Story by
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Last-second field goal sends Idaho to win over Southern Utah 31-28
- Story byThe Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
- Last-second field goal sends Idaho to win over Southern Utah 31-28
Oct. 24—MOSCOW, Idaho — A week before Halloween, Idaho and Southern Utah took turns terrifying each other by conjuring up strange and scary plays in the Vandals' homecoming game, not the least of which was a 57-yard touchdown pass from Thunderbirds quarterback Will Burns to wide receiver Mark Bails with 42 seconds remaining to tie the score.
But in an echo of its win over Montana State with a second left Oct. 2, Idaho's Owen Forsman got just enough leg behind a 53-yard field goal with one second on the clock to give the Vandals a 31-28 win over Southern Utah.
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"The heart rate's a little bit high after that," Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. said of the game.
Forsman had gone 0-for-3 in a 38-27 loss to Weber State on Oct. 10. But he was perfect against the Thunderbirds with field goals of 35 and 25 yards and two extra points before lining up for his game-defining kick. Ford said he had every confidence Forsman would make it.
"All he did today was answer the call.
"Everyone on the field knew where we had to get to. If we could get to the 35 (yard line) we would be in pretty good shape."
Ford said he would have been willing to try the kick even further out, but Vandals quarterback Joshua Wood led wide receiver Zack Card into the sideline with a 6-yard pass. "Because we had five seconds and a timeout, we tried to get a little bit closer," Ford said. Referencing the missed call at the end of Notre Dame's loss to BYU, Ford said, "One second might not always mean one second. But it did today."
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The victory improved Idaho to 3-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big Sky Conference. Southern Utah fell to 3-5, 2-3 in the Big Sky.
For some reason, SUU inverted its ground attack. It has the league's best runner in Floyd Chalk, averaging almost 148 yards a game. However, until about midway through the first quarter, the Thunderbirds used Chalk as a decoy in their option offense, and Burns, who can really run in his own right, was the leading rusher. At the half, he had 102 yards to Chalk's 30. By the end of the game, carries almost evened out, 18 for Burns and 17 for Chalk, but Burns finished with 187 net yards to Chalk's 58.
However, Ford said the plan was to stop Chalk, and the Vandals managed that.
"It was our best defensive game overall against an incredibly good running back," Ford said.
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"Our plan was we would not let them run the ball from sea-to-sea.
"We did a great job of running to the football, getting as many hats on it as we can."
Ford especially pointed to the play of safeties Zach Wusstig, who led Idaho with seven tackles, and Luca Moore, with six, and Khaled Rawls, who delivered a monster hit on wide receiver Jack Fairchild to break up a pass with two minutes remaining and Idaho protecting a 28-21 lead. Those three, plus linebacker Cruz Hepburn (six tackles) and defensive end Mason Krahn (six tackles and 1.5 sacks) were especially diligent about gang tackling Chalk and keeping him contained.
Idaho cornerback Aaron Kinsey, a junior from Rogers High School, also did his part in the secondary by intercepting a pass off the hands of wide receiver Mark Bails. It ended the Thunderbirds' first series on offense and set up the drive that resulted in Forsman's first field goal and a 3-0 Vandals lead.
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While Burns was able to reach the corner against Idaho, neither he nor Chalk had an easy path up the middle to the second level of Idaho's defense. The Vandals' defensive line almost never let the Thunderbirds offensive line establish forward momentum.
Nonetheless, Chalk did show flashes of his prowess. He scored SUU's first touchdown, accelerating 19 yards through Idaho's defense like a lightning bolt, impossible to catch.
No series of plays was stranger or more troubling to the Thunderbirds than the one that ended with Idaho holding an 18-10 lead. It began with a pass to Nolan McWilliams late in the second quarter. Wood eluded the Thunderbird rush and found McWilliams open about 20 yards downfield at the 20-yard line. From there, McWilliams took it to the 5-yard line where he was hit by several Thunderbirds. He cartwheeled off a prone defender's back and carried to the end zone.
It was originally called a touchdown, but after a review McWilliams was called down at the 5-yard line. His arm had touched the ground.
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Oddly enough, this worked to Idaho's advantage. Instead of scoring with one minute, 51 seconds remaining in the half, the Vandals didn't secure the touchdown until only one minute, 21 seconds was left after Hayden Kincheloe finally twisted his way into the end zone on a third straight run. Idaho lined up to kick the extra point, but SUU's Ty Pringle jumped offside, and with the ball spotted at the 1-yard line, the Vandals went for two. Wood faked a handoff to Kincheloe, pulled the ball and made a short pass to an uncovered Gus Donnerberg in the end zone. SUU's bid to even the score failed when Burns fumbled a snap, scrambled and threw a third-down prayer that was incomplete when Idaho's defensive backs stayed with their coverage assignments and did not come off the receivers to chase Burns in the backfield.
The Thunderbirds were forced to punt, and after Idaho's offense took over, Wood took a knee to kill the last 18 seconds of the half.
As good as SUU's running was, 35 rushes for 245 yards, the Vandals nearly kept pace. Damonte Bias led Idaho with 89 yards, Wood followed with 48, and Kenny Golston and Kincheloe added 46 apiece.
"Our offensive line did a great job being physical," Ford said. Following that blocking, the backs "looked really good today," said Ford.
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The game was also the debut of Idaho receiver Markel Taylor. He was injured until recently. But he caught a pair of passes against the Thunderbirds, including one for a 19-yard touchdown, his first at Idaho, after the SUU coverage broke down and left Taylor free in the end zone. It put the Vandals ahead 10-7.
Now Idaho looks ahead to its road trip to face Portland State on the actual Halloween. The Vikings lost at Idaho State on Saturday 38-8 to drop to 2-3 in the Big Sky and 2-6 overall.
But Ford said wins are always hard to come by in the Big Sky. What horrors await?
