Eastern Kentucky Edges No. 23 West Florida 16-13 as Devin Orr Kicks Three Field Goals

Devin Orr missed twice in the first half. He did not miss when it counted.

The Eastern Kentucky kicker made three field goals, the last a 33-yarder with 9:01 to play, and Eastern Kentucky beat No. 23 West Florida 16-13 on Saturday afternoon at CG Bank Field at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond. It was a Homecoming win, the Colonels' first win over a ranked opponent this season, and it was built almost entirely on defense, field position and a pair of second-half fumble recoveries.

Eastern Kentucky improved to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the United Athletic Conference. West Florida, playing its first season at the FCS level, fell to 4-3 and 1-3 in league play.

A game that never found an offense

Eastern Kentucky finished with 261 total yards and West Florida with 225, and the two offenses combined for 138 rushing yards on 60 carries. The Colonels ran 37 times for 50 yards, an average of 1.4 per carry. That is not a typo.

What Eastern Kentucky did have was a fast start. On the Colonels' first offensive snap, tight end Colbey Lamberth lined up at quarterback and hit Jayden West for 48 yards. Three plays later, Blake Kendall Jr. found Elijah Caldwell for a 4-yard touchdown with 12:14 left in the first quarter, and the Colonels led 7-0 on a 54-yard drive that took under two minutes.

The EKU defense took it from there. West Florida punted on all four of its first-quarter possessions and did not complete a pass in the period. Freshman Ryder Hooks then broke a 48-yard punt return that set the Colonels up at the West Florida 23, which should have meant more points. Orr's 33-yard attempt missed.

He made the next one. Orr hit from 34 yards early in the second quarter to finish an eight-play, 35-yard drive, and Eastern Kentucky led 10-0.

West Florida answers before the half

West Florida's first real drive ended with Reid Grek missing from 46 yards. Orr then missed again, from 36, after a 52-yard Eastern Kentucky drive.

That miss gave West Florida life. Quarterback Ty'Ray Davis led a nine-play, 80-yard drive and capped it with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Luc Carroll with 58 seconds left in the half. Eastern Kentucky went three-and-out, and West Florida needed only two plays and 16 seconds to cover 30 yards and set up Grek for a 43-yarder as time expired. It was good. A game the Colonels had controlled was tied 10-10 at halftime.

Then the third quarter started badly for the home team. On Eastern Kentucky's first possession of the second half, Kendall was sacked and lost the ball, and Cameron Anderson recovered for West Florida. The Argonauts gained only 9 yards, but Grek hit from 38 to give West Florida its first lead, 13-10, with 12:01 left in the third.

The two fumbles that flipped it

The Colonels did not allow another point. Midway through the third quarter, Jeffrey Kinley forced a fumble on a West Florida punt return and recovered it himself at the Argonauts' 27-yard line. Eastern Kentucky gained only 8 yards on the drive, but it did not need more. Orr's 36-yard field goal tied the game at 13 with 4:59 left in the period. According to Eastern Kentucky's recap, Kinley, a Richmond native, has now forced turnovers in consecutive games.

The winning points came the same way. Early in the fourth quarter, Jayden Marable stripped Davis on a sack, and Keshawn Hayden recovered at the West Florida 32 with 11:11 remaining. Five plays and 16 yards later, Orr made it 16-13 from 33 yards with 9:01 to play.

West Florida had one more chance. Cam Jessee sacked Davis on third down to force a punt, and the Colonels took over at their own 20 with 4:53 left.

They never gave the ball back. Kendall found running back Brady Hensley for 4 yards on third-and-1, then picked up another first down with a 2-yard keeper, and Eastern Kentucky ran out the clock with three kneel-downs.

The players who stood out

Kendall made the first start of his college career in this game and handled it well. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Caldwell caught a team-high six passes for 68 yards and the touchdown, and West added 68 yards on just two catches.

Hooks was the Colonels' most dangerous player in space. He finished with 126 all-purpose yards, including 82 on four punt returns.

On defense, Kaden Smith and Jessee each made seven tackles. Smith added a tackle for loss and two pass breakups, while Jessee's fourth-quarter sack helped end West Florida's last real threat. Marable finished with five tackles, a sack and the forced fumble that set up the winning kick.

For West Florida, the defense was good enough to win. Travell Wright made 11 tackles, Anderson added nine and the fumble recovery, Ty Conze had two sacks and Byron Puryear added 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. The Argonauts sacked Kendall four times and held Eastern Kentucky to 4 of 17 on third down.

The offense was the problem. Davis completed 14 of 32 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown and was also West Florida's leading rusher with 45 yards on 13 carries. Tyshon Mansell caught six passes for 80 yards, including a 41-yarder, and Markel Townsend ran nine times for 42 yards. Punter Michael Shine averaged 46.9 yards on eight punts.

The numbers that matter

Eastern Kentucky held the ball for 35:36, more than 11 minutes longer than West Florida, without a functioning run game. West Florida's 4 of 14 on third down helped.

Turnovers decided it. West Florida lost two fumbles, and Eastern Kentucky turned both into field goals, including the game winner. The Colonels lost one fumble, and West Florida turned it into three points. In a game decided by a field goal, that is the margin.

Orr went 3 of 5, and both misses came inside West Florida territory. Grek went 2 of 3 for the Argonauts. West Florida scored only three points after halftime, and the Colonels allowed just 88 rushing yards. The full numbers are in the box score on ESPN (opens in a new tab), and the home side of the story is in Eastern Kentucky's official recap (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Eastern Kentucky, this was the best win of a season that started 0-2. The Colonels are still under .500, but at 2-1 in the UAC they are in the league picture, and they found a quarterback who did not turn the ball over in his first start. The schedule did not ease up. Next was a trip to No. 1 Tarleton State on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Memorial Stadium, then a visit to Austin Peay on Nov. 7.

For West Florida, the loss stings because the defense did its job. The Argonauts opened their first FCS season with a win over No. 16 Southern Illinois and rose into the national rankings, but at 1-3 in the UAC, the conference race has slipped away. As a transitioning program, West Florida is not eligible for the FCS playoffs yet, which makes every remaining conference game about proving it belongs. The Argonauts' next scheduled game is Nov. 7 at North Alabama.

The last word

This was not a pretty game. Two offenses that could not run the ball, three missed field goals and 14 punts made for a long, grinding afternoon.

But Eastern Kentucky got the plays that matter in a game like this one. Kinley's forced fumble on a punt return. Marable's strip-sack. Jessee's third-down sack. And Orr, who shook off two misses to make all three of his other kicks. On Homecoming, against a ranked team, that was enough.

Sources: Eastern Kentucky Athletics recap, ESPN box score and play-by-play, and West Florida Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: EKU Athletics.