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If there’s one thing early bowl games can bring, it’s weirdness.
Check out this sequence in the first quarter of Friday’s Cure Bowl between Northern Illinois and Coastal Carolina. On 4th and 1, NIU quarterback Rocky Lombardi pushes his way into the pile to move the sticks and get the first down for the Huskies ... and a lot more.
Typical 29-yard gain on a QB sneak. pic.twitter.com/UADdcOLvkj
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 17, 2021
This was a straight up rugby scrum for a good five seconds of game time and it doesn’t occur to anyone that Lombardi had yet to go down! Billed at 6’3”, 219 pounds, the Michigan State transfer QB sure did leverage his size to move the sticks and even more.
That eventually led to a Huskies touchdown to put them on the board with a 7-0. The Chanticleers answered right back as their QB Grayson McCall moved them right down the field and set up a game-tying touchdown. This could be a sleeper banger of a game with Lombardi and McCall calling the shots.