POCATELLO, Idaho (October 3, 2026) – No. 19/19 Northern Arizona rode a balanced offense, two takeaways and a stout run defense to dispatch No. 12/14 Idaho State, 38-31, in ICCU Dome Saturday night, picking up its first ranked road win in almost three years in the process. The Lumberjacks improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Sky play, while finally completing a three-game road stretch.
 
"I'm proud of our team coming on the road three weeks in a row and they've been resilient," said head coach Brian Wright. "We put together a really good week of work coming off a disappointing loss last week. There was a lot of good tonight in a tough place to play against a really good team."
 
NAU snapped a seven-game road losing streak to nationally-ranked FCS teams dating back to Oct. 7, 2023 when it defeated No. 13/14 Weber State, 27-10. The victory also put an end to Idaho State's eight-game winning streak, which was the longest active streak in the FCS following losses by Montana State last night and South Carolina State earlier today. The Bengals (4-1, 1-1 Big Sky) had not dropped a game since the Lumberjacks defeated them last season in Pocatello.
 
NAU returns home to host Montana next Saturday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. MST in Findlay Toyota Field at the Walkup Skydome. Tickets can be purchased at this link.
 
"We just went through a gauntlet on the road," said Jeter Purdy. "It doesn't matter who in the conference, this conference is a gauntlet every night. Now we can go back in front of our crowd, our fans and we got a big one next week."
 
The Lumberjacks rolled up a season-best 506 yards of offense in a near 50-50 split (273 passing yards, 233 rushing yards). NAU averaged 8.2 yards per play.
 
Meanwhile, NAU limited Idaho State – the eighth-highest scoring team in the country at 38.5 points per game – to 21 points until the final minute of the game. The Lumberjacks' defense forced two turnovers, off interceptions by Jahaad Fort and Ammon Allen, increasing their FCS-leading total to 16 takeaways on the season.
 
NAU got on the board first as Ty Pennington found Purdy wide open across the middle of the field. Purdy did the rest racing 86 yards to the end zone before the conclusion of the first quarter, giving NAU a 7-0 lead at the end of 15 minutes. The 86-yard play, NAU's longest from the line of scrimmage this season, was a large part of a career-night for Purdy. The NAU tight end finished with six receptions for a career-high 146 yards.
 
The Bengals answered right back, tying the game at 7-7 with a Tytan Mason 4-yard scoring run to cap an eight-play, 75-yard drive that only took 1:11 off the clock, but NAU came right back. Fueled by catch-and-runs by Purdy and Kenveon Stone, the Lumberjacks retook the lead immediately on the ensuing drive on a 7-yard touchdown run by Stone, his first of two touchdowns on the night.
 
After Idaho State missed a 54-yard field goal, NAU added a second rushing touchdown by Quran Gossett from a yard out at the end of a 12-play, 63-yard drive, with under a minute remaining before the half. Gossett closed the first of two 12-play NAU touchdown drives to make it a 21-7 lead, and Fort recorded his third interception of the season for good measure to put a wrap on the first half.
 
On their first drive of the second half, the Bengals were poised to slice into the deficit, marching down the field into the red zone. However, Jordan Cooke's pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Jackson Murray, and Allen elevated to snag his first career interception and halt the Idaho State drive.
 
Two plays later, Stone ripped right through the Bengal defense for a 73-yard scamper flipping the field position in a big way. The longest run by a Lumberjack in nearly two years set up a 31-yard field goal by Francisco Orduno Jr., padding NAU's lead to 24-7 with 4:37 left in the third quarter.
 
After Idaho State snapped a run of 17 consecutive NAU points with a 34-yard touchdown strike from Cooke to Tommy Poe, NAU executed trickery on the first play of the fourth quarter. Facing a fourth-and-5, the 'Jacks shifted out of field goal formation and Donivan Dixon extended the drive with a 21-yard completion to Purdy. The fourth down conversion led to a 3-yard Braylon Gardner touchdown from Pennington, resulting in Gardner's first career touchdown.
 
The Bengals answered Gardner's touchdown with a touchdown of their own, climbing back to 31-21 with 10 minutes left, but the Lumberjacks punished the Bengals with a game-clinching 12-play, 84-yard touchdown drive spanning seven minutes, which consisted of all runs. with a punishing scoring drive. Following 10-plus yard runs by Pennington, Gossett and Stout, Stone punched in his second rushing touchdown of the game from seven yards
 
"We want to be a team that can end football games like that," Wright said. "We want to eat clock and run the football when we need to and finish the drive in the end zone."
 
Trailing 38-21 with less than three minutes to play, Idaho State would not go away, racing for a touchdown with 1:04 on the clock. The Bengals then converted an onside kick recovery into a field goal with 26 seconds remaining, but the rally came to an end there when the Lumberjacks recovered the final onside kick.
 
Pennington threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns on a near perfect night, completing 21-of-27 passes, to engineer the offense. Stone paced NAU with his first career 100-yard rushing game with 103 yards on eight carries, while notching his third multi-touchdown game of the season.
 
Defensively, Noble Young-Blackgoat, Shahid Wilson and Malki Te'o totaled a team-high seven tackles apiece. Devin Murphy recorded a pair of sacks and also forced a fumble.
 
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