"You might say it's an ugly win," Temple coach Jerry Berndt said, "but it's nice to be in a position to have an ugly win."
Beauty and bowl-game worthiness are in the eye of the beholder, however, and Tony Sardisco, the Independence Bowl representative on the scene, saw things differently.
"They've got an exciting, explosive offense," said Sardisco, who was an assistant coach at Temple under George Makris in 1969. "They're well coached."
After the Owls blew a 17-0 lead, it took a late-game appearance at quarterback by a limping Matt Baker and a safety by linebacker Greg Angeli with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left to seal the victory.
Temple's sophomore tailback Scott McNair, behind the fine blocking of the Owls' offensive line, put on a memorable show, running for 192 yards on 21 carries. He scored on runs of 76 and 27 yards.
It was Baker's entrance, however, that gave the game its drama. Anthony Richardson, who started his second game in place of the ailing Baker (sprained ankle), threw consecutive interceptions in Temple's last two possessions of the third quarter.
The first pass was picked off by cornerback Jay Bellamy and returned 21 yards for a touchdown to cut Temple's lead to 20-19 with 2:15 left in the period.
The extra-point attempt failed when holder Jim Guarantano mishandled the snap and was tackled.
On the Owls' next possession, Richardson threw the ball into the waiting arms of Rutgers linebacker Shawn Williams, giving the Scarlet Knights the ball at the Temple 31.
Rutgers placekicker John Benestad missed his second field-goal attempt of the day a few plays later, and Baker hobbled on the field with 12:04 remaining to engineer the decisive scoring drive.
Richardson had connected on only 3 of 14 passes for 37 yards, but his 3- yard TD run with 5:19 left in the first half gave Temple a 17-0 lead.
"I thought Anthony played really well," Berndt said. "(In the third quarter) he was struggling a little bit. I thought Matty gave us a little spark at the end."
Baker guided the Owls 77 yards in seven plays with McNair sprinting the final 27.
"Our offense was a little flat at the time," Baker said. "I thought we needed to calm down a little bit. I told them, 'Let's just take the ball down the field.' They responded and responded well. It's not that I did that much. I just came in and handed the ball off."
But Sardisco was impressed.
"The first-string quarterback came in and played extremely well," Sardisco said. "He picked up blitzes well. That's what happened when he threw that long pass to the tight end."
On Baker's second series, he audibled on third down and 8 and thwarted Rutgers' blitz by hitting George Deveney for 70 yards.
That gave the Owls first-and-goal at the Scarlet Knights' 9-yard line. Rutgers (3-8) stiffened and forced Temple to turn the ball over on downs at the 1.
But on the next play, quarterback Derek McCord was sacked in the end zone by Angeli.
"They were cut blocking me all day," Angeli said, "but on this play they didn't."
It was a fitting end to a game that had everything.
McNair bolted for a 76-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage, several players were shaken up throughout the game - including Rutgers starting quarterback Tom Tarver, who was knocked out of the game in the third quarter - and Rutgers tried for the two-point conversion after getting its second touchdown with 8:28 left in the third period.
That score, a 1-yard run by Tarver, had cut Temple's lead to 17-13.
The Scarlet Knights went into the dressing room trailing 17-7 after Tarver hit Randy Jackson (five catches, 94 yards) with a 4-yard scoring strike with 28 seconds left in the second period.
"I blame it on myself," Rutgers coach Doug Graber said. "I think maybe we showed too much emotion. There was a great lack of discipline."
Berndt was content with his ugly victory, and Sardisco was satisfied that he had something to take back to the committee of 10, which will select an opponent for Baylor in the Shreveport, La., postseason classic within the next three days.
"We'd like to get a team from this market because Mizlou (the production company airing the Independence Bowl) is based in New York," Sardisco said. ''It would be very impressive to have an Eastern team. We need this because that's what sells commercials. It takes money to run these bowl games."
