Temple didn’t beat Rutgers, but offered some reasons to believe

The overriding question for this season of Temple football: Is a different era beginning? Are there any reasons to believe?

Saturday, Temple hosting Rutgers, we saw positive evidence, even surprising evidence. The opener at Duke had offered no such evidence. Last week’s win over FCS Lafayette? Hard to know what to make of that.

Could Temple have won this game? Absolutely. Should have? Maybe. But the realization that Temple out-played Rutgers for much of a sunny afternoon inside Lincoln Financial Field seems, in the long run, to be as important as a final score.

“No moral victories,” first-year Owls coach Stan Drayton said right afterward, when the final score still read, Rutgers 16, Temple 14.

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Holding Rutgers without an offensive TD, Drayton called it right when he also said there were “a lot of great things to build on.” He wasn’t overselling it. This is what Temple fans must have hoped to see opening this season. Walking out of the Linc Saturday, they’d been given reasons to believe.

More importantly, Temple players got all that. A whole different deal than their 2021 meeting, which was Rutgers 61, Temple 14. Those switched numerals for Rutgers on the scoreboard, they obviously say a whole lot.

Would Temple’s defense, aggressive all day, wilt late? Nope, didn’t happen. The only fourth-quarter TD belonged to the Owls.

Could Temple have won this game? Absolutely. Should have? Maybe. But the realization that Temple out-played Rutgers ... in the long run, [has] to be as important as a final score.

Would penalties drag Temple down? Rutgers had more.

Turnovers? Only one for Temple. (OK, it was a big one, providing Rutgers its only touchdown, after a blitzing defensive back, Shaquan Loyal, untouched, batted an E.J. Warner pass in the backfield grabbed it, took off all alone ahead of the pack for a 43-yard second-quarter score. Maybe a game-saver for Rutgers right there.)

The best evidence of Owls hope? Maybe the kid QB. Not saying Warner pitched a perfect game. But you saw exactly why the freshman was out there, why his teammates must trust him. Warner was smart and fearless, which count as pretty fair building blocks even if there were a couple of plays he’d like back.

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There was pressure applied when Warner, backing up, hit an open Jordan Smith over the middle for a 47-yard TD pass that got Temple within 16-14 early in the fourth quarter. The play before was even niftier, a flat-footed pass to Adonicas Sanders for 13 yards to start off the two-play quick-strike drive. (Warner wasn’t made available to the media afterward.)

Where you could kick Drayton in the shins a bit was deciding to be aggressive a couple of times on short-yardage fourth downs in his own territory. Not necessary either time, and the last one was costly.

Drayton said he trusted both his defense and the analytics. But you could also argue that trust in his defense could work the other way. Instead of Rutgers starting a late third-quarter drive deep in its own territory, the Scarlet Knights stopped a Temple run for 1 yard when the Owls needed 2, meaning Rutgers got to start on Temple’s 44-yard line.

That meant one first down was enough to get in field goal territory. Let’s not argue that the 38-yard field goal determined the outcome, since who knows how the game would have played out from there. It just seemed like there was plenty of time left, no need for such a move.

But Drayton had said he planned to be aggressive. Sure enough. A foot on the gas often isn’t a bad idea. (The analytics are evidence-based folks.) But these risk-reward equations were interesting. A first-half decision was even more dangerous. Deciding to accept a Rutgers offsides penalty on a Temple punt play, Drayton opted for fourth-and-1 at his 34 instead of giving Rutgers the ball back at its 20. Temple didn’t get the first down, giving Rutgers a real short field. Temple’s D did bend but not break and Rutgers missed a 38-yard field goal. No harm, no points.

Bottom line for this day: Maybe you didn’t expect it all to come down to the last minute, or to even nit-pick decisions.

There’s no nit-picking when it’s 61-14.