Nov. 8, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State did what it could to try to prevent a Wildcat celebration on the Caccia Field turf, but in the end, there was too much Trevyn Smith, too much Tim Toone, and too much Cameron Higgins to overcome everything, and the Wildcats, a one-win team four years ago, clinched a share of the Big Sky title and earned the conference's automatic berth in to the FCS playoffs with a 59-27 win over Idaho State.
The Wildcats blew open a 3-3 game at the end of the first quarter, scoring on all four of their second quarter possessions. First, after a Russel Hill interception, Higgins hit Tim Toone on a go route for a quick one-play 65-yard touchdown drive. ISU then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Trevyn Smith scored on a 1-yard run for a 17-3 lead.
The Bengals responded with a long 70-yard drive capped by a 10-yard Clint Knickrehm run to cut it to 17-10, but Weber answered right back as Smith scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 23-10, and then with just 1:14 left in the half, Higgins threw a second touchdown pass, this to Cody Nakamura, and the coronation was basically on.
The only real drama left was whether or not Smith would break Weber State's all-time rushing record, and he finally bested Nick Chournos' mark with a 41-yard touchdown run with 5:12 left in the third, giving him 143 yards on the day, and his third touchdown.
The Bengals swapped out quarterbacks for the second half, with Kyle Blum playing the entire second half, and although he went just 8-for-23 with an interception, he threw a touchdown pass and had 88 yards passing, leading ISU to 17 second half points.
Blum scored on a 2-yard run late in the third for his third career touchdown, capping a solid 10-play, 80-yard drive, and after Trevor Messersmith blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety, Kenyon Blue returned the kickoff afterwards 81 yards to the Weber seven, where Blum hit Messersmith for his first career touchdown pass.
For the Bengals, they got a great effort from Clint Knickrehm, who rushed for 75 yards and caught four passes for another 55. Hill, who played the first half, was 16-of-26 passing for 139 yards, but with two interceptions. Josh Morris of Weber State picked off all three passes for the Wildcats. The Bengals also got a completion from an unlikely source in punter Jon Vanderwielen, who hit Trevor Messersmith for a first down on a fake punt.
Weber State had a bedeviling 666 yards of total offense, 360 passing and 306 rushing. Smith had company in the 100-yard rushing club, as backup Justin White had 113 yards, and Tim Toone caught five passes for 179 yards and a score. Higgins, one of the leading candidates for the Walter Payton Award despite his sophomore status, was nearly perfect, going 18-for-23 for 369 yards and three touchdowns.
The loss dropped Idaho State to 0-10 on the year, and it extended the nation's second-longest losing streak to 14 dating back to last season. Weber State, ranked #9 entering the game, is now 7-0 in the Big Sky, 9-2 overall, and they will play Eastern Washington in Ogden in two weeks with a chance to clinch the Big Sky's outright title, which would be their first ever such accomplishment in football. For ISU, it gets no easier, as they travel to Missoula to take on Montana at Washington-Grizzly Stadium at 12:05 pm.
NOTES: Weber State scored touchdowns on seven straight possessions at one point in the game ... Jon Williams of Weber State missed an extra point in the second quarter, the first time an opponent has missed against ISU ... Blum threw a two-point conversion pass to Clint Knickrehm, ISU's first two in the Zamberlin era ... Vanderwielen averaged 48.8 on four punts ... Weber State was penalized 13 times for 135 yards ... Mike Ramos hit a first quarter field goal to improve to 5-for-6 on the season ... the two teams combined to go 10-for-10 in Red Zone scoring chances.
