Boomer Grigsby made a huge tackle inside the five-yard line on Garner Byars during a two-point conversion attempt with 26 seconds remaining that would have given Murray State a one-point victory as the Redbirds prevail with an impressive 24-23 comeback victory in a wild finish at Hancock Stadium.
The Racers were able to recover an on-side kick attempt on the ensuing kickoff with 23 seconds remaining, but Cerone Colvin was able to pick off a pass attempt by Stewart Childress to end the game and give the Birds (2-1) their second win of the season.
Quincy Washington rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns and Vito Golson caught five passes for 110 yards and a touchdown, Quarterback Mike Souza finished with 14 completions for 177 yards and a touchdown, while Grigsby paced the Redbird defense with 17 total tackles, including 10 solo stops.
Murray State (1-2) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when running back Billy Blanchard rushed 77 yards for his longest run of the season and the score on the second play of the game. Illinois State cut into the Racers lead with 7:26 left in the first quarter when Stephen Carroll booted a 41-yard field goal through the uprights to put the Birds on the scoreboard.
The score remained 7-3 for most of the second quarter until the Racers tacked on three more points with a career-long 52-yard field goal by Shane Andrus with 3:33 left in the half to take a seven-point lead into halftime, 10-3.
With Blanchard sidelined in the second half with an ankle injury, freshman Ron Lane became the Racers primary rusher and helped pace an early third quarter MSU scoring drive with a 45-yard rush up the middle of the field that put the Racers in the red zone. The drive was capped by a three-yard run by Mario Riley that put Murray State ahead, 17-3.
With 1:05 remaining in the third quarter, Washington broke a couple of tackles and took the ball 35 yards down the middle of the field to give the Birds their first touchdown of the game and cutting the Racers lead to 7, 17-10.
The touchdown seemed to energize the Redbird defense as well as they pushed the Racers back three yards on their ensuing possession and forced MSU to punt from its own nine-yard line.
The Redbirds took full advantage of the resulting field position and needed only two plays to take the ball 42 yards on a drive capped by a 39-yard touchdown reception by Vito Golson from Mike Souza that knotted the game at 17-17.
A big, third-down sack by senior defensive tackle Stuart Sands with nine minutes remaining in the game forced the Racers to punt and the Birds marched 84 yards down the field to take the lead on a two-yard rush by Washington.
Murray State, however, would not quit and used 11 plays to score again on a nine-yard pass to Marcus Christon with 26 seconds remaining in the game and the Racers down by a point, 24-23.
