POCATELLO, Idaho — The Sacramento State offense had its most productive day of the year, but Idaho State had three touchdowns on plays of at least 60 yards as well as a defensive touchdown to spark the Bengals to a 42-34 victory over the Hornets in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.

Sacramento State found itself down 21-0 midway through the second quarter after ISU had a 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josh Cook, a 1-yard rush from Jakori Ford and a 62-yard run from Michael Dean.

The Hornets closed the half with a pair of touchdown drives in the final four minutes. The first drive covered 77 yards and was punctuated by a 16-yard pass to Isiah Hennie from Nate Ketteringham. The pair hooked up three minutes later for an 8-yard strike to make the score 21-14 at the half.

Sacramento State pulled within four point, 21-17, after a Tanner Kuljian field goal before ISU scored on a 68-yard pass to Cook and a 91-yard rush from Dean. Ketteringham rushed for a 13-yard touchdown five minutes into the fourth quarter to make the score 35-24. After a defensive stop, Ketteringham was intercepted by Nikko Taylor who returned the pick four yards for a score.

The Hornets then drove down inside the 10 but Ketteringham was picked off by Anthony Ricks at the 3-yard line to stop the drive. The defense forced a punt and ISU elected to take a safety as its punter took a knee in the end zone.

A good return on the free kick set up a 9-play, 55-yard drive which ended when Ketteringham scored his second rushing touchdown of the game. Demetrius Warren made it a one-score game when he scored on the two-point conversion.

Sacramento State finished with 538 yards of offense. Ketteringham completed 25-of-46 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 87 yards and two scores. Andre Lindsey led the team with 139 receiving yards and Jordan Robinson added 11 receptions for 74 yards.

Defensively, Nick Crouch and Manoah Pearson led the team with 13 and 11 tackles, respectively.

Gueller was 26-of-34 for 270 yards and two touchdowns. Cook led the team with seven receptions for 118 yards.

The Hornets return to Sacramento for a pair of home games. The team will host Montana State on Saturday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m., followed by a matchup with North Dakota on Oct. 8. The game against North Dakota will serve as Homecoming.

QUOTABLE

"I was really proud of the offense. They rushed the ball for 200 yards and threw for over 300. I was really proud of how Nate bounced back after last week. There were so many positive things but the problem is the self-inflicted wounds. You can't win a college football game with mental errors and we need to cut those mental errors."

Head coach Jody Sears

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
9:36 - Idaho State marched down the field on the opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead on a 21-yard pass from Tanner Gueller to Josh Cook. During the drive, Gueller completed all eight of his pass attempts for 76 yards.

Second Quarter
13:48 - The Bengals took advantage of a crucial late hit penalty against Sacramento State to push its lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter. Facing 3rd-and-6, Ben Sorensen and George Obinna combined to sack Gueller and set up a field goal attempt. However, Gueller was never taken to the ground, and after the whistle, was brought down by Obinna drawing the flag. The automatic first down kept the drive alive and ISU found the end zone three plays later on a 1-yard rush from Jakori Ford.

7:47 - After Sacramento State missed a 41-yard field goal attempt, ISU used just five plays to travel 76 yards to make the score 21-0. Michael Dean added the exclamation point with a 62-yard rush for the score. On the play, Dean started up the middle of the field and then cut to his left and went untouched down the sideline.

3:44 - Sacramento State relied on the legs of Nate Ketteringham during its first scoring drive of the game. The quarterback rushed for 42 yards during the series, including a 27-yard scramble which took the ball inside the Idaho State red zone. A holding call backed the Hornets up before Ketteringham threw a 21-yard strike to Isiah Hennie in the middle of the end zone.

0:08 - Hennie grabbed his second touchdown pass in the final four minutes of the half with an 8-yard reception on a slant route. Ketteringham was 7-for-7 during the drive for 64 yards and also rushed for 10 yards during the series.

Third Quarter
7:08 - Tanner Kuljian converted his first career field goal with a 20-yard make to give the Hornets 17 unanswered points. A third-down sack from Wyatt Ming set up a punt and Andre Lindsey deflected the punt attempt to give a short field to the Sacramento State offense. The Hornets drove the ball to the 10-yard line but were unable to get past the 4-yard line.

6:00 - Idaho State stopped the Hornet run with a 68-yard touchdown pass to Josh Cook to make the score 28-17. The Hornets brought pressure but Cook snuck across the middle of the field and was left uncovered leading to the easy score.

0:31 - Dean made it 35-17 with his second touchdown of the game on just three carries. This time, he took the handoff to the left and received a good block on the end to travel 91 yards for the score.

Fourth Quarter
10:45 - Sacramento State needed just three plays to travel 81 yards for a touchdown. Ketteringham kept the ball on the read option and went up the middle of the field for a 13-yard touchdown rush which pulled the Hornets within two scores. The play was set up by a 66-yard bomb to Andre Lindsey down the left sideline.

5:25 - Defensive tackle Nikko Taylor put the game out of reach with his interception return for a touchdown. Taylor timed Nate Ketteringham's screen pass perfectly and the 6-foot-1, 295-pounder rumbled into the end zone from 4-yards out.

4:33 - Sacramento State was awarded a safety after Idaho State deliberately took a knee in the end zone on a punt attempt. The safety was the first for the Hornets since Weber State snapped the ball out of the end zone in 2012.

2:41 - Ketteringham scored his second rushing touchdown of the game with a 7-yard rush. During the play, Ketteringham had to side step several defenders before cutting it back up field and carrying a would-be tackler into the end zone. Demetrius Warren scored on a misdirection rush on the two-point conversion to pull the Hornets within eight points, 42-34.

NOTES

• Hennie had two touchdown receptions in a game for the first time in his career. The junior had two career TD receptions entering the contest.

• Ketteringham set a career high for rushing yards with 96. His previous high was 51 against Idaho State last season.

• The 66-yard completion to Lindsey was the longest play from scrimmage for Sacramento State this season. He also became the first Sacramento State receiver to have 100 receiving yards since Shane Harrison had 152 at Northern Arizona on Nov. 14 of last season.

• Sacramento State is now 4-17 all-time in Big Sky openers.

• Manoah Pearson was credited with 11 tackles to extend his streak to nine consecutive games with at least five tackles.

• Senior Nick Crouch set his career high with 13 tackles. Crouch's previous high was eight which came in five different games.

• Robinson became the first running back in school history to record at least 10 receptions in a game. His 10 catches are tied for the 14th most in school history and easily surpassed his previous career best of six.