The Idaho State football team beat a Top 10 team for the first time since 2005, beating No. 7 UC Davis 27-17 at Holt Arena.
Coming into Saturday’s game the Aggie offense was averaging 35 points a game. Through three quarters, UC Davis had only three points before scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns.
The Idaho State defense forced three turnovers, all interceptions. Jayden Dawson had a pick and a 61-yard return, Oshea Trujillo had his third interception of his career and Josh Alford had an interception. The three Aggie turnovers resulted in 10 Idaho State points.
Offensively, Idaho State had a season-high 444 yards of total offense. Hunter Hays earned his first victory as a starting quarterback throwing for 281 yards and two touchdowns.
Tanner Conner had a season-high 150 yards and one touchdown on five receptions. Xavier Guillory had four receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown.
In his first start, freshman Tyevin Ford rushed for 107 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown. Hays also had 52 rushing yards on 13 carries.
Darian Green and Connor Wills led the defense with nine tackles. Green also had two tackles for loss. Dawson finished with eight tackes, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, two pass breakups and his interception.
Idaho State took the early 7-0 lead when Hays connected with Connor on a 71-yard touchdown with 8:52 left in the first quarter.
On the next possession, Trujillo came up with the Bengals first interception of the season on a 20-yard return to the UC Davis 39-yard line.
The offense then marched down the field and went up 14-0 on a five-yard run from Ford with 4:39 left in the first quarter. The scoring drive was capped by a 32-yard reception by Connor on a third-and-10.
On the first play of the second quarter, Dawson tallied his interception returning a Hunter Rodrigues pass 61 yards to the UC Davis 24-yard line. On the Bengal possession, David Allish nailed a 23-yard field goal to up the ISU lead to 17-0.
After a UC Davis field goal with 7:31 left in the first half, ISU would later go up 24-3 after an 18-yard touchdown reception by Gillory with nine seconds left until halftime. On the play prior, Guillory caught a 25-yard pass from Hays to put the Bengals in scoring position.
After a scoreless third quarter, UC Davis managed two touchdowns and Allish connected on a 19-yard field goal with 9:07 left in the game.
The Bengals got the ball with 6:48 left to go in the game and ran the clock out to seal the victory. Ford had 53 of his 107 yards rushing during the game-sealing drive.
Idaho State returns to the field on Oct. 16 for a 3 p.m. (MST) contest at Portland State.
