Western Michigan Survives a Last-second Rice Touchdown, 28-21
Western Michigan led 28-14 with 1:54 left, and it still needed everything to hold on. Rice scored with nine seconds to go, and the Broncos won 28-21 anyway to improve to 2-1. Rice is 1-2.
The game was tied twice and nobody ever took the lead from Western Michigan, because the Broncos scored first and answered every Rice tie. Broc Lowry ran in from 5 yards late in the first quarter. Jacurri Brown tied it at 7-7 with a 2-yard run in the second, Lowry hit Aveion Chenault from 34 yards to make it 14-7, and Tyvonn Byars tied it again at 14-14 with a 1-yard run in the third.
Then the fourth quarter belonged to short runs. Jalen Buckley scored from a yard out at 14:19 for a 21-14 lead, and Lolo Mataele added another 1-yard touchdown with 1:54 left to make it 28-14. Brown threw a 22-yard touchdown to Barry Jackson Jr. with nine seconds left, and that was it.
The yardage was almost a coin flip: Western Michigan had 334 total yards and Rice had 330, with the Broncos running for 218 and the Owls for 209. Western Michigan lost a fumble, Rice did not turn it over, and the scoreboard still came out in the Broncos' favor. Brown alone carried 23 times for 128 yards. Rice scored on the way out, which made the final look closer than the game was.
Fantasy takeaway: Brown topped everybody with 29.6 points, a season high, and Lowry and Buckley were the next two.