UNLV Beats North Dakota State 13-7 on a Pick-six
Take away the pick-six and North Dakota State wins this game 7-6. That is not me being cute, it is subtraction: UNLV's offense produced two field goals and nothing else.
The score that mattered came early. Andre Porter returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown with 9:39 left in the first quarter, and Ramon Villela's kick made it 7-0. North Dakota State answered in the second when Nathan Hayes found Chris Kiel from 21 yards out, which tied it 7-7. UNLV never trailed, and after that the whole game was Villela. He kicked a 29-yarder in the third and a 24-yarder at 10:57 of the fourth, and no one scored again.
Hayes threw three interceptions. UNLV threw one of its own, which sounds like a wash until you notice that one of Hayes's three went back for a touchdown. North Dakota State had the better yardage, 300 to 262, though most of UNLV's came on the ground: 45 carries for 185 yards against 77 through the air. Each team recorded two sacks.
UNLV is 4-2 and North Dakota State is 5-1. Think about the whole afternoon: three scores by the winner, one by the loser, and the total on the scoreboard never passed 20. A game like that needs exactly one weird play to settle it, and this one had it before the first quarter was over. Hayes had a rough day for fantasy, and the top scorer on the field managed only 14.3 points. That is a low-scoring board for a low-scoring game.