Abilene Christian Holds Off Idaho and Joshua Wood's Four Touchdowns, 41-39
Joshua Wood ran for four touchdowns and threw for another, and Idaho still lost. Abilene Christian beat the Vandals 41-39, which leaves Idaho at 0-3 and Abilene Christian at 1-2. Four touchdowns on the ground and 326 yards in the air were not enough.
It looked done. A pair of Brandon Perez field goals (31 and 51 yards) tied it at 24 and then put the Wildcats up 27-24, and thirteen seconds after the second one, Obi Udom's 7-yard fumble recovery touchdown made it 34-24. Tucker Parks hit Deonte Dean from 37 yards at 8:49 and it was 41-24. Idaho lost two fumbles on the day and Abilene Christian none, and that one fumble return is the game: take away those 7 points and 41 becomes 34, and Idaho's 39 would have won it.
Then Wood went to work. He ran in from 9 yards with 6:33 left and added the two-point conversion on a pass to Noah West-Baranco, then scored from 3 yards with 1:46 to go to get within 41-39. That was the last score, and the Vandals' comeback ran out two points short. Idaho scored 15 points in the last 6:33 and never got the lead.
The game was tied twice and the lead changed hands five times. Idaho outgained Abilene Christian 444 yards to 392, with 332 of them through the air, while Abilene Christian ran 44 times for 244 yards. For fantasy, Wood's 46.7 points are the biggest number on the page, and Parks was next with 31.3, and Tony Harste's 151 receiving yards (27.1 points) made it a three-way fantasy day.