Temple could make a football statement under the lights Saturday against Rutgers. Here’s how.

Last year’s battle was tight.

This year could serve as the redemption game for Temple — or at least showcase how much the Owls football team has improved — in a road trip to face Rutgers in prime time Saturday (7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).

Rutgers leads the series 22-15, having won the previous six matchups. In Temple’s homecoming game last season, Rutgers survived with a 16-14 victory.

That matchup a year ago marked Owls quarterback E.J. Warner’s first career collegiate start after he took over for D’Wan Mathis a week before. Since that game, Warner arguably has become the face of the program.

However, the last time Temple defeated the Scarlet Knights was 2002 — before Warner was even born.

During Stan Drayton’s news conference this week, passing wasn’t the Temple coach’s concern. He wants to see improvement in the Owls’ running game after rushing for just 61 yards in the season-opening win over Akron.

“I think our running backs need to run heavy,” Drayton said. “There’s some opportunity to get some yards and some situations where it may be cloudy, little dirty runs here and there. You know, it’s not going to be perfect. They can’t sit there and wait for a bunch of space, and they can’t expect to get a bunch of space against Rutgers’ defense either. But they’ve got to be able to play behind their pads, be decisive behind the backfield, and go ahead and give us some positive yards and try to keep us on schedule.”

Rutgers is coming off a 24-7 Big Ten win at home against Northwestern, which scored its only points with 19 seconds left in the game. The Scarlet Knights held the Wildcats to 201 yards of offense and recorded two interceptions.

Junior quarterbackGavin Wimsatt leads Rutgers’ offense, and he threw for 163 yards and a touchdown in his season opener. Wimsatt won an offseason battle with Evan Simon. He’ll need to remain focused if he wants to keep that spot in Saturday’s game. Last season, Wimsatt completed 44.8% of his passes for 757 yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

In Week 1, Temple played several freshmen on the offensive line, including Melvin Siani, Luke Watson, and Jackson Pruitt. They will be going up against a front that had five players record a sack against Northwestern, including junior linebacker Tyreem Powell, who is on the watch list for the Butkus Award.

This is the second straight week when the Owls will face a quarterback who is not afraid to run the ball. Including the two sacks on Saturday, the Owls held Akron quarterback D.J. Irons to negative yardage on the ground on eight carries. Against Northwestern, Wimsatt had nine carries for 33 yards, including a 6-yard rushing touchdown.

Temple can limit big plays by keeping a close eye on Wimsatt and his propensity to take off. Owls linebackers Jordan Magee, Yvandy Rigbee, and Layton Jordan will have their hands full making sure Wimsatt does not have easy escapes out of the pocket. Making Wimsatt a pure pocket passer should allow Temple to limit the Rutgers offense dramatically.