TIFFIN, Ohio—The No. 19 UIndy football team overcame a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit at Tiffin Saturday night to escape with a key 27-20 road win. Sophomore quarterback Connor Kinnett found senior Frank Bentley with six seconds left to knot the score at 20 apiece before rookie placekicker Colin Seymour split the uprights on the PAT to seal the victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing 20-7 early in the fourth quarter, the Greyhounds went to work, marching 86 yards in just two-and-a-half minutes to pull within a touchdown. Freshman wideout Kamau Ransom punctuated the drive with a 30-yard TD reception, good for the third score of his young career.
 
The Greyhound defense, which held the Dragons scoreless for the final 25 minutes of the game, added two more stops down the stretch to give UIndy a chance.
 
The offense took the field once more, taking over at its own 24-yard line with 4:18 left. A pair of first-down runs by Kinnett and Toriano Clinton put the Hounds in Tiffin territory, while a clutch fourth-down conversion by Alonzo Derrick moved them into red zone.
 
With the seconds dwindling, two short runs sandwiched an incomplete pass to make it 4th & 9 from the 12. That's when Kinnett found Bentley flashing open on a post, delivering the game winner as well as an early bid for play of the year.
 

?? | Kinnett found Bentley with 0:06 left to tie it and Colin Seymour's extra point was the game winner!! pic.twitter.com/MCliFZHg7x

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) September 18, 2022

 
INSIDE THE BOX
- It took all of 26 seconds of game time for the scoreboard to read 7-7 as each team returned its very first kickoff return for a touchdown. Sophomore Jeremiah Lee refunded the opening kick 98 yards for a score, while Tiffin immediately answered with a 91-yard TD return of its own. Lee's yardage represented the longest kickoff return by a Hound since a 99-yard effort by Toriano Clinton in 2018.
 

?? | JEREMIAH LEE!!

9??8??-yard TD return on the opening kickoff!! pic.twitter.com/DPcssF4SNY

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) September 17, 2022

- Kinnett finished with 318 total yards, tossing for 190 yards while rushing for 128 more. The latter total is the highest by a Greyhound quarterback since single-game statistics became available in 1983.
- Meanwhile, Clinton finished the night with 81 rushing yards and is now just 41 yards away from breaking the program's career mark.
- Sophomore Kivonte Houston led the Hounds with 10 tackles, while fellow defensive back Khoreice Crawford came up with his second interception in as many games.
- KJ Roudebush accounted for the night's final score, scooping and returning a Dragon fumble on the last play of the game. The TD came with no time left on the clock and was good for Roudebush's first career score.
- Team captain Michael Dennison added two tackles for a loss, including sack in the first quarter.
 
UP NEXT
UIndy once again hits the road for a GMAC destination. The Hounds to travel to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio Dominican next Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.