Idaho Upsets No. 1 Montana State 35-34 on Two-Point Try as Time Runs Out

Joshua Wood's two-point conversion run after a touchdown pass on the final play gave Idaho a 35-34 win over No. 1 Montana State in Big Sky play.

Idaho stunned No. 1 Montana State 35-34 on Friday night in a Big Sky Conference game at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho, winning on a two-point conversion after a touchdown on the game's final play. The matchup drew 9,231 fans and was televised nationally on ESPN.

Trailing 34-27 with 49 seconds remaining and out of timeouts, Idaho took over at its own 20-yard line after a touchback. Joshua Wood accounted for all 80 yards of the final drive, running for 22 and throwing for 58, and connected with Ryan Jezioro on a 25-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock. Wood then dropped back on the conversion, evaded a defender and reached the end zone along the left side of the line to complete the comeback.

The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak for Idaho (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky) that dated to Oct. 31, 2025. Montana State (5-1, 2-1) had its program-record 19-game winning streak end, suffering its first defeat since Sept. 6, 2025. The Vandals entered the night as 16 1/2-point underdogs to the top-ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Wood finished 19 of 26 passing for 315 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and added 44 yards and a score on 14 carries along with the decisive conversion. Jezioro caught six passes for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns.

"Excited, proud — all of those things would be absolute understatements," Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said. He added that he had told his players in the two weeks leading up to the game that the country would be surprised by such a win, but no one in their locker room would be. Wood said the team stayed together when adversity hit and got over the hump to come away with the win.

Montana State appeared to take control after halftime. The Bobcats marched 15 plays for 73 yards while chewing up 8 minutes, 24 seconds of the third quarter, settling for Myles Sansted's 26-yard field goal and a 27-20 lead with 3:20 left in the period. After linebacker Neil Daily intercepted Wood, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Idaho tackle Charlie Vliem gave Montana State the ball at the Vandals' 38, and Patrick Duchien's 2-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 34-20 with 13:29 remaining.

Sansted later missed a 52-yard field goal that gave Idaho possession with 3:22 to play, but that drive unraveled with a snap infraction, a backwards pass thrown out of bounds, an incompletion and a botched handoff exchange between running back Hayden Kincheloe and Wood. Montana State then ran enough clock to burn the two-minute warning and all three Idaho timeouts before a punt into the end zone set up the final touchback.

The first half featured six lead changes. Sansted opened the scoring with a 21-yard field goal before Wood hit Jezioro, who was behind the coverage, for a 75-yard touchdown on Idaho's first play from scrimmage — the longest catch of Jezioro's career. Duchien answered with a 20-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Carter Dahlke, two Owen Forsman field goals from 45 and 22 yards put Idaho back in front 13-10, and Jared White's 32-yard touchdown run following a short field gave Montana State a 17-13 edge. Junior running back Damonte Bias scored his first Division I touchdown on a 15-yard run with 2:22 left in the half to send the Vandals into the break up 20-17, and he finished with 46 yards on seven carries.