Shaquan Loyal returned the ball to the Temple 10-yard line and set up a field goal that made the score 22-7, seemingly stifling any hope Temple had of achieving a comeback. 

Rutgers’ Samuel Brown V and Al-Shadee Salaam added insurance scores to put the game officially out of reach. 

“[We] never caught rhythm at all,” said Temple head coach Stan Drayton. “[We] started playing behind, playing behind the scoreboard, playing against the clock, [we] got to address the mindset of the football team.”

The Temple offense did not pick up a single yard on their first drive. Rutgers tried to take advantage of its momentum, but the Temple defense had a different plan. On a quick screen pass from Wimsatt to receiver Isaiah Washington, Temple cornerback Ben Osueke’s athleticism let him strip the ball from the opposing receiver and linebacker Yvandy Rigby would recover the football at his team’s six-yard line.

On the next Rutgers drive, the Owls’ defense looked for another forced turnover by bringing pressure to the Rutgers offensive line. That backfired for the Owls, as Wimsatt found running back Ja’shon Benjamin down the sideline resulting in a 33-yard score. The first career touchdown for the freshman put his team up 7-0 with 3:47 remaining in the first quarter.

Warner struggled early in the contest, completing just three of his first 12 passing attempts for 29 yards in Temple’s first four drives.

Early on in the second quarter, Rutgers tested their sophomore kicker Jai Patel with a 51-yard field goal that was on point and extended the lead for Rutgers to 10-0. This was the seventh-longest made field goal in program history.

There was no rhythm to Temple’s offense in the first half as the Rutgers defense played tight coverage and blitzed the offensive line to make Warner feel uncomfortable in the pocket. 

On the Owls’ final drive of the first half, Warner started to gain some traction, and the offense got the ball to Rutgers’ 18-yard line. After an offensive pass interference call against tight end Jordan Smith and a 15-yard sack, Temple’s momentum fizzled out. The Owls trailed 13-0 entering halftime and had 113 yards of offense compared to 249 for Rutgers.   

Warner would get his team on the board to begin the fourth quarter when he found receiver Dante Wright on a pass that cut between two Rutgers defenders. Wright finished the game with five catches for 59 yards. His touchdown cut the lead to 13-7 with 14:51 remaining in the game. 

The running back room for the Owls did not seem to get any help from the offensive line, as the Scarlet Knights halted the run game all night. Temple ran for just 68 yards. True freshman Joquez Smith led the way for Temple with 45 rushing yards on nine carries. 

“[Smith] was a spark for us,” Drayton said. “I thought [he] was moving the sticks, [we] play players that are going to make plays for us and we can’t knock his production today.”

Temple will look to get back in the win column when they travel back home to take on Norfolk State on Sep. 16, with kickoff set for 2:00 p.m.