Box Score Piscataway, NJ---The Howard University football team jumped out to an early lead,  fell behind and rallied strong only to fall short at 38-25 to Rutgers in a non-conference game at High Point Solutions Stadium before 48,040.

The Bison (0-2), who were blanked by Akron, 41-0 in its opener,  got on the board on their first possession when red-shirt junior running back Aquanius Freeman  capped off a seven-play, 41-yard drive with a 20-yard scamper.  The drive was set up by freshman Tavius Brown who returned a Rutgers punt 36 yards.

"We showed that we're a much better team," said Howard head coach Gary "Flea" Harrell. "In last week's game, Akron established a tempo, they out willed us, and we just didn't play for 4 quarters. But today we came out against a good Rutgers team and were able to compete better."

The Scarlet Knights (2-0) responded with a drive of their own, but the Bison defense stiffened and forced a 42-yard Kyle Federico field goal at the 4:29 mark of the first quarter.  It seemed to give the Scarlet Knights confidence as they forced a Howard three and out and cashed in by going 85 yards in only five plays, with the big play coming on a Gary Nova to Paul James 69-yard TD pass with 40 seconds remaining in the first stanza.

Howard began to hurt itself with untimely penalties (10 for 100 yards) and turnovers and the Scarlet Knights made them pay.  First Nova tossed his second of four TD passes on the day, this time to Leonte Carroo from 38 yards to up the lead to 17-7.  Less than a minute later, the Scarlet Knights took advantage of a Bison turnover and converted it into a seven-yard bolt by James.

"They have to understand that at the moment of the game, you can't jump off sides and get backed up into your own territory," noted Harrell.  "But those things happen and we have to continue to coach them and keep things going. We had to play some young guys due to our offensive line injuries. After they settled down, Gerald Wright and Janer Reyes were able to step up and get the job done."

Then came what would prove to be a pivotal point in the game.  Trailing 24-7, the Bison responded by putting together a nice drive on their next possession that put them deep in Rutgers' territory. On a key second down play, McGhee rolled and found Richard Aiyegoro wide open in the end zone.  It was not to be.  Aiyegoro lost his footing and it turned up as an incompletion.  It would have educed the deficit to 24-14.

Again, Rutgers capitalized, this time with James scoring his third TD of the day on a 31-yard pass from Nova.  The Scarlet Knights took a 31-7 lead to the locker room.

But to Howard's credit, the team refused to quit.  Behind its leader, senior quarterback Greg McGhee on offense and Julien David on defense, the Bison scored 18 second half points.

McGhee engineered a 12-play, 70-yard drive at the beginning of the third quarter that ended with an 11-yard touchdown burst by William Parker.  The Bison, who had problems with the kicking game all day, failed on the conversion and still trailed, 31-13.

Rutgers took advantage of yet another Bison mistake when they blocked a John Fleck punt.  It took the Scarlet Knights two plays to go 31 yards as Novak tossed his fourth TD pass of the game, a 19 yarder to John Tsimis.

McGhee refused to let his team quit as he put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive. He scampered  12 yards on a quarterback keeper to cap off the drive.  The conversion failed but the Bison were still within striking distance at 38-19 with over 12 minutes remaining on the clock.

After stopping Rutgers on a big third down stop by David, Howard took over and it took the Bison only two plays to score with red-shirt junior running back Terrence Tusan reeling off a 70-yard TD run, the longest of his career.

The Bison failed on yet another PAT attempt and trailed 38-25 with 5:22 left in the fourth quarter. Rutgers forced a turnover and ran some clock to put the game away and keep the Bison winless.

The Howard offense, which was held to under 170 yards of offense at Akron, amassed 437 yards of total offense, including 269 on the ground.  Tusan led all rushers with a career-high 101 yards while McGhee added 79 and Parker 52.

McGhee passed for 168 yards and he was able to find more open receivers this week.  Matthew Colvin grabbed five for 77 yards for a team high and Robert Mercer grabbed three for 46.

"Protection was the key," said McGhee. "The  protection held up well today. It gave us a chance to get the ball off to our receivers and make a couple plays up the field. That's probably the biggest improvement."

Devin Rollins again led the team in tackles with 10 while Cameron Alston collected nine.  But it was David, who made several big plays on defense that stopped Rutgers players short of first downs.  The 5-11, 200-pound red-shirt senior, missed the opener with a knee injury and was playing his first game of the season.

"I just really tried to bring energy to the team today," said David. "I was a little rusty in the first and second quarters. It's been awhile since I've been out there. But I tried my best . It may not have resulted in a win today, but it is something to build on."

Added Harrell. "Julian is no doubt about it the heart and soul of defense. He's still not 100 percent, but we knew we needed a guy that can push us mentally and he does a good job as far as getting us lined up. In our defense, we have to be in good position.  We've got to be lined up at the snap of the football and he does a good job as far as being a quarterback of that side of the ball."
 
NEXT UP: The Bison play Morehouse College in the AT&T Classic at RFK Stadium next week at 3:30 pm while the Scarlet Knights open Big Ten play next Saturday when they host Penn State.