Freshman wide receiver George Dimopoulos threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dane Pardridge on the first play of the second overtime to lift Northern Illinois to a 28-20 victory over Fresno State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Monday afternoon in Boise, Idaho.
The Huskies disguised the game-winning play as a jet sweep, but Dimopoulos pulled up and found Pardridge behind the defense for the winning score. Dimopoulos followed up his first career pass with a two-point conversion toss to quarterback Josh Holst to give the Huskies (8-5) bowl wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-11.
“When they missed the field goal (to win) at the end of the game, I said, ‘We’re going to empty the clip and figure out ways to go win this game by any means necessary,'” said Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock said. “George Dimopoulos did a phenomenal job executing those plays at the end and our guys wanted it. They wanted it for those (30) seniors and I was proud they were able to get it done.”
Fresno State interim head coach Tim Skipper tipped his cap to Hammock and his staff for their creativity regarding trick plays.
“All season long, they’ve been doing those plays (in the red zone) and they keep on inventing new ones,” Skipper said. “We hadn’t seen those plays they threw at us, but we knew something was going to happen. You have to have good eyes down there. We lost our guys and they made plays. Give them a lot of credit.”
Holst, a redshirt freshman walk-on making his third career start because regular-season starter Ethan Hampton transferred to Illinois, completed 18 of 30 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for a team-high 65 yards.
Sophomore Joshua Wood came off the bench to complete 16 of 23 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown for Fresno State (6-7), which saw its five-game bowl winning streak end. Bryson Donelson scored two touchdowns and rushed for 82 yards while Mac Dalena made six catches for 118 yards.
With Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene — the Mountain West’s leader in passing yards –announcing his transfer to Michigan earlier Monday, redshirt freshman Jayden Mandal made his first start for Fresno State.
On Northern Illinois’ first play from scrimmage, Holst’s rollout pass sailed over his intended receiver. Safety Jayden Davis picked it off and returned it 26 yards to the Huskies’ 25. Mandal led a quick drive that Donelson capped with a 1-yard blast for a 6-0 lead at 11:29 of the first.
After Kanon Woodill booted a 29-yard field goal to make it 6-3, Fresno State interim head coach Tim Skipper gave Wood the controls for the Bulldogs’ next drive — and he needed just four plays to go 90 yards for a score. He hooked up with Dalena for a 54-yard bomb before taking a keeper untouched up the middle for a 13-yard score and a 13-3 lead.
NIU took the first possession of the second half 76 yards for a score. Tight end Grayson Barnes leaped between two Bulldogs and snagged Holst’s 26-yard lob with his right hand to cut the deficit to 13-10 with 11:22 left in the third.
On Fresno State’s next possession, Nate Valcarcel intercepted Mandal at NIU’s 38 to set up Woodill’s 34-yard field goal that made it 13-13 at 7:39 of the third.
That was the last score until overtime, as Woodill missed a go-ahead 35-yard field goal with 3:02 left and the Bulldogs’ Dylan Lynch missed a 35-yarder on the final play of regulation.
Fresno State opened overtime with Wood’s 9-yard touchdown pass to the uncovered Donelson to give the Bulldogs a 20-13 margin. Holst answered with a 3-yard touchdown lob to Barnes.
–Field Level Media
