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GRAND FORKS, ND- The Idaho State football team rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat No. 23/25 North Dakota 37-31 on Saturday afternoon at the Alerus Center. This was the Bengals first road win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 20 Cal Poly 38-31 on Nov. 15, 2003.

Idaho State finished with 480 total yards and held North Dakota to 398. Michael Sanders threw for a season high 427 yards and four touchdowns, completing 32 passes on 49 attempts and no interceptions.

KW Williams had a career-night, catching 12 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. His efforts was the sixth-best performance in program history. Madison Mangum had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season by catching 10 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Tyler Kuder and Jake Pettit each had 11 tackles while Cody Sorensen finished with nine.

Idaho State trailed 31-15 with 1:21 left in the third quarter before scoring the final three touchdowns of the game.

After UND went up 31-15, the key play of the game happened when Nikko Hayes took the ensuing kickoff 32 yards to the ISU 39 yard line. Idaho State scored three plays later when Sanders connected with Williams on a 47-yard strike with 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Bengal defense then forced UND to punt and ISU cut the deficit to 31-29 after Jakori Ford scored his first of two touchdowns on a one-yard one with 10:21 left in the game.

Idaho State forced another North Dakota punt and the Bengals drove and took the lead at 37-31 on a 12 play 87-yard drive that was capped off by a Ford 27-yard touchdown reception and Mangum converting on the two-point conversion with 6:15 to play in regulation.

To start the game, the Bengals struck first when Williams caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Sanders with 8:42 left in the first quarter. After a failed two-point conversion, North Dakota scored on its next two possessions to take a 14-6 lead.

Zak Johnson cut UND's lead to 14-9 with a 35-yard field goal with 12:39 to play in the first half and five minutes later Madison Mangum caught a 34-yard strike from Sanders to give the Bengals a 15-14 lead.

North Dakota tacked on a touchdown with under a minute left in the first half to lead 21-15 at the break.
Idaho State returns home for the first time since Sept. 12 to host Eastern Washington at 2:35 p.m. in Holt Arena.
 
Game Notes
- Game captains were Tyler Kuder, Erik Collins, Tyler Wright and Terrence Carey.
- Erik Collins first quarter interception was his fourth of his career and it was the first turnover forced the defense since a Kurt Karstetter interception at the end of the third quarter against Portland State.
- Joe Martin made his first career-start at linebacker.
- Idaho State forced two first quarter turnovers and recovered a fumble in the second quarter. It was the first time this season the Bengals forced two turnovers or more in a game. The last time ISU forced two turnovers or more in a game was Nov. 1, 2014 at Portland State. ISU forced six turnovers in that game (five interceptions and one fumble). In that game Collins had two interceptions.
- Zak Johnson's 35-yard second-quarter field goal was his first made field goal of the season.
- Madison Mangum's second quarter touchdown moved into a tie for eighth place for career receiving touchdowns with 16. Justin Young (1994-96) had 16 touchdowns.
- Xavier Finney surpassed the 3,000 yard mark for rushing yards. He currently has 3,035 yards. Josh Barnett holds the career record with 3,408 yards.
- KW Williams had 12 receptions for a career-high 204 receiving yards and two touchdowns. It is the third time in his career he has scored two touchdowns in a game with the most recent outing coming against SUU on Oct. 18, 2014.
- Madison Mangum had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season.
- KW Williams 204 receiving yards was the sixth best single-game performance in school history.
- Michael Sanders first 300-yard plus passing game. His 427 passing yards ranked as the 13th best passing performance in ISU history.
- The last time ISU beat a league team on the road with a winning record was in 2002 at Eastern Washington. ISU won 21-14 and Eastern was 3-1 at the time.
- The game-winning scoring drive was a 12-play 87-yard drive. The 87-yard drive was the longest scoring drive of the season for the Bengal offense.
- Tyler Kuder tied his career high in tackles with 11.
- After going 0-24 vs. ranked opponents prior to the 2014 season, ISU has now beaten ranked teams in back-to-back seasons.


Mike Kramer Post Game Quotes
- "Every time we punted we felt like it was a turnover. We finally had the mindset that we are not going to turn the ball over anymore. We still punted a couple of times in the second half. To us that is as bad deal that you can have when you punt. Our quarterback protection was outstanding and I am real proud of our quarterback. He played great against a pretty fear some rush. Our receivers are catching the ball extremely well and defensively, we found a way to plug in the double A battery and play a spark of defense."

"This means a lot for this team in that they can believe in what we are doing offensively and defensively. Especially defensively, because they owned the ball in the third quarter but they didn't get a lot of points. That was good. It was great to see our offense after giving up serve to take advantage of that and get that quick strike. We have a variety of weapons on offense and we are proud of what we accomplished. Defensively we are establishing the same heritage. Tonight's game will have a lot to do with that."

"I like the way we played against a football team that doesn't know how to lose."

"Our attitude is that there are enough plays for us to come back. We measure ourselves by plays, not by time or points against."

"We played ok. We made some mistakes and we will be better next game."

On the play of KW Williams
"He played the way he is supposed to play. We area slot led team in terms of the slot getting the best match up. The slot is the go-to guy, not the outside guy. The inside guy is the bright illuminating Christmas ball because they have the best matchup. KW was winning his matchup."

On Michael Sanders
"We saw it last week. He is playing the way he was going to play it. He is going to play better. He is going to fall sometimes but this is the way Michael Sanders can play. It is the way we can play at quarterback. We saw last week, if he gets into situations that he can make some plays. He is a playmaking quarterback in an offense that is designed for the quarterback to be a play maker."

On seeing the ISU volleyball team in attendance
"It is great to rub shoulders with people who are undefeated."