PHILADELPHIA -- For one half, Rutgers' dream season looked like it was turning into a nightmare. But there's something about the third quarter that brings out the best in these Scarlet Knights.
Gary Nova threw three touchdown passes in the third quarter and four in the second half overall to rally the Scarlet Knights back from a 10-point halftime deficit, and Jawan Jamison tallied 195 all-purpose yards as No. 15 Rutgers remained unbeaten with a 35-10 triumph over Temple before a crowd of 35,145 that was full of Scarlet faithful.
After turning in their worst first-half performance of the season, the Scarlet Knights stormed out with scoring drives on all three third-quarter possessions. Nova capped the opening 6-play, 75-yard march with a 32-yard scoring pass to Tim Wright, then culminated a 9-play, 89-yard trek with a 32-yard TD pass to Jamison off a screen.
The latter score gave Rutgers its first lead with 5 minutes, 9 seconds left in the third quarter. After Logan Ryan seized the momentum with an interception, Nova engineered a 7-play, 49-yard scoring drive that he iced with a 5-yard TD pass to Mark Harrison. Nick Borgese, filling in for Kyle Federico for the second straight week, drilled all three of his extra points as Rutgers outscored 21-0 in the third quarter. That continued a season-long trend for the Scarlet Knights, who have now outscored their foes 69-3 in the third quarters of games.
Rutgers continued its damage in the final stanza, as Nova fired a 10-yard scoring pass to D.C. Jefferson and Khaseem Greene returned a fumble 20 yards for a touchdown off a Jamil Merrell strip.
Jamison finished with 114 yards rushing on 19 carries and 81 yards on five receptions for his 192-yard day. Nova, who had a string of 164 pass attempts without an interception snapped with a pick to close a shaky first half that included 56 yards on 5-for-12 passing, finished with 232 yards and four touchdowns on 17-for-27 passing.
Rutgers outgained Temple 361-49 in the second half, and 371-191 for the game.
The first half was a completely different story as Temple dominated in all facets in building a 10-0 lead. Not only did it take the Scarlet Knights nearly 20 minutes to record their first first down, they were held scoreless through the first two quarters for the first time since a 17-14 overtime win over USF last season.
With the win, Rutgers is now off to its fifth 7-0 start since being credited with playing the first college football game 143 years ago. The Scarlet Knights will look to raise their record to 8-0 next Saturday when they play host to Mid-American Conference-foe Kent State in a 3:30 p.m. homecoming affair at High Point Solutions Stadium.
