Vandals pull off miraculous upset over No. 1 Bobcats

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Oct. 3—MOSCOW — As Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said earlier in the week, the Idaho football team did not care about the outside noise, nor did the Vandals care about being 16 1/2-point underdogs to the No. 1 team in the Football Championship Subdivision.

With 49 seconds left, Idaho had one last chance at a comeback after a touchback that put them at their own 20-yard line.

The Vandals proceeded to drive 80 yards down the field and score a touchdown, followed by a 2-point conversion rush by quarterback Joshua Wood to upset No. 1 Montana State 35-34 in a Big Sky Conference matchup Friday night at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow in front of a crowd of 9,231 and a national audience on ESPN.

Idaho (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky) snapped a seven-game losing streak dating back to Oct. 31, 2025, by defeating the No. 1 Montana State Bobcats (5-1, 2-1) and ending the Bobcats' program-record 19-game winning streak, giving them their first loss since Sept. 6, 2025.

"Excited, proud — all of those things would be absolute understatements," Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said. "We knew we had a really talented football team, we knew we had guys that could make plays and we knew that we matched up really well with this team.

"Like I told the guys the last two weeks: 'When we beat this team, everyone in the country will be surprise. But not one single person in that room will be surprised.' And that was the case."

Idaho rips the Bobcats' hearts out

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Idaho had one last shot at taking the lead after Montana State punted the ball into the end zone for a touchback with 49 seconds left, down 34-27.

Idaho had no timeouts left and everything was against them.

However, it didn't matter to the Vandals and their QB Wood, who ran for 22 yards and passed for 58 yards on the final drive. He found junior receiver Ryan Jezioro in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock.

Then Idaho decided to go for two. And on the 2-point conversion, Wood dropped back, dodged a defender and then ran to the left side of the line and jumped into the end zone to give the Vandals the lead for a miraculous upset victory over the top-ranked Bobcats.

Jezioro finished with six catches for a career-high 147 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

Wood finished the game completing 19-for-26 passes for 315 yards with two passing touchdowns and one interception. He also ran the ball 14 times for 44 yards with one touchdown on the ground and the 2-point conversion.

Idaho came back from down two touchdowns to complete the victory.

"When adversity hit, we stayed together and we got over that hump and we were able to come out with a win," Wood said.

Montana State had control in the second half until the very final drive.

Idaho got the ball to open the second half but was stuffed after five plays for a gain of just 6 yards. The Vandals' drive ended in a punt to the Montana State 18-yard line.

The Bobcats proceeded to go on a 15-play, 73-yard drive that ate up 8 minutes and 24 seconds of the third quarter. The drive ended on a 26-yard field goal by fifth-year kicker Myles Sansted to give the Bobcats a 27-20 lead with 3:20 left in the third quarter.

On the next drive, the Vandals drove 38 yards in six plays, only for the drive to end with an interception thrown by Wood in the middle of the field by fifth-year linebacker Neil Daily. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Idaho senior tackle Charlie Vliem gave the Bobcats even better field position, starting their drive on the Idaho 38.

The ensuing drive ended in a Patrick Duchien 2-yard rushing touchdown, which gave the Bobcats a 34-20 lead after the PAT with 13:29 left in the game.

Sansted went on to miss a 52-yard field goal, which gave Idaho the ball back with 3:22 left in the game.

The Vandals' second-to-last chance to tie it up was a miserable failure, starting with a snap infraction, then a backwards pass thrown out of bounds, an incomplete pass and a run where fifth-year running back Hayden Kincheloe ran into Wood as he was handing it off.

Montana State's next drive burned through the two-minute warning and all three of Idaho's timeouts.

A competitive first half

The first half consisted of six lead changes.

Montana State got the scoring started with a 21-yard field goal from the foot of Sansted. This put the Bobcats up 3-0 with 11 minutes, 9 seconds left in the quarter.

On the first play from scrimmage for the Idaho offense, Wood avoided a tackle and then threw a deep pass to Jezioro, who was completely behind the coverage, for a 75-yard scoring play. This gave Idaho a 7-3 lead after the PAT with 10:57 left in the first quarter. It was a career-long reception for Jezioro.

The Vandals and the Bobcats traded defensive stops, but Idaho went three-and-out from deep in its own field to give MSU a short field.

Montana State responded with a 20-yard touchdown from Duchien to freshman receiver Carter Dahlke to take the lead at 10-7 with 5:37 left in the first quarter.

Idaho answered with two field goals from Owen Forsman — a 45-yarder and a 22-yarder.

The second field goal gave the Vandals a 13-10 lead with 9:50 left in the second quarter.

On the next drive, Montana State had a short field due to a kickoff out of bounds, which was a smart play by the Bobcats' returner Dahlke, who first stepped out of bounds and then picked up the ball — resulting in a penalty for the Vandals.

It took MSU 2:39 to go 65 yards in six plays, which ended on a 32-yard touchdown run by fifth-year running back Jared White. The Bobcats led 17-13 after the PAT with 7:11 to go in the second quarter.

A few drives later, Idaho junior running back Damonte Bias scored his first Division I touchdown of his career on a well-designed run play for a 15-yard score. Most of the line and the players flowed to the right, but Wood gave it to Bias, who had two blockers in front of him for the score.

Idaho regained the lead at 20-17 after the PAT with 2:22 left in the half.

Bias ran seven times for a gain of 46 yards and scored one touchdown.

The final score of the half was on a 9-play, 75-yard drive by MSU. It ended with junior receiver Dane Steel catching a 15-yard pass in the end zone thrown by Duchien. MSU owned a 24-20 lead after the PAT at the end of the half.

What's next?

Idaho will next head to Ogden, Utah, to face the Weber State Wildcats in another Big Sky Conference matchup at noon on Saturday.

Montana State is on a bye week this upcoming weekend, but at 4 p.m. on Oct. 17, the Bobcats will head to Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., to play the Eastern Washington Eagles.

Idaho 35, Montana State 34

FIRST QUARTER

MSU — Sansted 21 field goal, 11:09.

IDA — Jezioro 75 pass from Wood (Forsman kick), 10:57.

MSU — Dahlke 20 pass from Duchien (Sansted kick), 5:37.

SECOND QUARTER

IDA — Forsman 45 kick, 13:06.

IDA — Forsman 22 kick, 9:50.

MSU — White 32 run (Sansted kick), 7:11.

IDA — Bias 15 run (Forsman kick), 2:22.

THIRD QUARTER

MSU — Sansted 26 field goal, 1:12.

FOURTH QUARTER

MSU — Duchien 2 run (Sansted kick), 13:29.

IDA — Wood 1 run (Forsman kick), 9:54.

IDA — Jezioro 25 pass from Wood (Wood run), 0:00.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.

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