Football Clipped at Georgetown, 21-20

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bucknell freshman Tariq Thomas ran for a career-high 145 yards and two touchdowns, but Georgetown erased an early 14-0 deficit and held off the Bison 21-20 in a Patriot League game on Saturday at Cooper Field.

Ralph Rucker IV, back after a one-week injury absence, completed 17 of 29 pass attempts for 226 yards. He tried to engineer two potential go-ahead drives in the closing minutes, but one ended on a missed field goal and the other on a fourth-down sack at the Georgetown 45-yard line, which sent the Hoyas into victory formation.

Bucknell fell to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League, while the Hoyas improved to 5-3 and overall and 2-1 in the conference.

Thomas was the catalyst as the Bison jumped out to the 14-0 lead. Rucker was 3-for-3 and Thomas carried four times for 29 yards on Bucknell's first drive of the game, a 75-yard march that ended with the freshman's 15-yard through a gaping hole.

Chris Sims' fumble recovery after a strip by Takai Whitmore set up Bucknell's second touchdown. On the second play of the second quarter, Thomas took the ball on a sweep to the left, made a great cut back to the inside, and scored from 27 yards out.

Check out this cut by Tariq Thomas for his second score of the day! #rayBucknell #ACT #PLTop3

Watch: https://t.co/AigyGwOSNo @ESPN | @PatriotLeagueHQ pic.twitter.com/T8UjJXrEPB
— Bucknell Football (@Bucknell_FB) October 26, 2024

Savion Hart's 40-yard dash put the Hoyas on the board with 4:29 left in the half, and the hosts tied it on an 11-yard pass from Lauter to Nicholas Dunneman with only 14 seconds left in the half.

Georgetown's kickoff went out of bounds, and the Bison got aggressive in the closing seconds of the half. Rucker twice connected with Nate Anderson on sideline routes, setting up a Matt Schearer 43-yard field goal as time expired.

The Hoyas took their first lead of the day at 21-17 on a Bryce Cox one-yard plunge with 5:56 left in the third. The Bison thought they had taken the lead early in the fourth on a nice drive that was keyed by a 36-yard pass from Rucker to Sam Milligan on a 3rd-and-3 play. Rucker later ran it in from the 6, but the touchdown was nullified by a holding call. A dropped pass in the end zone on third down set up Schearer's 32-yard field goal to make it a 21-20 game.

Roman Pearson intercepted a deep ball at his own 12 with 6:55 to play, and Rucker hit Josh Gary on a 45-yard pass down the right sideline to get the ball into Georgetown territory. The Bison could not capitalize, however, as Schearer's 36-yard field goal attempt missed wide to the right.

The Bison defense came up with another stop with two minutes to play. A third-down pass from Rucker to Thomas, followed by a Rucker scramble for 10 yards set them up with a first down at the Georgetown 45. After three incompletions, GianCarlo Rufo sacked Rucker on fourth down to end it.

Thomas, who was named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List (FCS Rookie of the Year) earlier this week, became the first Bison back to eclipse 100 yards since Rushawn Baker last season against Colgate.

Georgetown outgained the Bison 404-368 and won the possession time battle 37:20 to 22:40. The Hoyas had two backs go over 100 yards rushing. Hart carried 17 times for 112 yards, and Cox tallied 104 yards on 17 totes. Georgetown ran for 274 yards as a team.

Gavin Willis, coming off a 19-tackle performance against Cornell last week, led the Bison with 13 tackles. Brad Jamison had eight and Nick Hoying seven.

Bucknell will now have three of its final four games at home, starting next week with Lafayette at 1 p.m.

Next Event

Team Stats

Ralph Rucker IV

Sam Milligan

Players Mentioned

Nate Anderson

Rushawn Baker

Josh Gary

Nick Hoying

Brad Jamison

Sam Milligan

Roman Pearson

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

Chris Sims

Tariq Thomas

Takai Whitmore

Gavin Willis