POCATELLO, Idaho - If all's well that ends well, then the second-ranked Montana Grizzlies' 12-10 nail-biter over Idaho State can be known for Montana's steely drive in the final 85 seconds, and Brody McKnight's clutch 33-yard field goal to end it.

But after the unbeaten Grizzlies (9-0, 6-0 Big Sky Conference) swarmed McKnight, who nailed down the win as time ran out - sewing up a 12th Big Sky Conference championship in the process - there were enough epiphanies for everyone involved.

The Griz held the winless Bengals to their season average for points, and it was nearly enough for ISU to spring an incredible upset.

"We've got a lot of faith in each other," said UM receiver Marc Mariani, who had eight catches for 192 yards, including a 39-yarder on the final drive to put UM in field goal range. "We've had a lot of close games this year. For Brody to come on and hit that was pretty special.

"But I think we left a lot out there today, and I think we have a lot to work on."

Penalties killed Montana drives, as did turnovers and some ill-fated fourth-down gambles by coach Bobby Hauck. Griz quarterback Andrew Selle had a statistically strong game but threw his first interception in 177 passes in the fourth quarter, and then fumbled at the end of a run down to ISU's 20 on UM's next possession.

In between, Russel Hill hit Kelvin Krosch for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 10:24 left in the game. That put ISU up 10-9. It was the Bengals' first second-half lead of the year, and was in part thanks to an errant PAT kick by McKnight, after Thomas Brooks-Fletcher's 1-yard TD plunge just before halftime.

A personal foul on UM made the PAT longer.

The Idaho State defense came up with another fumble near the end of the third quarter, on a fourth-down handoff at the ISU 4-yard line that never got from Selle to Reynolds.

Reynolds ran for 123 yards but ISU snapped his streak of games with a TD at 17.

"We probably did as good a job shutting that guy down as anybody," ISU coach John Zamberlin said.

"My perspective on it is that John Zamberlin outcoached Bob Hauck," said Hauck, who saw another third-quarter drive end on downs at ISU's 36. "I need to do a better job. He had his team fired up, they played inspired ball. They should be proud of their efforts. I'm proud of their guys. They're banged up."

"That's the hardest loss I've had since I've been a Bengal," said an emotional Clint Knickrehm, a senior who had his first 100-yard rushing game Saturday. "We had 'em on the ropes. Had the win in our sights.

"I'm just proud of the guys coming out and playing hard, and everybody doing what they're supposed to do. One play goes our way, one play goes against them, you know, and we win."

It took a couple, after Idaho State's Jon Vanderwielen set up UM at its 17 with a booming punt with 1:25 left.

Reynolds took a screen pass 17 yards before Mariani had a 16-yard grab to the Montana 46, where he took a wallop from ISU linebacker A.J. Storms. Mariani stayed down for a few moments before leaving the game.

"He just got his helmet under my pads and into my chest, and I just got the wind knocked out of me a little bit," said the senior from Havre.

A snap later Mariani was back in, and running a post route behind the secondary.

"It was something we ran all game and they were taking away from us for the most part," said Mariani. "So I adjusted my route and tried to take it over the top. And Selle made an unbelievable throw."

That put the ball at ISU's 15 with 40 seconds left. On the next snap Reynolds burst 14 yards down to the 1.

From there, Reynolds had his number called again, and was stopped on his dive to the end zone. Selle had to spike the ball to stop the clock with nine seconds left, and then - another gamble - threw a pass to tight end Dan Beaudin on the next play.

But that was erased by an offensive pass interference call, putting the ball back to the 16.

There, McKnight weathered two timeouts and then a leaping attempt at the block by Michael Wright. It appears Wright got a piece of it, but the kick was dead-center.

Hauck often says he doesn't treat kickers as kickers but as football players; there was certainly a lot of contact after the game-winner.

"We got it up there," said McKnight. "It feels good to see all the smiles on all the guys' faces. Those guys work their butts off, in the summer, two-a-days and winter conditioning … It's awesome to be a part of that."