On Saturday Idaho football played in front of a sold-out crowd in Bozeman, Montana. They started their last of two road games to close out the season against Montana State. The Bobcats and the Vandals have had two seasons of opposite success.
Montana State coming into Saturday’s game was ranked No. 3 in the country and sat atop the Big Sky standings with an undefeated record in Big Sky play. Idaho had gone 2-4 in Big Sky play and is looking at a losing season.
Despite the polarity in the two teams’ success, the game that transpired was a closely contested affair that came down to the final drive of the game. Idaho would end up losing 20-13 but gave the Big Sky leaders a run for their money, even with significant injuries.
Graduate student quarterback Mike Beaudry was out, and his duties fell squarely on the shoulders of redshirt sophomore Zach Borisch. Idaho’s quarterback room has been fraught with injuries the entire season, with Beaudry, Borisch, freshman CJ Jordan, and freshman Gevani McCoy all getting playing time under center this season.
In previous games, Borisch would split the quarterback duties with the rest of the crew. McCoy, Beaudry, and Jordan typically handled the designed pass plays and Borisch handled the RPOs, or designed quarterback runs. On Saturday, it was exclusively Borisch who handled the pass and run duties.
The result was a stat line that tallied 23 carries for 70 rushing yards and 8/18 passing for 157 yards and a touchdown pass to Idaho’s leading receiver, redshirt sophomore Terez Traynor.
This was lone touchdown Idaho scored during the game, and it was almost enough.
Montana State was dealing with injures as well, losing their left guard and their top two running backs. As Montana State freshman QB Tommy Mellott had two first half rushing touchdowns, , and Bobcats missed an extra point attempt, the first half ended 10-13 game with Montana State narrowly leading.
Montana State’s lack of scoring was due to a stout performance by Idaho’s defense. Redshirt freshman cornerback Marcus Harris had a first-half interception. Both redshirt junior defensive lineman Nate DeGraw and junior linebacker Tre Walker had critical second-half tackles that halted several drives. In the second half, three of the Bobcats’ drives ended in punts, while another ended in a turnover.
Redshirt sophomore kicker Logan Prescott made another field goal in the third quarter to tie the game 13-13. A missed Idaho field goal attempt would keep the score tied through the third quarter and most of the fourth until Mellott would get his third rushing touchdown of the game to give Montana State the lead 20-13.
Following Montana State’s go-ahead touchdown, Idaho had one more drive to try and score and tie the game. But Montana State’s defense did not bend nor break, and the Vandals turned the ball over on downs in a final drive that went for -1 yard.
Despite a gutsy performance with significant injuries, the Vandals took a top team in the country down to the wire in a hostile stadium. As the season winds down, that’s a performance the Vandals can build on heading to next week’s season-finale and going into next season.
Idaho will face Idaho State in Pocatello on Nov. 20 in the Battle of the Domes at noon on ESPN+.
Live game updates can be found on Twitter @VandalNation
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]