CINCINNATI — Nathan Rourke glanced at the videoboard, walked off the field and took his helmet off.
Walking towards the phone connected to the press box, he kept glancing up at the Nippert Stadium videoboard hoping that what he’d just done could be reversed. The score read Cincinnati 34, Ohio 30.
His eye black runny from sweat and rain, he put his head down, eyes toward the turf.
Grabbing the tan phone, he glanced back up one final time. The score hadn’t changed.
Rourke’s worst nightmare had been confirmed: He’d thrown an interception on the 1-yard line with under a minute left, costing Ohio a win over in-state rival Cincinnati.
“I was betting on our best guy, (Papi White). At the end of the day, I need to take care of the ball,” Rourke said. “I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while.”
In a game in which Rourke looked like the quarterback from last season — instead of the one pulled after three series against Howard — he didn’t finish with the result he wanted.
For the past week, Ohio’s coaching staff preached the idea of starting fast on both sides of the ball. The Bobcats did — they led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Rourke rushed for 41 yards and threw for 60 yards and a touchdown, and he did it all without his top target, Papi White.
For most of the game, Cincinnati did that, forcing Rourke to turn to a different wideout because of White's speed.
Whenever the Bobcats needed to extend a drive or put themselves in scoring position, it seemed like Rourke turned to Cam Odom, a redshirt sophomore. Plagued with dropped passes over the last two games, Odom grasped the opportunity, finishing the day with 5 receptions and a career-high 114 yards.
The next touchdown, with 11:12 left in the second quarter, was vintage Rourke.
Inside the red zone, he and Maleek Irons had miscommunication on an option, one running one way the other another. Instead of taking a sack or pitching it to Irons, Rourke ran past two defenders for a touchdown.
All of a sudden, the fast start was becoming a blowout, with Rourke showing why he’s supposed to be one of the best Group of Five quarterbacks in the country. A lead of 24-7 at halftime seemed comfortable.
“For sure, that was my best half of the year so far,” Rourke said.
But his only miscue came at the worst time, an interception from the 1-yard line with 52 seconds left in the game. Rolling out to his right and looking for Papi White, he threw it into the hands of Bearcats' safety James Wiggins.
It was then that he took off his helmet and headed over to the phone.
The worst part for Rourke, he said, was that he’d made an effort to be a better teammate Saturday. Early in the game, he showed emotion when a roughing the passer penalty was called on the Bearcats. By getting outside of his comfort zone and telling an official to throw a flag, Rourke was ready to do anything to win.
But when he was really given his chance to secure the win, he couldn’t deliver. That’s what was bothering him the most when he picked up the phone: How could he have such a productive game, but let it end the way he did?
When the Bobcats reconvene, there are guaranteed to be plenty of other issues in every phase to address on film. How quickly Ohio learns from its mistakes will determine whether it can salvage a season that began with so much promise and now sits at 1-2 with just one nonconference game left.
That’s something that Rourke will have to address. It’ll also take him a while to forgot about the score on the videoboard.
“I’m a low-key kind of guy. I tried to do my best today to be contagious with my energy,” he said. “It’s funny, because we talked all week about starting quickly. Now we have to put an emphasis on finishing.”
