Murray State Holds Off Valparaiso 27-18
Valparaiso is 0-1 after this one, and it was within three points with 4:57 to play. Murray State won 27-18, and the last touchdown came with 19 seconds left.
Murray State scored first, Jawaun Northington running in from 2 yards late in the first quarter. Rowan Keefe tied it with a 4-yard run early in the second, and Mykel Allen put the home team back ahead with a 12-yard run at 9:23. It was 14-7 at the half, then 14-10 after Luke Scoma's 37-yard field goal late in the third. Murray State never trailed, and the game was tied exactly once (7-7).
Baxter Wright's 1-yard run with 8:06 left made it 21-10. Keefe answered with a 23-yard pass to Isaac Tran and then threw the two-point conversion to Colin Hayes, and Valparaiso was within 21-18 at 4:57. Then Allen caught a 5-yard pass from Jim Ogle with 19 seconds left (the extra point was blocked), and that was the game, 27-18.
Murray State out-ran everyone: 40 carries for 194 yards, against 23 for 78. Valparaiso threw for 249, more than Murray State's 194, and Keefe threw an interception, though Murray State threw one too. Neither team lost a fumble. The total yards were 388 for Murray State and 327 for Valparaiso.
Murray State is 1-1. Valparaiso is 0-1, with a game it will think it let get away. Two scores in the last five minutes is a long way back from 21-10, and it nearly got there. For fantasy, Keefe was the top scorer at 24.9 points, and Allen, who had been getting almost nothing, scored 19.9 on a touchdown run and a touchdown catch.