Owen Forsman's 53-Yarder at the Horn Lifts Idaho Past Southern Utah 31-28 on Homecoming

Fifty-three yards. No time left. A Homecoming crowd inside the Kibbie Dome that had just watched a 10-point lead disappear in less than five minutes.

Owen Forsman did not blink.

Idaho beat Southern Utah 31-28 on Saturday in Moscow when Forsman, the former Lakeland High kicker from Rathdrum, drilled a career-long 53-yard field goal as time expired. It was his third make in three tries, and it came 42 seconds after Southern Utah had tied the game on a fourth-and-10 touchdown pass that looked like it had stolen the afternoon.

The Vandals improved to 3-5. Southern Utah fell to 3-5 and 2-3 in the Big Sky, a week after knocking off No. 14 UC Davis.

A first half of near misses

The early going was all about chances left on the field. Southern Utah's Keenan Eck sacked Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood for a 10-yard loss to force a three-and-out on the opening possession, and David Spjut returned the punt 33 yards to the SUU 47. On the very next snap, Aaron Kinsey intercepted Will Burns and brought it back to the SUU 39.

Idaho got to the 13 but no farther, as Christian Sampson sacked Wood on third-and-1, and Forsman hit a 35-yard field goal. The Vandals threatened again on their next drive, reaching the SUU 24, but Sean Mays picked off Wood at the 5. A personal foul on the return backed the Thunderbirds up to their own 10, and it was 3-0 after one quarter.

Southern Utah took its first lead early in the second. Burns broke a 37-yard run, and Floyd Chalk, the Big Sky's Offensive Player of the Week after the UC Davis win, finished a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown run. Idaho answered in five plays. A pass interference penalty and a 37-yard run by Damonte Bias set up a 19-yard touchdown pass from Wood to Markel Taylor.

Burns then ripped off a 50-yard run, and Jayden Rogers tied it at 10 with a 42-yard field goal with 3:20 left in the half. Idaho went 75 yards in six plays on its next possession. The Thunderbirds stuffed Hayden Kincheloe on second-and-goal from the 1, but he scored on third down, and a two-point pass to Gus Donnerberg made it 18-10 at the break.

Burns runs wild

If the first half belonged to the defenses, the third quarter opened with the best individual play of the day. Facing third-and-10 at his own 24, Burns ran 76 yards up the middle for a touchdown, then hit Jack Fairchild for the two-point conversion. It was 18-18 with 12:04 left in the third.

That run was the centerpiece of a huge afternoon. Burns carried 18 times for 187 yards, an average of 10.4 per attempt, and completed 17 of 31 passes for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His 392 yards of total offense left him 16 shy of the program's single-game top 10. The big day also extended a Southern Utah streak of producing a 100-yard rusher in every game dating back to Homecoming in 2025.

Idaho's special teams kept it from slipping away. Tyler Kinsman pinned Southern Utah at its own 1 with a 52-yard punt, and after the Thunderbirds worked out to their 40 and punted, Nolan McWilliams brought it back 37 yards to the Idaho 43. The Vandals drove to the SUU 7, where Amarion York broke up a third-down pass, and Forsman's 25-yard field goal put Idaho back in front 21-18 with 3:09 left in the third.

The turning point

Idaho seemed to put the game away with a drive that carried over into the fourth quarter. The Vandals went 85 yards in nine plays, helped by two Southern Utah penalties that extended the possession, and Wood found Donnerberg for a 14-yard touchdown. It was 28-18 with 10:19 to go.

Southern Utah answered with an 11-play, 60-yard drive that ate 5:25. Spjut made a 23-yard catch on third-and-7, Burns picked up 19 on third-and-20, and Rogers kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it 28-21 with 4:54 left. The defense forced a three-and-out. The Thunderbirds reached the Idaho 43, but a fourth-and-3 pass fell incomplete with 1:29 to play, and that looked like the end.

It was not. Two plays later, Myles Amey forced a Kincheloe fumble and recovered it at the SUU 43. Southern Utah went nowhere on three straight plays, and then, on fourth-and-10, Burns found Mark Bails over the middle for a 57-yard touchdown. Rogers tied it at 28 with 42 seconds left.

Forty-two seconds turned out to be plenty. Idaho went 40 yards, with a pass interference penalty moving the ball to the SUU 41, and Forsman lined up from 53. The rest is Homecoming lore in Moscow.

The real swing, though, came a few minutes earlier. Idaho's 85-yard touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter was kept alive by two Southern Utah penalties. On paper, without that touchdown, the same late rally puts the Thunderbirds ahead instead of merely tied. They scored 10 points in the final 4:54 and still came up three short.

The players who decided it

Forsman was the obvious hero. A 35-yarder, a 25-yarder and a 53-yarder at the horn add up to nine points in a three-point game, and on Monday he picked up weekly honors from both the Big Sky and Stats Perform.

Wood threw touchdown passes to Taylor and Donnerberg, though Southern Utah sacked him twice in the first quarter and Mays picked him off at the 5.

For Southern Utah, beyond Burns, Bails caught two passes for 69 yards, Spjut added three catches for 60 and 36 yards on punt returns, and tight end Joshua Acord led the team with six grabs for 46 yards. Chalk ran for 58 yards and a score. On defense, Lincoln Tuioti-Mariner, Mason Stromstad and redshirt freshman safety Parker Vance each made seven tackles, Amey added six with the forced fumble and recovery, and Sampson had two tackles for loss.

The stats that matter

Southern Utah won the box score and lost the game. The Thunderbirds outgained Idaho 450 to 378 and ran for 245 yards at 7.0 yards per carry. Southern Utah even won the turnover battle, forcing an interception and a late fumble while Burns threw one pick.

So where did it go wrong? Field position and finishing. Southern Utah's two biggest scoring plays, Burns' 76-yard run and Bails' 57-yard catch, came from long range, but the Thunderbirds had to settle for field goals twice and came up empty on a fourth-and-3 at the Idaho 43. Idaho, meanwhile, turned short fields into points twice, kicking field goals after the early interception and after McWilliams' punt return.

What it means

For Idaho, this is now a real run. The Vandals were 1-5 before beating No. 7 Montana in Missoula to bring the Little Brown Stein home, and they have won three of their last four, a stretch that also includes a win over the defending national champions. Next on the schedule was a Halloween trip to Portland State, which was 2-6 at the time.

For Southern Utah, the pain is in the details. A week after beating a ranked UC Davis team, the Thunderbirds did nearly everything right offensively and still left Moscow with a loss. Next on the schedule was a Halloween home game at Eccles Coliseum against No. 7 Northern Arizona in the Battle for the Grand Canyon. More details are in the recaps from Southern Utah (opens in a new tab) and Idaho (opens in a new tab).

The last word

Southern Utah scored 10 points in the final 4:54, converted a fourth-and-10 for a 57-yard touchdown and still lost.

On the other sideline, a kicker who had already made two field goals got one more chance from 53 yards, with no time left and Homecoming on the line. He made it count, and Idaho's turnaround season has one more chapter.

Sources: Southern Utah Athletics recap, Idaho Athletics releases. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Idaho Athletics.