No. 13 NAU Leads No. 2 Montana 21-17

No. 2 Montana and No. 13 Northern Arizona met in a pivotal Big Sky matchup between teams with playoff ambitions, with NAU coming off a ranked road win over Idaho State and holding a strong recent record at home. The Lumberjacks entered with an aggressive defense that led the FCS in turnovers gained, while quarterback Ty Pennington and a potent rushing attack posed a major challenge for Montana. In the game’s early scoring, Montana struck first, but the teams traded touchdowns and the lead; Pennington scored twice on the ground and threw a touchdown to Jeter Purdy, while Montana answered with a 70-yard touchdown pass from Ah Yat to Landon Ransom-Goelz. NAU led 21-17 in the second quarter in the available live update.