CEDAR CITY, Utah - Casey Rehrer scored four touchdowns as Southern Utah came back from a seven point third quarter deficit to beat Idaho State, 45-31, Saturday night, giving the Thunderbirds their first winning football season since the 2000 squad finished 7-4. SUU finished at 6-5 while Idaho State fell to 3-8 in the season finale for both teams.

It was a typical SUU/ISU shootout, as the teams combined to score 50 points or more for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings.

SUU scored first on a 66-yard Rehrer pass to Ryan Felipe on the second play of the game, but ISU answered with a 34-yard Hethrington-to-Alikah Lacey pass to tie with 2:08 to play in the first. SUU was up 17-7 after Felipe ran seven yards midway through the second period and Steve Pulver tacked on a 27-yard field goal, but Hethrington connected with Dane Simmons on a 54-yard TD pass and Ryan Slack hit a 26-yard field goal to know the game at 17-17 at the half.

Idaho State took its first lead of the game with 11:46 to play in the third period when Mark Hethrington hooked up with Sale' Key on a 20-yard touchdown pass to give the Bengals a 24-17 lead. SUU tied it on a three-yard Rehrer run six minutes later, then took the lead when on the ensuing kickoff Lavar Porter knocked the ball loose during Michael Harris' return then Jason Lee scooped it up and ran 15 yards for the score and a 31-24 SUU advantage.

Hethrington connected with Shack Okoebor on a 43-yard pass to tie the game again at 31 with 14:51 to play in the fourth, but SUU went up on a one-yard Rehrer run and iced it with a 16-yard Rehrer scramble with 2:229 to play.

"It was kind of a bizarre game but we'll take it," SUU Coach Wes Meier said. "Any time you get these two teams together it seems like there are going to be a lot of points scored and for a while I thought the team who had the ball last was going to win. Our defense shut them down late in the game though and we were able to get that last score and put it away."

Meier became the first Thunderbird coach to post a winning record in his first season since Jack Bishop guided the team to a 7-3 mark back in 1978. A.J. Smith, who had nine receptions for 78 yards, set a new SUU single-season receptions record with 80, while Rehrer upped the bar for single-season records he already held for passing touchdowns (21), completions (247), passing yards (2,846) and passing attempts (376).

Southern Utah finished with 563 yards of offense but was penalized 12 times for a season-high 141 yards. The Thunderbirds rushed for a season-high 261 yards, including a career-best 115 yard effort from Felipe, and got 302 yards through the air, Rehrer's second-highest passing total of his career.

Hethrington also passed for 302 yards and threw touchdown passes to four different receivers but the Bengal's got just 72 yards on the ground.