Eastern Kentucky football beaten on Hail Mary in controversial finish at Central Arkansas

Will McElvain threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Jarrod Barnes with 1 second remaining and Central Arkansas pulled out a 27-24 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night.

McElvain’s game-winning throw capped a four-play, 83-yard drive for Central Arkansas (7-3, 4-1 United Athletic Conference), ranked 24th in the FCS coaches poll.

“I’m really at a loss for words,” Central Arkansas coach Nathan Brown said. “Just proud for our guys, our men that were a part of that. And I think the thing that’s so special about a game like that is the ability to quit in a game like that. You have 18-19 seconds left, no timeouts, you have 88 yards to go. A lot of teams wouldn’t put the ball where it needs to be, or wouldn’t make the play when it mattered the most, or whatever that looks like.”

Eastern Kentucky coach Walt Wells questioned the referees’ clock management during the closing drive.

“We got homered tonight,” Wells said in a postgame radio interview, according to a report in the Richmond Register. “Central Arkansas’ clocks didn’t work and the clock operator didn’t work.”

Eastern Kentucky had just grabbed a 24-21 lead with 24 seconds left to play when Parker McKinney threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Bednarczyk and a two-point conversion pass to Braedon Sloan.

Central Arkansas grabbed the lead on the game’s first play from scrimmage when T.D. Williams intercepted a McKinney pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. McKinney came right back with a 10-yard touchdown toss to Jalen Burbage to cap a 15-play drive and even the score at 7 after one quarter.

McElvain connected with Trustin Oliver for a 2-yard touchdown with 6 seconds left before halftime to give the Bears a 14-10 lead.

McElvain’s 11-yard scoring strike to Christian Richmond pushed the lead to 21-10 late in the third quarter. Patrick Nations’ third field goal of the game pulled the Colonels within 21-16 with 6:37 remaining.

McElvain finished with 291 yards on 27-of-44 passing with three scores and one interception for the Bears. Richmond caught 10 passes for 71 yards. ShunDerrick Powell rushed 13 times for 96 yards.

McKinney completed 38 of 54 passes for 377 yards, with two scores and two interceptions for the Colonels. Sloan had seven receptions for 109 yards.

The loss, EKU’s second in a row on the final play of the game, assured a losing season for the Colonels (4-6, 3-2) whose season ends Saturday at home against Stephen F. Austin.

Western Kentucky defeated

BOWLING GREEN — Diego Pavia threw two touchdown passes and Dylan Early had a 57-yard interception return to propel New Mexico State to a 38-29 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday and into the Conference USA championship game.

Eli Stowers had a 7-yard touchdown reception and 7-yard TD run for the Aggies (8-3, 6-1), who won the game by holding the ball almost 10 minutes and keeping Austin Reed off the field.

Reed threw for three touchdowns and ran for another for the Hilltoppers (5-5, 3-3), but the pick-six with 2:57 to go pushed the NMSU lead to 38-21.

Reed’s 72-yard connection with Elijah Young and his 13-yard run had Western Kentucky on top 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

Pavia’s 4-yard pass to Trent Hudson put the Aggies on top 17-14 in the second quarter and his pass to Stowers late in the third helped regain the lead at 24-21.

Pavia was 14 of 24 for 141 yards with eight different receivers contributing.

Reed was 20 of 36 for 270 yards.

The Hilltoppers have two more chances to become bowl-eligible — Saturday at home vs. Sam Houston (2-8, 1-5) and Nov. 25 at Florida International (4-6, 1-6).