Ricardo Chavez boots winning field goal with one second left and Idaho knocks off Sacramento State

Published Sep. 23, 2023 7:53 p.m. ET

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MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — Ricardo Chavez kicked a 30-yard field goal with one second left and Idaho added a touchdown on the final play, defeating Sacramento State 36-27 in a wild Big Sky Conference opener on Saturday.

Chavez's third field goal of the game broke a 27-all tie but left one tick on the clock. Sacramento State's attempt to score on the ensuing kickoff ended with a fumble that the Vandals' Turon Ivy Jr. recovered for a touchdown.

Idaho's Gevani McCoy threw two long touchdown passes in the third quarter to give the Vandals a 10-point lead. He hit Ivy for 52 yards and Terez Traynor for 60 yards and the Vandals led 27-17 heading to the fourth quarter.

Sacramento State eventually tied it at 27 when Kaiden Bennett threw to Marcus Fulcher for an 11-yard touchdown with 4:54 remaining but that was the last snap for the Hornets offense.

Idaho's 36-yard drive to the winning field goal was set up by Jermaine Jackson's 36-yard kickoff return that had a personal foul on the Hornets tacked on at the end.

McCoy was 15-of-21 passing for 234 yards with the two long touchdowns. Anthony Woods had 117 yards rushing on 24 carries for the Vandals (3-1, No. 10 in FCS coaches poll).

Bennett completed 15 of 29 passes for 236 yards with two touchdowns for the Hornets (3-1, No. 4 FCS).

The Vandals led 13-10 at halftime on the strength of a 2-yard run by Anthony Woods and field goals of 29 and 50 yards from Chavez.

Sacramento State entered the game with a 22-game regular-season winning streak and a 19-game Big Sky winning streak. The Hornets defeated Stanford and former coach Troy Taylor 30-23 last week.

It was the first top-10 matchup at the Kibbie Dome since the Vandals faced Northern Iowa in 1994.

Idaho won its home opener after being one of five FCS teams to open the season with three true road games.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

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