Gordon Reid ran seven yards for a touchdown in the second overtime to give Southern Utah University a 23-17 Great West Football Conference victory over South Dakota State Saturday night. With the win the Thunderbirds evened their record at 5-5 (2-3 in the GWFC) and gave themselves a shot at a winning record for the first time since the 2000 season going into next week's finale vs. Idaho State. SDSU saw its record drop to 5-5 (2-2 GWFC) with one game to go, at Northern Colorado next week.

South Dakota State took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 6-yard Anthony Watson run but the Thunderbirds answered back with a 33-yard Casey Rehrer-to-Jerome Eason pass late in the period to tie. SUU took a 10-7 lead early in the second period on a 37-yard Steve Pulver field goal, but SDSU answered with a 26-yarder of its own with 2:02 to play in the half.

That was all the scoring for either team until overtime, however, as SUU had a field goal attempt blocked and lost the ball on a fumble and an interception in the second half while SDSU missed a field goal and turned it over on a fumble.

In overtime South Dakota St. won the toss and elected to go on defense first. Southern Utah capitalized on its first possession, taking a 17-10 lead when Rehrer dove over the top on fourth-and-inches for a touchdown. SDSU answered with a 20-yard TD pass from Brad Nelson to Brian Janecek, however, after a pass interference call against the Thunderbirds on third and 16 kept the Jacks' drive alive.

On SDSU's ensuing possession Nick DiPadova got one of his career-high 17 tackles when he sacked Nelson for a five-yard loss on second-and-10, then Marques Harris and Sateki Nau got to Nelson for another five-yard sack. SDSU was forced to attempt a 52-yard field goal, but Parker Douglass' attempt was wide right.

Southern Utah took just three plays to ice it following the missed field goal, with Reid getting the score after Ryan Felipe ran it 17 yards to set the Thunderbirds up with first-and-goal at the seven.

"Wow, what a finish," SUU Coach Wes Meier said. "We've been in some close games this year but this one beats them all. It was a struggle all the way. We missed some opportunities offensively, but our defense did a great job keeping us in the game today. Then when we needed it the offense really came through in overtime, but both units really came through in overtime; the defense rose to the occasion too."

Southern Utah finished with 464 yards of total offense as Rehrer threw for a career-high 315 yards on 18-of-26 passing. It was the sixth-highest passing yardage total in SUU history. Freshman Braden Godfrey caught six of those passes for a career-best 124 yards, while Reid finished with a career-best 84 yards on the ground.

Watson paced the Jackrabbits with 110 rushing yards, while Nelson completed 19-of-31 passes for 198 yards.