Last-second stunner — Vandals score with :00 left, win it on two-point conversion

MOSCOW — Idaho was given one more second. 

The Vandals made the most of it, and the result was a history victory. 

Idaho scored the game's last 15 points, including a daring two-point conversion after time expired, to stun the defending FCS champion Montana State Bobcats 35-34 in Big Sky Conference football Friday night before at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

"This is the biggest win of my career," Wood said. "I'll definitely remember this one forever." 

"Just no panic; no flinch in our guys. We just have to play one play at a time," Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said. "Our guys did an excellent job staying in the present." 

With eight seconds left and the ball at the MSU 48, Joshua Wood hit Noah West-Baranco to the 25. The clock ran out, but officials put 1 second back on.  

On the final play, Wood hit a sliding Ryan Jezioro in the end zone to pull the Vandals (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky) within one.  

Idaho went for two and the win. Wood dropped back, was pressured, stepped up and powered across the goal line for the winning points. 

"We practiced that situation," Ford said of the winning drive. "Our crowd didn't leave when there were 55 seconds left. That energy was passed on to our players, and on to me." 

It was Idaho's first win over a No. 1-ranked team in program history. 

"What it does is verify the confidence I have in this team," Ford said. "Everybody in the country is shocked, except for us. We know what we have here." 

Playing without its starting quarterback and three other star players due to injury, Montana State (5-1, 2-1) marched inside the Idaho 5 on the first drive of the game, but the Vandals defense stiffened and forced the Bobcats to settle for a field goal. 

On Idaho's first play from scrimmage, as quarterback Wood scrambled, Jezioro got lost behind the Montana State secondary for a 75-yard touchdown. 

"I told RJ this morning, I had a dream that he was going to make an explosive play,"  

Later in the quarter, Carter Dahlke got away from Tyrane Stewart as Patrick Duchien scrambled, and the result was a 20-yard TD pass and a 10-7 Bobcat lead. 

Idaho's Owen Forsman, from Lakeland High, booted a 45-yard field goal early in the second quarter to tie the game at 10. 

The Vandals forced a punt, and Tony Harste returned it 21 yards to the Montana State 32. That led to a 22-yard field goal by Forsman for a 13-10 lead. 

Montana State answered six plays later when Jared White ran 32 yards for a score.  

Back came Idaho. Damonte Bias ran 15 yards on a draw play to put the Vandals back up 20-17. 

Montana State then re-took the lead when Duchien hit Dane Steel from 15 yards out with 1:22 left in the half. 

Montana State then forced a punt, but Myles Sansted was wide right on a 40-yard field goal try to end the half, with the Bobcats up 24-20. 

Late in the third quarter, Montana State settled for Sansted's 26-yard field goal and a seven-point lead. 

Then Wood, under pressure, threw an interception right to linebacker Neil Daily, who returned it to the Vandal 37. A personal foul on the play moved it to the Idaho 22.  

Duchien ran it in from 2 yards out early in the fourth quarter for a 34-20 lead. 

Idaho answered, Wood keeping it from a yard out to pull the Vandals within a score. 

It stayed that way when Sansted pulled a 52-yard field goal try to the left with 3:22 left. 

But Idaho was forced to punt on fourth and 15 on its 29, and Montana State drove to the Vandal 38. But rather than try a long field goal, the Bobcats punted ... and the ball bounced into the end zone. 

Wood passed for 315 yards. 

"He's the best off-schedule quarterback I've ever coached," Ford said of Wood. 

Idaho travels to Weber State next Saturday.

Mont. St.     10    14     3    7    —    34 

Idaho     7    13    0    15    —    35 

First quarter 

MSU — FG Sansted 21, 11:09 

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

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

Second quarter 

Idaho — FG Forsman 45, 13:06 

Idaho — FG Forsman 22, 9:50 

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

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

MSU — Steel 15 pass from Duchien (Sansted kick), 1:12 

Third quarter 

MSU — FG Sansted 26, 3:20 

Fourth quarter 

MSU — Duchien 2 run (Sansted kick), 13:22 

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

Idaho — Jezioro 25 pass from Wood (Wood run), :00 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — MSU, Duchien 14-92, Coon 15-56, White 8-48, Breslin 4-19, Steel 1-5. Idaho, Bias 7-46, Wood 15-41, Kincheloe 7-24, Carter 2-13, Harste 2-4. 

PASSING — MSU, Duchien 23-32-0-249. Idaho, Wood 19-25-1-315. 

RECEIVING — MSU, Dahlke 10-126, Steel 5-70, White 2-15, Mady 2-15, Lencioni 1-7, Fleischman 1-7, Reed 1-5, Coon 1-4. Idaho, Jezioro 6-147, Harste 5-66, West-Baranco 4-34, Card 1-32, McWilliams 1-24, Alexander 1-17, Bias 1-(minus 5).