Louisiana Wins It on a 37-yard Kick as Time Expires
Tony Sterner's 37-yard field goal came with the clock at 0:00, and Louisiana beat Arkansas State 23-20 after the two teams traded the lead four times and tied it twice. The Ragin' Cajuns are 4-1, and a lot of that is Sterner.
Louisiana went up first, 7-0 on a 2-yard run from Winfield late in the first quarter. Arkansas State got a 25-yard Clune Van Andel field goal, then took a 10-7 lead with 31 seconds left in the half on a 21-yard pass from Trey Owens to Jaylen Bonelli. Sterner tied it at 10-10 in the third, Van Andel put the Red Wolves back up 13-10, and JJ Garner's 13-yard run with 14:54 left in the fourth made it 17-13 Louisiana.
Arkansas State answered with a 6-yard Solomon Baggett run for a 20-17 lead at 11:48. Sterner tied it at 20-20 with a 25-yard kick at 5:38, and then won it on the final play. Louisiana never trailed by more than three.
The yardage backs up the winner: Louisiana had 435 total yards to Arkansas State's 293, including 246 on the ground on 42 carries. Neither team threw an interception. Louisiana lost a fumble, and still won, so nothing to complain about.
The closing stretch was a matter of who blinked last. Arkansas State went up 20-17 and Louisiana needed 6:10 of game clock to tie it, then waited until the final play to win it. Neither side ever pulled more than seven apart, since the biggest margin of the night was Louisiana's 7-0 lead in the first quarter and the biggest deficit the Cajuns faced was three. That is a lot of fuss over a field goal kicker, but he earned it: three made kicks, 38, 25 and 37 yards.
Arkansas State falls to 2-3. For fantasy, this was a modest game: D'Wayne' Winfield had 20.0 points, Chauncy Cobb 15.7 and Trey Owens 15.5.