“You guys should have heard the Rocky chants in the locker room before I came over here,” defensive coordinator Mike Tressel said postgame. “It was awesome. Very proud of him, but I knew that was the type of competitor he was.”

The 6-foot-3, 218 pound native of Clive, Iowa felt good hearing those chants, especially after throwing 26-for-46 with 318 yards, the second-most by an MSU quarterback in his first career start (Ed Smith threw 324 yards at NC State in 1976), and two touchdowns in the Spartans’ win over the Boilermakers. 

“To know your teammates have your back — obviously I don’t have a lot of game experience — and for them to come and support me like that, it means a lot to me,” Lombardi said.

Lombardi, a redshirt freshman, said coach Mark Dantonio told him Friday night he would start against the Boilermakers over usual-starting quarterback Brian Lewerke, who’s harboring an unknown right-shoulder injury suffered against Penn State two weeks ago. 

“I thought Rocky played a tremendous game,” Dantonio said. “For a guy coming in there on his first start, it was a big game, really big game. I thought he was poised, I thought he ran the ball effectively when he was asked to. I thought he was pretty much on the money throwing the football. Had some very big plays out there, missed a couple by inches but it is a game of inches. I thought he played very well.”

Lombardi said he didn’t really know the game plan going into Saturday, and knew Lewerke or quarterback Theo Day would come in if he started to sputter.

“I just knew I was going to go out there — hopefully I did well enough to stay in the game,” Lombardi said. “But, the same mindset I’ve had all the time. Just go out there and play your game, get your pre-reads done, and know where you’re going with the football. And I thought I did a good job of that today.”

On the first drive, Lombardi said he was nervous. Particularly on the first two passes, both to wide receiver Darrell Stewart Jr. — the first for 14 yards, the second, an incompletion.

“There was one out route where the linebacker sank under it, (I got) a little nervous, threw it high,” Lombardi said. “But really, it took about two passes for me to really get in a rhythm and be like, ‘Alright, this is football. I’ve been playing since I was (a child). It’s the same game.'"

This mental preparation helped him on MSU’s last drive in the first half, where he went 6-of-8 for 84 yards, ending the drive with an 11-yard touchdown to Stewart — his first career touchdown as a Spartan.

“Being down in your own territory, it’s intimidating going out there,” Lombardi said. “But, I think that my teammates had confidence in me, and I for sure had confidence in my teammates. And then coach Warner did a good job of calling routes that I was comfortable with, getting me in a rhythm. And then once I got in a rhythm and just kept moving forward, kept moving forward, and eventually led to that touchdown.”

Lombardi almost started last week against Michigan, but Dantonio ultimately opted to go with Lewerke instead, who didn’t practice all last week. Lewerke ended up throwing 5-of-25 for 66 yards against the Wolverines.

Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner said he and the coaching staff second guessed their decision to play Lewerke over Lombardi against the Wolverines, because they put Lewerke in “a bad situation by playing him without practicing.” 

But he said Lombardi was ready to start last week if needed — like every week.

“You never know until you get out there and the lights come on, but he had a good week at practice last week,” Warner said. “Really no surprise right there. I think he continues to move along with his knowledge of the offense, and his performance, and obviously now when you get a chance to do it out there in game situations he's proven himself a little bit more.”

Warner’s not only Lombardi’s offensive coordinator, but he’s also his player-assigned mentor, which is given to every player to talk about more than just football.

“Especially this year, I think we’ve gotten to know each other better,” Lombardi said. “That also helps me to get closer to him. And yeah, I was up in the office this week, just kind of asking him, ‘What do you see here? What can I do better?’ Just little things that would help the team win.”

Warner and Dantonio said they were both impressed with how Lombardi prepares.

“We may have pared back a little bit, but not much, because Rocky's been here and he's a gym rat,” Warner said. “He's up in our offices all the time. He learned our offense very quickly and has been through it. Obviously minus the game experience, but he ran our offense today. There wasn't a whole lot that we held back today with him being the quarterback, and he did it well.”

Warner said Lombardi kept his cool, even when he made mistakes such as overthrowing wide receivers or making a bad read.

He was in control of himself, which Warner said was the biggest takeaway from Lombardi’s performance.

“Nothing's ever going to be perfect out there,” Warner said. “There were some screw ups, but he was always in control and never looked flustered and made plays. I'm excited about what he was able to accomplish today for us.”

Lombardi knows he made some mistakes, such as overthrowing to cornerback/wide receiver Justin Layne three times — first on MSU’s second drive in the first quarter, the second on MSU’s second drive in the fourth — and wide receiver Brandon Sowards on the same drive as Layne’s last miss.

“I’m happy I got that many attempts and got to show what I did,” Lombardi said. “Missed a few deep balls today for sure. We left a lot of points on the board. But they’re a good defense, they played well, played tough — just like we did.”

He even got praise from Purdue Head Coach Jeff Brohm.

"I thought he did a great job," Brohm said. "He had great composure, great poise, made throws up the field, and took one-on-one matchups when they were covered fairly well, and he hit them. He executed the offense and made plays with his feet. He was in charge. I thought he was outstanding today."

Lombardi’s teammates took notice of his toughness and competitiveness, especially considering he ran the ball 11 times for 22 yards after Warner told Lombardi to “run like a fullback," earlier in the week.

“He’s not obviously as fast as Brian, but he’s not afraid of running people over as you saw today,” said tight end Matt Dotson, who had four catches for 48 yards. “I told him before the game, ‘Don’t run out of bounds. Obviously if you’re in a certain situation (do it), but show your dominance. Don’t back down from anybody.’"

And Stewart, like Dotson and pretty much everyone else in the Spartan locker room, had high praise for Lombardi after his performance. 

“He's very confident in every practice each week,” said Stewart, who caught four passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. “He was fired up and wanted to show everyone that he could step up and be a leader on this team, and I think he did a phenomenal job today. He took initiative in the huddle and was a real leader all the way through.”

Now, going into next Saturday’s matchup against Maryland, there’s a question as to who’s going to be the starting quarterback.

A question Dantonio isn’t going to answer yet.

“I'm just excited that we have two quarterbacks playing at a high level and that's what's exciting. Those decisions can be made at another time, but first thing we have to do is get him (Lewerke) healthy. We'll see, this week I know he was better than he was last week when he played.”

And for the time being, Lombardi will continue to fill Lewerke’s shoes, and show his teammates he’s a competitor. 

“They know I’m as competitive as it gets, and I’m a winner,” Lombardi said. “I went out there today with a tough mentality that I was going to go out there and compete, and run somebody over if I have to.”