Lonnie McMillan Photo

Until then, both teams’ offenses had answers for the other, matching big play after big play. Windham’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Bell game Ohio a shot at the game-tying two-point conversion that would have forced a fourth overtime.

“It just sucks to feel like this and to have the game like that with the ball in my hand,” Windham said. “I should have just thrown the ball up and have somebody have a chance in the end zone. It just happens so fast, but I should have thrown the ball up.”

Texas State finally took the lead for good on L.G. Williams’ 22-yard wide receiver throwback to quarterback Tyler Jones. On the conversion, Jones shoveled the ball forward to Gabe Schrade, who was able to fall into the end zone to make it 56-48.

“We knew trick plays were going to come,” Ohio safety Kylan Nelson said. “We just didn’t know when. I just feel like, I hate to say it, they just got it us on that one. It’s sickening that that’s the play that did it for them. It’s crazy.”

So was the most of the second half and overtime, which included a combined 90 points between the teams after Texas State led 14-6 at halftime.

Both teams seemingly had the game won on multiple occasions, including when Ohio built the only two-possession lead by either team, 31-21, on Papi White’s 16-yard touchdown run on an option pitch. It came on the first play after Ohio took a three-point lead on a Jordan Reid 29-yard touchdown catch and then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

Texas State actually fumble on the next kick return, too, but this time the ball bounced right back into the hands of Brandon McDowell, and that allowed Texas State to eventually get within three on a 5-yard pass from Jones to Erica Luna with 8:37 remaining.

Even after Texas State’s defense came through with a stop, Ohio seemed in control by reciprocating and then earning a pair of first down to run the clock and force Texas State to use all three timeouts. But on third-and-12 from Ohio’s 45, Windham fumbled, and Teron Fitzgerald recovered at midfield with 1:40 to go.

Lonnie McMillan Photo

But Ohio needed just one play to go back in front. White took a screen pass 75 yards to make it 38-35.
Jones used a 22-yard completion to Elijah King to move Texas State to Ohio’s 41-yard line, and a 10-yard completion followed. With 10 seconds left, Jones hit Eric Luna on the right sideline for 21 yards to the 10-yard line on a play originally ruled out of bounds but overturned on replay. That reduced Marcus Ripley’s game-tying field goal try from 48 yards to 27, and he split the uprights as time expired.

Ripley added a 37-yard field goal to start overtime, and Louis Zervos answered with a 22-yarder after Ohio got inside the 10 on the first play – a 17-yard run by Dorian Brown – but could not get in the end zone.

Windham threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Reid on third-and-goal to start the second overtime, and Texas State tied it again on a third-and-goal 3-yard pass from Jones to King.

“We certainly had plenty of opportunities to win it,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I’ve never been involved in a game with so many momentum changes, so many swings, big plays back and forth. I thought it was a great game in terms of players not giving up, both sides.”

Ohio controlled the game early but had little to show for it. Its first drive ended inside the Texas State 30 when Irons fumbled inside the Texas State 30-yard line. Ohio settled for Zervos field goals of 35 and 39 yards on its next two possessions, and Zervos missed wide from 41 yards early in the second quarter with the score still 6-0.

“When you have to settle for field goals, a lot of times they’ll come back to haunt you,” Solich said. “It’s a matter of scoring in the red zone or scoring from the outside on big and explosive plays. It will be a heart-breaking film to watch but there will be so many things on that film that I’ve never seen in my career. It will be interesting to watch and see what all we could have done better.”

Texas State did not get on the board until 8:13 left in the first half when Stedman Mayberry scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. Texas State added to its lead on a 2-yard Jones run with 15 seconds left in the first half.

Ohio came back with a 3-yard touchdown run by Irons runs to start the second half and went up 16-14 on a 45-yard Zervos field goal.

On a fourth-and-1 play, Ohio deflected a pass by Jones, but it was caught by King, who then raced 35 yards for touchdown to make it 21-16.

Both teams had huge offensive numbers, especially through the air. Jones was 40-of-55 passing for 418 yards and four touchdowns and was picked off twice by Nelson. Luna had 10 catches for 90 yards, and King made six grabs for 89 yards and Schrade six for 72.

In his first start, Windham was 27-of-45 passing for 380 yards and four touchdowns. He added 37 yards rushing on eight carries.

Brown led the ground game with 77 yards on 18 attempts, while Irons had 62 yards on 14 attempts. Both played big roles after starter A.J. Ouellette left the game on the first drive. Solich said he was not sure yet, but “it looks like a costly injury.”

Ohio also played most of the second half without top receiver Sebastian Smith, who Solich said was banged up and unable to practice much in the last week.

White finished with 128 yards on six catches to go with 29 yards rushing on eight attempts. Reid caught five passes for 93 yards, and Irons was good for 54 yards on five receptions.

One of the biggest stats was Ohio being penalized 13 times for 141 yards.

“You’re always after your players to continue to compete, so you can’t let things bother you to where you’re not ready to continue coaching and ready to keep playing,” Solich said. “You just come back to competing one play at a time. That was a wear-down game for me. I’ve never been around it where it’s felt quite like that. I’ve only been in it for 50 years.”

Ohio plays Kansas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Lawrence in a game that will be shown on FoxSports Ohio and other regional Fox sports networks.