WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The game was out of reach and had been for some time.
But Ohio quarterback Nathan Rourke still had plenty to play for.
With under six minutes left in the third quarter and Ohio down by 27, Rourke scrambled to his right, faked a pass, cut back toward the pocket, spun off a Purdue defender and ran between two more on his way to a hard-earned gain of 13 yards.
Rourke, still listed as the team's backup, sprinted to the first down marker as if the starting spot awaited him on the other side.
After the Bobcats’ 44-21 blowout loss to the Boilermakers on Friday night at Ross-Ade Stadium, Ohio has to re-evaluate the role of Rourke moving forward.
“I’ll visit with (quarterbacks) coach (Scott) Isphording and we’ll make a determination on that here this week,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “But (Rourke) certainly came in, played with a lot of heart, kept plays alive and made plays.”
Redshirt sophomore Quinton Maxwell, named the first-stringer before the season, started against Purdue for the second-straight week. But after completing just 1-of-6 passes for 12 yards in two fruitless drives, Maxwell was replaced.
Rourke, coming off a three-touchdown game against Hampton that earned him Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week, marched the offense down the field for a touchdown on his first drive.
The Bobcats were held scoreless the rest of the half and trailed 34-7 at the half. Giving Maxwell another shot to start the third quarter would’ve made sense, had they chosen to do so.
But they didn’t.
Rourke played the rest of the game and finished with 224 yards passing (16-of-23) and a touchdown, while gaining 36 rushing yards on nine carries.
“They didn’t tell me that I was gonna stay in,” he said. “But I was playing every series like I might be pulled after that.”
Solich clarified after the game that his decision to pull Maxwell wasn’t based on injury or physical concern of any kind, rather that Rourke “came in and made some plays and kept making plays, so we stayed with him.”
Rourke’s elusive 13-yard run in the third quarter, one of a few defender-dodging escapes, showed a willingness to keep fighting.
Solich took notice.
Even when a few of Rourke’s drives came up empty-handed, he was afforded the chance to stay in and keep a rhythm.
“Quinton’s been our one starter and now we’ve brought Nathan in, to get him reps, to prepare two quarterbacks,” Solich said. “So now, we just look at what transpired here in this game and we make decisions off the first two games and go from there.”
When Rourke was asked if he thought he’d done enough to become the starter, he didn't have much to say: “I’m not really worried about that.”
His play had already done all the talking.
