KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Nathan Rourke hasn’t played in the fourth quarter since Oct. 13.
He hasn’t had to.
Ohio’s quarterback, who is leading an offensive juggernaut through the past three games, doesn’t mind the extra midgame rest. He puts in the work he has to in order to help the Bobcats win.
He and Ohio made quick work of Western Michigan on Thursday night at Waldo Stadium. Rourke didn’t play a single second-half snap in the Bobcats’ 59-14 pummeling of the Broncos, their first win at Waldo Stadium since 1998.
“It’s a real statement to those who start the game and who have played as well as we have,” Rourke said of his light workload in recent games. “I hope it continues. I like when everyone gets the chance to play.”
He threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. Ohio didn’t allow a first-half point. The Bobcats’ special teams unit forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown of its own. All three units — offense, defense and special teams — dominated Western Michigan.
It didn’t matter if Ohio had the ball, if Western Michigan had it or if Ohio was about to receive the ball. It didn’t even matter if Western Michigan was about to receive the ball. Something good was bound to happen for the Bobcats, who seemed to catch every break along their executioner’s path.
Ohio’s special teams forced three turnovers. One directly resulted in points: DL Knock blocked a punt, and the ball was scooped up and taken into the end zone by Alvin Floyd. The other two were when Western Michigan was supposed to get the ball back but muffed kickoffs after Ohio scores. Those two fumbles resulted in a combined 10 points.
“We’re pretty tough to beat when we do a good job on the turnover ratio,” coach Frank Solich said.
Both muffed kicks gave Ohio prime field position. The Bobcats dominated in field position — they had five touchdown drives that traveled 50 yards or fewer. They had 59 points on just 420 total yards of offense. Ohio’s offense showed balance, totaling 256 rushing yards and 164 passing yards.
“We want to be balanced, and we want to hit them in different ways,” Rourke said. “The better we are in the passing game, the better we are in the running game, and vice versa.”
For all the balance and short fields the offense had, though, the Ohio defense locked an opponent down for the third straight game. The Bobcats were gifted a turnover early in the game when WMU running back Jamauri Bogan fumbled a handoff. Defensive lineman Kent Berger fell on it, setting Ohio’s offense up perfectly.
But the other two turnovers were forced. WMU freshman quarterback Kaleb Eleby, who made his first career start, was stripped by cornerback Marlin Brooks near the end of the first half, giving Ohio the ball near midfield. Safety Kylan Nelson intercepted Eleby in the third quarter when the game was well out of hand, and he was able to claim Ohio’s “turnover belt” as his with the interception.
“I was able to hold it up in the locker room,” Solich said of the belt. “But Kylan took it right back.”
For a third straight game, Ohio’s offense was nearly unstoppable. Its defense bludgeoned the WMU offense. And the special teams was the final phase Solich was looking for a complete game from. All three units delivered on the wet turf of Waldo Stadium.
As well as the Bobcats played, though, they’re fixated on looking forward, not on their last three games — they’ve outscored opponents by a combined score of 160-42 in that span. They can celebrate the win, the turnovers, the domination and the winning streak, but they’ll get over it.
“They’ll come down pretty quickly,” Solich said. “All they have to do is watch some film on Miami.”
As nice as it is to fly back to Athens with Solich’s first career win in Kalamazoo, repeating that performance next week against Miami in the “Battle of the Bricks” would mean even more.
“For the last couple games, we’ve shown that,” Rourke said of the Bobcats. “We’ve just got to continue to do that for this very important stretch that we have in front of us.”
