‘It got rough.’ Ohio withstands Nevada’s fourth-quarter comeback for Potato Bowl victory
Someone on the Ohio football staff must have gone on a munchie run in the fourth quarter, and the leftovers made for a most-appropriate Famous Idaho Potato Bowl victory celebration.
Coach Frank Solich was doused in French fries after his Bobcats defeated Nevada 30-21 in the 23rd edition of the Boise-based bowl game Friday at Albertsons Stadium. It was the third straight bowl victory for Ohio, which is a program record.
Solich smiled and popped one of the fries in his mouth as he watched senior quarterback Nathan Rourke take a knee to close out the win.
“That’s a lot better than water on you,” Solich said. “Over the course of the years, I’ve had some water on me. I will take those potatoes anytime.”
Rourke was voted the game’s MVP after completing 9-of-17 passes for 144 yards and rushing for 87 yards and one touchdown on 10 touches. He finishes his career with 49 rushing TDs, tied for the most in program history.
“From the moment he stepped on campus, we knew we had somebody special in the way that he conducted himself and everything he did,” Solich said. “Whether it had to do with football, whether it was in meetings with the coaches, whether it was working with the players on their own time.
“... He thinks beyond himself. That’s not the way it is all the time. He is definitely team-oriented to the point where he’ll do anything he can to help his teammates become better athletes, better players, better people.”
Ohio lost leading rusher O’Shaan Allison to an injury on the Bobcats’ final drive of the first quarter. The 5-foot-10, 205-pound redshirt freshman went to the locker room with a trainer and returned to the sideline later in the second quarter, but did not play again.
Allison had rushed for 46 yards at the time of his exit, and he entered the bowl game with a team-best 823 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 129 carries.
The Bobcats didn’t miss a beat without him, though.
Redshirt sophomore Julian Ross finished off the same Bobcats’ drive with carries on seven of the eight ensuing plays. He capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run for a 10-3 Ohio lead early in the second quarter.
Ross later gave way to junior De’Montre Tuggle, who played despite breaking a finger during pregame warmups. Tuggle added a touchdown on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter, and he paced the Bobcats’ ground game with 97 yards.
“We’ve been really fortunate this year. We haven’t had ‘backup’ running backs, we’ve had a cycle of guys going in,” Rourke said. “We don’t really skip a beat offensively when we have De’Montre or Julian go in. ... It definitely makes my job a lot easier.”
Freshman kicker Brandon Talton provided the Wolf Pack’s only points in the first half, connecting on field-goal attempts of 51, 36 and 33 yards. His 51-yarder tied a Potato Bowl record and is the longest in Nevada bowl history.
Ohio (7-6) led 30-9 before Nevada (7-6) made it a game in the fourth quarter. Wolf Pack defensive end Sam Hammond recovered a pair of Ohio fumbles, and each one led to a touchdown.
“We have a lot of resiliency. We have great kids. I love the fight in our players,” Nevada coach Jay Norvell said. “I love the character that our players have. I’ve seen them do it. We did it at Purdue the very first game. We were down by 17. We came back and tied it and won. This team is very capable of doing that.”
Nevada scored its first TD on an 8-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Carson Strong to junior receiver Elijah Cooks with 10:48 left in the fourth quarter, but Ohio’s Dylan Conner blocked the PAT attempt, leaving the score at 30-15.
Sophomore defensive end Dom Peterson got the ball back for Nevada three plays later with a sack and forced fumble of Rourke. Hammond recovered the ball on Ohio’s 21-yard line, and the Wolf Pack were back in the end zone less than a minute later courtesy of a 1-yard run from Devonte Lee.
Nevada opted for the two-point conversion attempt to try to make it a one-score game, but Strong’s pass sailed long.
With 402 passing yards, Strong became just the second quarterback in Potato Bowl history to pass for more than 400 yards. Cooks’ 14 receptions for 197 yards rank second and third, respectively, in the bowl’s history.
Nevada worked its way into scoring position two more times, but the Ohio defense held strong. On their second-to-last possession, the Wolf Pack reached the Ohio 6-yard line but fumbled on a reverse. Nevada’s final drive ended on fourth-and-goal from the 9 when Ohio corner Ilyaas Motley knocked down Strong’s pass in the end zone.
“We have fighters on our team. We’re not going to lay down for nobody,” Ohio safety Jarren Hampton said. “That’s what we did. We showed that today. It got rough, but we persevered.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 7:25 PM.
