Ohio Comes Back from 14 Down and Beats Jacksonville State in Overtime
Take away Darren James-Hamilton's 98-yard kickoff return and Ohio loses this game 27-22 without even reaching overtime. Instead the Bobcats won it 29-27 in the extra period, after trailing 14-0 in the second quarter.
Jacksonville State came out fast. Caden Creel ran in from 8 yards in the first quarter, then threw an 82-yard touchdown to tight end Luke Gilbert to open the second, and it was 14-0. Matt Vezza's 8-yard pass to Riley Neer got Ohio on the board, the Gamecocks led 17-14 at the half, and Khristian Lando's 4-yard run in the third made it 24-14. Will Hryszko's 23-yard field goal at the start of the fourth cut it to 24-17.
Then Victor Rosa scored from a yard out with 1:34 left to tie it 24-24. Ohio's offense was not pretty for most of the day: 97 passing yards, 165 rushing on 46 carries, 262 total against 450 for Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks lost a fumble and had no interceptions, and still came up short. The overtime scoring plays are not in the box score, but Ohio ended up on top 29-27. It was a strange win. Ohio gained only 262 yards and still found a way to overtime on the back of one huge special teams play and a quarterback who ran 12 times. Jacksonville State had 450 yards and led by 7 early in the fourth, and could not turn that into a win.
Ohio is 1-1 and Jacksonville State is 1-2. Creel's 37 fantasy points were the best of the day, and he did it with 29 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown, plus a pass line of 18 for 24 and 265 yards. Not bad for the losing quarterback.