Idaho State will come to Greeley this Saturday and face the University of Northern Colorado for its homecoming game and the Big Sky opener.
UNC (1-2) has not won on homecoming since 2016, and the Bengals (0-3) haven’t won a game at all since last October. Junior linebacker Elias Rantissi described the game on Tuesday as a “grudge match.”
“I’d say they are probably in a similar boat,” UNC coach Ed McCaffrey said. “They have a new coach who has a lot of football experience. He took over the team, and you can see that they’ve been learning what their players can do over the last three weeks. I think they got better each and every week over the last three weeks. We expect their best football on Saturday.”
The Bears are coming off a win at Lamar that not only tested the team but provided confidence in its ability to withstand pressure. They would like to continue that trend.
Meanwhile, the Bengals are coming off a 31-16 loss against Central Arkansas. ISU paid $85,000 for Central Arkansas — a team that lost to Ole Miss by eight touchdowns one week prior — with the expectation of its own win.
“It’s easily ISU’s worst showing of the season. The Bengals suffered blowout losses in their first two games, setbacks to UNLV and San Diego State, but those were money games they were expected to lose,” wrote Idaho State Journal reporter Greg Woods. “This game against Central Arkansas offered ISU a chance to show itself for real: How would these guys look against an opponent at their level? How much of what went wrong in the first two games happened because they were overmatched?”
The Bengals’ season statistics are skewed because of the first two contests versus FBS opponents, but numbers from their most recent contest — Central Arkansas is another FCS program – were rough.
Idaho State finished with 408 yards of total offense yet only finished with 16 points. Its defense gave up 418 yards to the opponent, which capitalized on opportunities. Its offensive line allowed three sacks, and none of the receivers — despite recording nearly 300 yards — scored a touchdown.
Defensively, only 16 Bengals finished with more than one tackle and they weren’t effective on the turnover game. The team also did not finish with an interception but instead gave one up.
By stats alone, Idaho State is not in a great position. However, Western Carolina transfer defensive end Chester Geffrard and Oregon State transfer running back Damir Collins could make their season debuts this weekend. ISU coach Charlie Ragle said their participation would be a game-time decision, per Woods.
Just like Central Arkansas was the underdog going into Pocatello, so are the Bengals coming to Greeley. The numbers aren’t promising for Idaho State, but UNC cannot overlook the upcoming opponent.
It needs to have a cleaner version of its game in Texas: good defense, better offense and the flexibility to make in-game changes.
The Bears will face the Bengals at 1 p.m. Saturday. Tailgating and other activities will begin three hours before kickoff.