MOSCOW – It finally caught up to Montana State.
The Bobcats had been living on the edge of defeat multiple times over the end of 2025 and the start of 2026. Wins over rival Montana and Yale, then a miraculous victory in the national title last season were followed by sluggish wins over Central Connecticut State and NAU.
This time, MSU looked like it would pull away once again. But the Idaho Vandals didn’t go away even when things looked out of reach to pull out a 35-34 win – same as the Bobcats national title winning score – when Idaho’s shifty quarterback Josh Woods connected for 23 yards to the MSU 25 with :01 to play, then found Ryan Jezioro for the a touchdown and ran up the gut for the two point conversion with no time remaining.
The Bobcats looked to have the game wrapped up when they made the tackle at the 25 as the clock struck :00. However, the timer either didn’t see the signal to stop the clock by the officials or they didn’t make. The confusion led to the game being stopped completely as the referee ordered one second be put back on the clock. After a first down play inside two minutes officials are to stop the clock on a first down to allow the chains to be set. Had that been the case, Idaho would’ve had to line up and immediately run a play on the officials signal. With the game halted, the Vandals had time to set up for the play and it all worked out.
“We just know their quarterback is dynamic and he’s going to want to scramble,” MSU linebacker Neil Daily said. “He executed and they out executed us and we’ll get better and we’ll learn from that and we’ll come back.”
Vigen seemed unsure of just how the final play came to be.
“Well, they said they looked at it,” Vigen said of the play before the winning score where it looked like time expired. “It’s one of those situations where you call a timeout or you don’t call a timeout. Ultimately, they made the play. I hope there was a second left.”
Jezioro and Woods ended the game the way they started it. Woods found him on the first offensive play for the Vandals for a 75-yard score, then hit him from the 25 on the last play of regulation.
“Certainly, give Idaho credit,” Vigen said. “We knew they weren’t going to quit. We left a lot of things out there today.”
The Bobcats squandered points after getting inside the UI 10 and having to settle for field goals, then they missed field goals at the end of the half and again with about three minutes to play.
“It’s going to take all of us,” MSU quarterback Patrick Duchein said. “We’re going to stay in it from the top down and we go into a bye week and don’t play another opponent for two weeks.”
Duchein continues to impress filling in for starter Justin Lamson. The junior was 23 of 32 for 249 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 92 yards on 14 carries and a score. Carter Dahlke was stellar once again for MSU as he caught 10 passes for 126 yards to over the century mark for the second time in two starts as a true freshman. Colson Coon, who was coming off a 17 carry, 197 yard effort was held in check with just 56 yards on 15 carries. MSU ran for 220 yards on just 42 carries good for 5.3 per carry.
The Bobcats built a 34-20 early in the fourth quarter and had the ball with a 34-27 lead. After forcing a punt, they drove into UI territory with a pair of first downs but needed a third to ice the game away. When that didn’t happen it left the door slightly open for Idaho and that’s all it needed
Woods finished with 315 yards passing on 19 of 26 and one interception, which was nabbed by Daily. He also ran for 44 yards and a score. Jezioro, his favorite target, finished with 147 yards on seven catches and two touchdowns. MSU held the Vandals to just 128 yards on 32 carries, but Woods was getting nearly 15 yards per pass attempt.
The Bobcats are no strangers to tough losses that seem to put them in a tough spot. A year ago, they lost their first two games – one understandably to FBS power Oregon. The other was a double overtime loss at home to old non-conference nemesis South Dakota State. The Bobcats have only lost 10 times to FCS opponents under Vigen, but they’ve only spread that over four teams. North Dakota State and SDSU both have three wins, while Montana and Idaho each have two.
“We got more time to look at ourselves,” Daily said of the bye week. “Find out who we are. We’re going to go through and we’re going to get better as a team, we’re going to try to get closer as a team. We’re going to focus on the little things we might’ve let slip.”
The Bobcats were on a short week as they played into Sunday morning last week against Northern Arizona, then had to travel to Moscow to face Idaho, which was coming off a bye week.
MSU is back in action on October 17 in Cheney, Washington where it take on Eastern Washington in another Big Sky Conference game. The Bobcats are 2-1 in the league and 5-1 overall.
