Allegheny punted after three plays on their third drive, but got a break when Thiel fumbled the punt. The Gators recovered on the Thiel 9-yard line. The Gators took a delay of game penalty on first down. Allegheny’s Matt Feldhaus lost a yard on a run over the right side and gained it back on a screen pass from Bobby Herron on second down. Herron threw incomplete to the right corner of the endzone on third down, setting up another Whiteside miss.

“I think that was good for him. I think sometimes you get complacent,” Matlak said. “You’re the All-American. You have to live up to the billing.”

A long punt return to the Allegheny 26 set up Thiel’s first field goal — a 36-yarder by starting kicker Sammy Koyl on the Tomcats’ first possession. Koyl missed a 38-yard field goal on the Tomcats’ third drive. Thiel scored again on the eighth drive, which covered 51 yards down to the Allegheny four. The drive was kept alive when Allegheny was charged with roughing the kicker on fourth-and-8 at the 20-yard line. Three plays later, Alec Osbourne knocked home a 21-yarder.

“I think we beat ourselves in a lot of areas. We missed two field goals. We roughed the kicker on a fourth a down that kept a drive alive. We had a lot of fumbled snaps and illegal procedures.

“We can’t start out first-and-15. Those are all beat yourself things. We have a long way to go.”

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