Rutgers University rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to defeat Navy, 21-20, in non-conference college football action Saturday. The Scarlet Knights are now 5-1 on the season.
Rutgers trailed Navy, 17-7, late in the third quarter when Gary Nova connected with Quron Pratt for a 10-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to three. On the very next possession Nova led Rutgers on a 66-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 20-yard pass to Tim Wright, giving Rutgers their first lead since early in the first quarter.
Navy was driving late in the game, but had a field goal blocked that would have given them a late lead. Blocked kicks has been a problem for Navy all season who had a 35-yard extra point blocked in overtime against Air Force, and a field goal blocked against Southern Mississippi last week.
Ironically Navy blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt by Rutgers with 30 seconds remaining, which would have stretched the lead to four and all but iced the game. However, even with the blocked kick, Navy still needed to drive 70 yards in 24 seconds, without any timeouts. The game ended three plays later when Navy's quarterback was sacked by Steve Beauharnais.
Nova finished 23-of-31 for a career-high 271 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Mohamed Sanu bounced back from a two-catch game against Pitt with a 10-catch, 100-yard performance. Running back Jawan Jamison rushed for 101 yards on 22 carries, the first 100-yard performance of his collegiate career.
Rutgers is at Louisville next week in Big East Conference action before returning home to host No. 13 West Virginia.
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