Robert Morris Comes from Behind to Defeat Hampton, 38-35

A Pittsburgh college football team led by a fifth-year senior at quarterback completed a second-half comeback today against a 3-4 football team at home.

The Robert Morris football team was down eight at halftime, and later by eight with less than ten minutes left, yet still managed to win the game 38-35 on a 38-yard field goal by Nick Bisceglia.

Prior to taking the lead at the end, Robert Morris had only two leads in the entire game. Both were in the first half when they led 7-0 and later 10-7. When Hampton took the lead on a touchdown run by Jett Duffey with 7:44 left in the first half, they held it until Robert Morris tied things up on a touchdown and two-point conversion with 3:01 left in the game.

“The last drive was our most confident as an offense,” said Robert Morris quarterback George Martin. “When you play with guys for years now, it’s been four years I’ve been with these guys, you get the feeling that they’re all locked in. He’s fighting an injury and he’s fighting an injury, but it doesn’t matter, because if you’re that far locked in and know your assignment, you know we can push the ball all the way down the field. It was great to see our guys that confident.”

The game-winning kick. Photo Credit: Ethan Morrison

The largest deficit that Robert Morris had to comeback from was when Hampton scored on their first drive of the second half. After that touchdown, a Duffey 21-yard run, Hampton took a 15-point lead. Robert Morris scored the next two touchdowns though to make the score 28-26 as they failed to convert on the two-point conversion on the latter of the two drives.

In the game, there were 10 scoring drives of 60-yards or more between the two teams. Perhaps the player of the game was Duffey, who set a stadium record five rushing touchdowns in a single game. Duffey had 84 rushing yards on 18 carries, and had a 190.5 QBR. He completed 14 of his 20 passes for 287 yards in the game.

“Our O-line did a good job and held up well,” said Clark. “The running attack, the passing attack, it all came together. The O-line gave George the time he needed to see guys. He’s a fifth-year senior, and you know he’s always going to get it going eventually. He’s a second-half guy. That held true today.”

Martin had arguably the best game of his career on Saturday. Photo Credit: Ethan Morrison

But it was the Robert Morris offense that ended up with more points in the end. They benefitted from a break-out performance by running back Alijah Jackson. Jackson had struggled throughout the season, averaging just 2.8 yards per carry and 56.8 yards per game. The move to the Big South had been difficult for Jackson and the Robert Morris running game, but Jackson had one of the best games of his career against Hampton.

Jackson almost doubled his season yards per carry average against Hampton. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry in the game and added a touchdown. He was only tackled for loss one time in the whole game, just a one-yard loss too, and he finished with 127 yards on 25 carries.

“We were running the ball effectively,” said Martin. “The defense had to go back and decide what they wanted to defend and we just adjusted accordingly.”

Consistency from the quarterback position has been key in the victories for Robert Morris this season and the team got more of that from him today. George Martin threw for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns. He managed a 156.6 QBR while completing 28 of his 39 passes. He threw no interceptions as well.

Robert Morris improves to 3-4 (2-3) in their first full Big South conference season. They have yet to lose at home, and have won all of those games by only one score. Robert Morris’s next game will be against Kennesaw State on November 6th. That game will be at home with a noon kick-off time.