MOBILE, Ala. – Matt Linehan threw for 273 yards and the game-tying touchdown in the waning seconds of regulation, and Isaiah Saunders scored from two yards in the second overtime to lift Idaho to a 29-23 Sun Belt Conference football win over the University of South Alabama Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

With the game tied 13-13 midway through the fourth quarter there was a two-hour and 27-minute delay due to lightning, after which Xavier Johnson gave the Jaguars (1-3, 0-1 Sun Belt) a seven-point lead with just over five minutes to go with a 34-yard touchdown run up the middle.  The Vandals (2-2, 1-0 SBC) began their final possession with 90 seconds on the clock, with Linehan moving Idaho 61 yards in nine plays before finding Alfonso Onunwor in the back corner of the end zone to knot the score.  The two teams traded field goals in the first extra period, but the Vandals followed a missed 43-yard attempt by the Jags with a four-play drive keyed by Saunders' 22-yard rush on third-and-nine from the USA-24.

Jeremy Reaves paced the Jaguars with career-high totals of 12 stops, two tackles for loss, three passes broken up, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.  Tony Lashley had a team-high 10 tackles for the Vandals, who were credited with nine stops behind the line of scrimmage while limiting USA to 130 yards after halftime.

Idaho 29, South Alabama 23 (2ot) (final stats)
South Alabama/Idaho photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-It was the first time this season, and seventh in program history, that USA has played a game that has gone to overtime.
-A second 39-minute delay followed a lightning strike in between possessions of the second overtime.
-South finished with a season-best 244 yards on the ground, but was outgained in the contest 419-350.
-Johnson led all players with 155 yards rushing on 20 carries.
-Jacob Sannon (103) and Onunwor (119) combined to catch 18 of Linehan's 23 completions with both surpassing 100 yards.
-The Jags had two interception returns for touchdown negated by defensive penalties in the third quarter.
-USA had season highs with 12 penalties for 109 yards, with the Vandals getting first downs following six of those flags.

NOTES
-The Jaguars are now 4-3 in overtime games, with a 1-2 mark in such contests in Sun Belt play.
-After USA won the first two meetings in the series, Idaho — which is departing the SBC at the end of the year — claimed the last two match-ups between the programs.
-It's the first time the Jags have fallen when ahead at the break since dropping a 42-35 decision in overtime at Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 5 last season.
-With the first of those two forced fumbles Reaves became USA's all=time leader in the category, ending the night with eight in three-plus seasons; the fumble recovery was the first of his career.
-Reaves also was the seventh individual in program history to force two fumbles in a game, and the first since Randy Allen did so in a Sept. 24 win over Nicholls last fall.
-In addition he was the first South player to finish with three or more passes broken up in a game since Terrell Brigham had three in the 2014 season opener at Kent State.
-Reaves and Nigel Lawrence became the first Jags to post 10 or more stops in a game this year, with the latter accomplishing the feat for the first time since Oct. 15 last season at Arkansas State.
-Johnson's rushing total was the highest of his career.
-The senior running back scored two touchdowns for the second straight outing, the first time that's been done by a Jag since Demetre Baker accomplished the feat during the 2011 season.
-Gavin Patterson tied a career high first set on Sept. 10 a year ago with three field goals.
-Sam Harris tied career highs with three catches for 41 yards for the Jaguars.
-It was the first time South's defense has recorded multiple takeaways in back-to-back contests since last two games of 2016 regular season at Idaho and home against New Mexico State.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Joey Jones
On the loss: "It's tough.  You fight that long in a game that starts at one o'clock and ends at almost eight, and you come up on the short end of the stick.  My hat's off to Idaho.  They came out here and fought us, played well and have a great quarterback; we knew it was going to be a pretty evenly matched game, but we had entirely too many penalties and that's on me.  We've got a pretty good football team, we really do, but in order to win a close game like that, you can't have as many penalties as we had and expect to win."
On if the defense got worn down at the end: "Maybe, but I thought they played a heck of a game.  Offensively, we struggled at times.  We did some good things running the football, but we didn't score many points and we have to look at some things.  Defensively, I thought we fought hard and we may have gotten a little tired on the last drive.  [Matt Linehan's] a pretty accurate quarterback and he made some good throws down the stretcha."
On what he said to the players after the game: "I told them that one game isn't going make or break our season and we have to come back ready to play Louisiana Tech next week.  [After that game] we have conference play from that point forward and we have to be men about it; you have to man up and realize that it's a tough loss and move forward.  You can't sit here and pout about it.  We have to come back and fight, and I know our kids will do that."
On the delay: "I don't know if it was a negative or positive for anybody.  I felt pretty good going out there [after the first delay].  We went down there and scored pretty quickly and we stopped them.  We later made a first down but got a penalty called bringing it back.  We then had to punt and they drove down and scored to tie the game.  Both teams had to go through it so I don't think it was a negative."

Dallas Davis
On the loss: "In my opinion, the game shouldn't have been that close.  They [Idaho] didn't beat us, we beat ourselves.  We had way too many penalties.  I put that on myself at the end.  I have to let the receivers and everybody know that we can't have those kind of penalties down there, especially at a time like that."
On bouncing back from the loss: "We have to analyze the film, look at the things we did wrong and fix it this week.  Just simple mistakes that we made can change games, and it shows.  We can't let that happen."

Jeremy Reaves
On the loss: "It's tough.  Those kind of games, you fight and fight and some things just don't go your way.  It's a tough pill to swallow, and we just have to learn from it like every other game and take something from it this week and use it for the rest of the year.  But it's always tough when the games are this close and you fight and give it your all, and it just doesn't go your way sometimes.  It's a learning lesson, and we'll bounce back from it last week."
On having two interceptions returned for touchdowns negated due to penalties: "That's 14 points right there.  If you put that into the equation of the game, and this game doesn't end how it did.  It's tough; you have to get back out there and play defense after that.  You have to be able to bounce back, no matter what the situation is.  Those are tough plays.  Some things are out of your control, but you have to be able to bounce back from it."
On bouncing back from the loss: "It's going to eat me up a lot.  I'm going to watch a lot of film and analyze the game.  It's definitely a tough pill to swallow as a competitor.  As a whole, we just have to understand that we're not going to get every call or make every play and you just have to learn from it and bounce back."

Idaho head coach Paul Petrino
On the win: "I'm proud of our players and assistant coaches.  A game like that comes down to toughness and just controlling the things you can control.  Our guys just kept fighting.  They (South Alabama) are a really good football team.  They are fast, but our guys just kept fighting and fighting.  This is probably one of the best road wins we have had since I've been here."

Up next: USA will visit Louisiana Tech Saturday at 6 p.m. (CDT) in its final non-conference game of the season

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