PHILADELPHIA — In the end, all Rutgers could do was snap the ball to Johnny Langan and hope the team’s human wrecking ball would drag this team to victory in the same way a contestant in a world’s strongest man competition might pull an 18-wheeler with a rope around his waist.
Langan did just that, too, turning the final minutes of this 16-14 victory over Temple into something that felt like the artist’s rendition of the 1869 Rutgers-Princeton game had come to life. Langan plowed his way to a couple of first downs, smartly fell down at the 3-yard line when he could have scored, and Rutgers had improved to 3-0 for a second-straight season thanks to a stellar defensive performance.