UMass 31-30 Ball State after overtime: won by the extra point Ball State missed

One point. That was the entire distance between Massachusetts and Ball State, 31-30 after overtime, and it lived inside a single kick — Jalen Bonds' extra point in the extra period, the one that never went through.

Jamarion McDougle's first-quarter touchdown put Ball State 7-0 ahead. Massachusetts needed a full quarter to answer: Elijah Faulkner's score tied it at 7-7, Brody Boehm's field goal nudged the Cardinals back in front at 10-7, and Jabari Lewis' touchdown sent UMass to halftime ahead 14-10.

The third quarter kept the trade going. Jalen Bonds' touchdown put Ball State back on top, 17-14, and William Watson swung it straight back, 21-17. Derek Morris' fourth-quarter field goal stretched the UMass lead to seven at 24-17 before Keldric Luster's touchdown and extra point squared things at 24-24 — the score regulation ended on.

Then overtime. Bonds struck first, his second touchdown of the night putting Ball State 30-24 up — but the extra point never came. William Watson answered the only way that mattered: a touchdown of his own, then the extra point, and 31-30 was final.

Watson and Bonds will read like mirror images: two touchdowns apiece, one each in overtime, four of the game's eight touchdowns between them. The difference was the kick attached. Watson's overtime score arrived with the extra point that won it; Bonds' arrived without any point at all, and that single missing point is precisely the margin Ball State walked home without. Neither side led by more than seven all night.

Ball State got the extra period. Massachusetts got the extra point.