Oct. 5, 2002
Box Score
Cheney, WA--- Doug Baughman was 19-for-33 for 332 yards and three long touchdowns, and Idaho State's improving defense held the Big Sky's best third down conversion team to 0-for-14 as the Bengals ended a seven-game road losing streak with a 21-14 win over Eastern Washington.
Baughman, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week, picked up his season-highs in both yards and touchdowns, all three touchdown passes coming from ISU's side of the field. The final touchdown, with 8:18 remaining in the third quarter, came on third-and-one at the ISU 42. Lining up with two tight ends and Mike Jones at H-back, Baughman handed off to Mitchell, who handed it back to Baughman, who hit a wide-open Brett Fowler for a 58-yard strike that essentially was the winning score.
The Bengals had tied the game less than three minutes earlier when Isaac Mitchell took a screen pass from the Bengal 15, and got a crushing block downfield from Fowler for an 85-yard touchdown. That answered Dan Curley's 55-yard touchdown 59 seconds earlier.
The game got off to a rousing start with a pair of long touchdowns in the opening quarter. Sale' Key hauled in a 70-yard bomb from Baughman on a broken play to open the scoring, and Joe Pierce caught a Josh Blankenship rope for a 39-yard score. That pass made Blankenship 7-for-7 on the game, but he would go on to go 6-for-26 for just 96 yards the rest of the way.
The Bengals defense was stellar in the second and fourth quarters. In the second, ISU held Eastern Washington to -1 yard total offense, despite Eastern starting two drives inside the ISU 30, and another at midfield as ISU turned the ball over three times in the quarter. In the fourth quarter, Eastern Washington had just 40 yards of offense.
Eastern Washington was done in on third-down. Coming into the game, they led the Big Sky with a 24-for-49 rate, a 49.0% clip. However, ISU held the Eagles to 0-for-14 on the game. The Bengals themselves were just 3-for-14 (one conversion was the Fowler touchdown) until they converted two in a row on the last drive. The first came after a botched shotgun snap flew over Baughman's head. As he covered the ball, Doug Vincent hit him late and was flagged for 15 yards and a first down. Then on third and eight with two minutes to go, Baughman hit Mitchell for an 18-yard swing pass and the first down that iced the win.
The Bengals, (3-2, 2-1) now return home to face Montana State, who lost to Division II power Central Washington at MSU's Homecoming 31-16.
Notes... Isaac Mitchell's touchdown was the 6th longest in school history. Mitchell also had his first 100-yard receiving game ... he rushed for 75 yards after missing most of the first half with an injury ... Eddie Johnson averaged just 36.9 yard per punt, although three were pinned inside the 20 ... Jeremy Hershey missed two field goals, ending his streak of games with a field goal at four ... Jared Allen tallied 2.5 sacks for 20 yards in losses ... ISU has 10 sacks in the last two games.
