Temple University Athletics
SHARPS LEADS OWLS IN 20-17 COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN AT RUTGERS
11.16.02 | Football
Temple (4-7, 2-4 Big East) limited the Scarlet Knights to just 43 yards and three first downs in the second half and made the big plays when it counted most, to overcome a 17-3 halftime deficit. The win allowed Coach Bobby Wallace's team to equal its win total of the 2000 and 2001 seasons, while Rutgers (1-9, 0-6) dropped its seventh straight. For the game, the Owls ran off 88 offensive plays, made 26 first downs and finished with a level 400 total yards while holding the Knights to just nine first downs and 142 yards.
Sharps performance also made him just the eighth running back in NCAA history to rush for over 100 yards four times against the same opponent. In 1999 he had an even 100 versus the Scarlet Knights, in 2000 he had 168 and last year he had 149. It was also the 15th 100-plus-yard game of his career, which ties him for fifth place all time in the Big East Conference.
The Owls started off in the hole, when Sean Szarka fumbled a wet ball on the opening kickoff. The defense yielded one first down to the Knights, but Rodney Wormley sacked Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart to end the threat. Poklemba put the Owls on the board first with a 41-yard field goal at the 4:59 mark of the first quarter. The Owls wasted a golden opportunity to put six on the board after Sharps raced 28 yards for a first-and-goal at the Rutgers seven. The five-play, 25 yard scoring drive was set up when Terrance Leftwich recovered a Temple punt at midfield that was touched by the Knights on the bounce.
Hart rebounded to throw the first touchdown pass of his career with six seconds left in the first quarter, a beautiful 35-yarder to Aaron Martin. The play capped a five-play, 45-yard drive, aided by a pass interference penalty on third-and-nine at the Temple 43. Hart struck again with 6:38 left in the second quarter, when he hit LJ Smith in stride on a 53-yard touchdown bomb down the middle to give the Knights a 14-3 lead. The play came immediately after Rutgers recovered Sharps' fumble at the Knight 47. The Owls' fourth turnover led to Rutgers' final score of the half, a 31-yard field goal by Ryan Sands that put the Knights up 17-3 at intermission.
Temple cut the lead on its first possession of the second half, when Sharps bolted off left tackle for a four-yard touchdown to cap a five-play, 57-yard drive. A fake-kick on the conversion try failed, leaving the Owls down, 17-9. After another defensive stop, the Temple offense went back to work and, following Sharps' 51-yard burst by up the middle, had a first down at the Rutgers 25. However, on the second play from there, quarterback Mike McGann fumbled when sacked from the blind side by Brian Bender. Gary Bracket scooped up the ball and returned it 33 yards to the Owl 34, but the Temple defense rose up and turned the ball over on downs.
The Owls controlled the ball throughout the fourth quarter, but came up empty on a 19-play, 90-yard drive, even though Temple had a first-and-goal from the four. Poklemba missed a 26-yard field goal that was just inches wide to the left. The Owls were not to be denied on their next possession, traveling 54 yards in 11 plays and scoring on a 17-yard pass from McGann to Zamir Cobb in the left corner of the end zone with 3:17 remaining. On the two-point conversion attempt, McGann eluded a ferocious Rutgers pass rush and floated the ball to tight end Eric Carpenter, who pulled it down in traffic for his first catch of the season and a 17-17 tie. Once again the Temple defense held, and a sensational 20-yard punt return by Cobb put the Owls in business at the Rutgers 34. From there, McGann engineered a seven-play drive that ended with Poklemba's game-winning field goal.
Temple will close out the 2002 season with a home game against Big East Conference foe Boston College next Saturday, beginning at noon at Veterans Stadium.
