MOSCOW, Idaho -- The Idaho Vandals rode four Thayne Doyle field goals to their third consecutive Big Sky Conference championship Saturday with a 26-21 victory over Boise State.
The win was Idaho's eighth straight over the Broncos and was the Vandals'ninth straight win of the season after opening the season with two losses.
Doyle, who has struggled all season, connected on kicks of 23, 33, 41, and 35 yards, with the lastkick coming with 26 seconds left in the game to end all scoring.
The game began slowly for both teams as the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
The Vandals broke the ice in the seocond quarter when John Friesz hit Kasey Dunn on a 20-yard TD pass to put the Vandals up 7-0.
After a failed fake field goal attempt by Boise State, the Vandals drove to the BSU four-yard line, but had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Doyle and increase their lead to 10-0 and end all first half scoring.
BSU got on the board in the third quarter when running back Chris Thomas scored on a 6-yard TD run to cut Idaho's lead to 10-7.
Doyle then answered with a 33-yuard field to give Vandals a 13-7 lead.
Doyle added his third field goal midway through the third quarter from 41 yards out to increase the Idaho lead to 16-7.
BSU cut the lead to 16-14 when Thomas scored his second TD of the game on a 10-yard run.
Friesz then drove Idaho 77 yards in 11 plays, with running back Damon Daniels scoring on a 1-yard TD plunge to put the Vandals up 23-14.
BSU quarterback Mike Virden connected with wide receiver Ricky Hill on a 33-yard TD pass to cut Idaho's lead to 23-21.
The Vandals recovered the onsides kick with excellent field position and Doyle ended all scoring with a 35-yard field goal.
Friesz completed 27 of 49 passes for 307 yards. Friesz's career passing total ended at 10,697 yards, tying him with Northern Arizona quarterback Greg Wyatt for the career lead in the Big Sky. Wyatt ended his career Saturday against Nevada-Reno with 420 yards.
Friesz became only the sixth quarterback in NCAA history to pass for 4,000 yards in a season and ends his career tied with Wyatt for fifth on the NCAA's career passing list.
Chris Thomas led BSU with 173 yards rushing. Bronco quarterback Virden passed for 280 yards.
Idaho finishes the regular season 8-0 in the Big Sky, 9-2 overall, while BSU ends its season at 5-3 in the league and 6-5 overall.
Idaho bagged the league's automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA Division I-AA Collegiate Football Championships.
