Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs Navy Midshipmen Box Score on Sep 20, 2014

Rutgers 31, Navy 24: Paul James rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with a leg injury and the visiting Scarlet Knights held off the Midshipmen.

James and backup Justin Goodwin, who ran for 104 yards on 26 carries, were part of a grueling Rutgers running attack that beat Navy (2-2) at its own game. The Scarlet Knights (3-1) used four ball-carriers in a dominating ground game that dented Navy for 284 yards and four touchdowns, including a 38-yard run from James and two 1-yard plunges by quarterback Gary Nova.

Quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who missed Navy’s 35-21 win over Texas State last week with a knee injury, returned but was ineffective early and the Midshipmen could never really get its vaunted run game going. Reynolds capped off a quick three-play, 25-yard drive - after James fumbled on the game’s first play from scrimmage - with a 1-yard score, but finished with just 25 yards on the ground.

Nova, who came under fire after throwing five interceptions in a 13-10 loss to Penn State last week, bounced back by captaining four first-half scoring drives as the Scarlet Knights took a 24-14 lead into the locker room. Nova let the running backs do most of the work in the second half and finished 11-of-14 passing for 151 yards.

The Midshipmen, who closed the scoring with Reynolds' 14-yard touchdown pass to Brendan Dudeck with 5:26 left to play, tried seven different ball-carriers in their option attack, but the Scarlet Knights held them to 171 yards on 43 carries. Geoffrey Whiteside led Navy with just 51 yards on six carries and Tago Smith – a change-of-pace quarterback who starred in the victory over Texas State – did not get in the game as Reynolds threw for 231 yards.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Rutgers now owns a 13-11-1 edge in the series and improved to 6-9-1 at Navy. … The Midshipmen had an eight-game home winning streak snapped. … Scarlet Knights coach Kyle Flood, who took over three years ago after Greg Schiano left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fell to 9-1 in September games.