RENO, Nev.- The Idaho State football team knocked off Nevada 30-28 on Saturday evening at Mackay Stadium. The Bengals led the entire game and fought off a late Wolf Pack rally to earn the victory. The victory is first win over an FBS team since beating Utah State 27-24 in 2000.
The Bengal defense forced three turnovers. Idaho State finished with 383 total yards while Nevada had 423.
Tanner Gueller was 19-38 for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Michael Dean caught five passes for 133 yards and one touchdown.
James Madison carried the ball 17 times for 84 yards.
Mario Jenkins led the Bengal defense with 17 tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss.
Adkin Aguirre had eight tackles and one fumble recovery.
Tucker Louie-McGee and
Joe Martin each had seven tackles.
Idaho State jumped out to a 10-0 in the first quarter after the Bengal defense forced a punt and Martin came up with an interception.
Idaho State took a 3-0 lead when
Parker Johnson connected on his first of two 36-yard field goals. Following a Nevada turnover, ISU took its 10-0 lead on a
Ty Flanagan one-yard run with 6:45 left in the quarter. Nevada followed with a touchdown with 11:31 left in the second quarter but another field goal by Johnson from 36-yards out made the score 13-7 with 9:27 left.
Then with 3:12 left until halftime,
Hagen Graves caught a 15-yard strike from Gueller to up the lead to 20-7 and Johnson made a 19-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the half to give the Bengals a 23-7 lead at halftime.
With 10 minutes left in the third quarter the Bengals took a 30-7 lead thanks to a 50-yard touchdown reception by Dean. Nevada then scored 21straight points and had a chance to tie the game with under a minute to play after a touchdown. But the two point conversion fell short and
Matt Peterson recovered the onside kick to seal the victory for the Bengals.
The Bengals three-game road trip concludes next week when they open Big Sky Conference play at Northern Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 23. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Notes
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Andy Whittier was this week's special teams captain with
Mario Jenkins,
Joe Martin and
Hagen Graves.
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Parker Johnson was 3-3 on field goals and connected on all his extra points.
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Joe Martin had his fourth career interception in the first quarter.
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Michael Dean 57-yard second quarter reception is a career-long and he had a career-high 133 receiving yards.
- The win ended a 27-game losing streak against FBS team. The last win over an FBS team was 27-24 at Utah State in 2000.
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Mario Jenkins had a career-high 17 tackles.
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James Madison was two rushing yards away from tying his career-high. He had 17 carries for 84 yards. His career high is 20 carries for 86 yards at Eastern Washington last year. His 29 yard run against Nevada was a career-long. Madison's four receptions for 40 yards was a career-best.
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Nate Page had a career-best three receptions for 59 yards including a long reception of 42 yards.
