This is a column that I have been planning to write for a while, and Ohio’s 55-34 win Saturday has finally given me the chance.
Kurtis Rourke is the long-awaited answer to a question Ohio has been asking since his older brother, Nathan, headed to the Canadian Football League after the 2019 season.
Over 15 games across the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Kurtis Rourke attempted 303 of Ohio’s 367 total pass attempts, but that doesn’t tell the full story of its quarterback situation.
Rourke spent the majority of the past two seasons splitting time at quarterback with Armani Rogers, as they both appeared in 13 of Ohio’s 15 games.
Rogers was mostly a runner, and Rourke came in when Ohio needed to pass. Despite the fact that two different coaches oversaw those seasons at Ohio, the quarterback position was an unmitigated disaster. The lack of both consistency and competence, at least in the passing game, played a huge role in Ohio’s 5-10 record over that span.
With Rogers departing for the National Football League after the 2021 season and the only competition coming from a couple of young quarterbacks, the starting job was Rourke’s to lose in 2022.
But not only has Rourke never come close to losing the job, he has been one of the best quarterbacks in the Group of 5.
He is currently fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards with 1,944 and sixth in yards per game at 324. He already has the top two passing yardage games in Ohio history, with 537 against Fordham and 427 Saturday against Akron. He is also on pace to demolish the Bobcats’ single-season records for both yards per game and total passing yards.
But Rourke is not playing in a pass-heavy offense that gives him a high volume of passing attempts like Mississippi State’s Will Rogers, who leads the country in yards, completions and yards per game playing for Mike Leach, who runs a pure Air Raid offense.
In fact, of the quarterbacks averaging more yards per game than Rourke this season, the only one with fewer attempts than Rourke is Southern Methodists’ Tanner Mordecai, who has only played five games.
Not only has Rourke been efficient, but he hasn’t made many mistakes. He has the fewest interceptions of any quarterback in the top ten in yards per game, with two.
After two years of struggling in a consistent competition for the starting quarterback job, Rourke has been everything a coach could ask a quarterback to be this season. He has avoided mistakes, run the offense efficiently and used his legs when he needed to.
All of that was on display against Akron, when he had the best game of any quarterback in the Group of 5 this weekend, according to ESPN’s Quarterback Rating and Pro Football Focus’ Offensive Grade.
Rourke’s absolute best was on display against Akron, going 24-27 for 427 yards and three touchdowns. His two touchdown passes to Sam Wiglusz, in particular, were fantastic. The first one, for 75 yards, was a good throw to an open Wiglusz, but it was the second one that truly set Rourke apart Saturday.
With Ohio leading by just eight points early in the third quarter, Rourke dropped a beautiful pass over Wiglusz’ back shoulder at the front corner of the end zone for the score. It was a level of touch and accuracy that we had not seen from Rourke until this season.
Saturday was simply the latest chapter for Rourke on the way to what is likely going to end up as the greatest quarterback season in Ohio history, and he is the quarterback that this program has spent the last two seasons searching for.
