Pick-six and Punt Return Carry SE Louisiana past UL Monroe, 38-35
Take away the punt return and the pick-six and UL Monroe wins this game 35-24. Instead, SE Louisiana got a 78-yard punt return touchdown from Dkhai Joseph in the third quarter and an 11-yard interception return from Richard McKneely early in the fourth, 14 points that never needed an offense, and held on for a 38-35 win.
SE Louisiana never trailed. Kyle Lowe hit Lonnie Shinn from 31 yards in the first quarter, and after UL Monroe's Parker Fulghum answered with a 17-yard score (the extra point failed, so it was 7-6), Lowe threw to Tristan Goodly from 3 yards and Kyree Paul ran in from 17 to make it 21-6. A Drew Talley 43-yard field goal as the half expired made it 24-13. Joseph's return pushed it to 31-13, and McKneely's made it 38-20 with 14:44 left in the game.
Then UL Monroe came all the way back to the doorstep. Derrick Jameson ran in from 2 yards and took the two-point try himself at 10:54 to cut it to 38-28, and Aidan Armenta, in at quarterback, found Nic Trujillo from 47 yards with 3:03 to go to make it 38-35. That was the last score. UL Monroe piled up 511 yards (331 through the air, 180 on the ground), but it threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
SE Louisiana moves to 1-1. UL Monroe falls to 0-3, with a three-point loss that came with 511 yards of offense. For fantasy, the story is Austin Carlisle, who completed 19 of 24 and ran for 76 more, and two teammates who did a lot of the scoring, Trujillo and Jameson, who all landed in the top three.