Idaho State stuns Utah State 29-17 in upset victory

LOGAN, Utah (KIFI) – Saturday night in Logan, Idaho State stunned the Utah State Aggies 29-17, marking their first win over an FBS opponent since 2017 when they defeated the Nevada Wolfpack.

ISU opened the scoring when Mason Lindberg knocked home a 28-yard field goal. Lindberg connected on all 5 of his field goal attempts in this game, the longest being a 48-yarder later in the first. The Bengals punched in their first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. On fourth and goal, ISU went for it on Utah State's 1-yard line. Jordan Cooke took the ball and fought his way over the goal line for the score, reclaiming the lead 13-7.

The Aggies reclaimed the lead in the third quarter. Trailing 16-10 and on Idaho State's 4-yard line, Utah State quarterback McCae Hillstead found Demick Starling in the back of the end zone to go up 17-16.

Idaho State retook the lead a few minutes later when Mason Lindberg put his 4th field goal of the day through the uprights. In the fourth quarter, they expanded on the lead when Jordan Cooke hit Chedon James for an 8 yard touchdown, and then Mason Lindberg converted his 5th and final field goal of the evening to give the bengals a 29-17 lead.

The Bengal defense made a lot of noise Saturday night. The Idaho State front registered 3 sacks, and their secondary snagged 4 interceptions in the win. After the game, Head Coach Cody Hawkins talked about how important their defensive plan coming into the game was.

"We talked about all the things that it takes to beat an FBS team is you need to score 30 points, and you need to get three turnovers," he said. "...our defense got four turnovers, and that's kind of the recipe."

Of those 4 turnovers, 2 came from one man. TreShawn Shorty caught two picks in the win. Offensively, Jordan Cooke finished the game going 18 of 33 with 152 yards passing and 2 total touchdowns, one throwing, one rushing. Julian "Juice" Mason led the way in terms of receiving, hauling in 7 catches for 75 yards. Carson Sudbury led the rushing attack in terms of yardage, running for 37 yards on 3 carries.