Denim Millward
Sports Editor
When it comes to defensive performance, the two words Bengal head football coach Mike Kramer hates the most are “last year.”
Anyone who watched the 2012 ISU campaign or even has glanced at a statistical breakdown of its historically bad defense from last season knows exactly why.
After a season that saw ISU give up a mind-boggling 592 points, including getting gouged for 70 or more points four times, the Bengal defenders who remain from last season have a surplus of motivation to make sure nothing like last year’s debacle ever happens again.
So far, so good.
The Bengals have begun their 2013 campaign 2-0, with wins against Division II opponents Dixie State and Western State Colorado University.
The Bengal defense has only given up 17 points over the course of its first two bouts, and held a feisty Western St. squad to only 3 points.
Though some may try to minimize the performance by pointing out it came against two lower-division schools, it was clear not just by who the Bengals played but how that this is a markedly more active and confident squad.
Never was this new-found chutzpah more apparent than during their successful goal-line stand against Western State, when the Bengals stuffed three straight rushing attempts, followed by Cameron Gupton displaying impeccable timing knocking a fourth down pass away.
“When you’re point-blank like that and you’re pushing at the pocket, you’re just hoping and praying that our guys are going to play with good eyes and we’re not going to let them in,” Kramer said following the Bengals’ 29-3 victory over the Mountaineers of Western State.
The press conference was significant for reasons other than the aforementioned, interestingly-worded quote by Kramer.
For the first time this year, Kramer made defensive players available to the media. In fact, other than placekicker Brendon Garcia, who had another impressive game, all the players who were available to the media after the game were defensive players.
“It’s good we’re 2-0 and only allowed three points, and we got the goal line stand. It’s nice to see,” senior linebacker Jake Pele said following the game. “Everyone’s buying into the scheme, and everyone’s having fun together.”
Though Pele was satisfied with his unit’s performance, he made it clear that the defensive unit shouldn’t be taken lightly, and doesn’t appreciate the perceived lack of respect given to them.
“Everyone comes here and doesn’t respect us,” Pele said. “We have a chip on our shoulder.”
Senior defensive lineman James Bergren, a key component in the goal-line stand, expounded upon the difference between this year’s unit and the anemic squads of years past.
“I’ve been out on a lot of our goal line stands we’ve had in the past. There’s nothing better than having a team start inside the three yard line and going four downs [without scoring],” Bergren said. “Your hype level gets so high.”
Bergren and the rest of the defensive line have been stout thus far, tallying 10 sacks already this season. While the secondary has yet to record its first interception of the season, they should be quite pleased with only giving up two passing touchdowns through two games.
The secondary also should only improve as the season goes on. Two very recent transfers to Idaho State, Brandon Golden and Vai Peko, have had a very limited opportunity thus far to familiarize themselves with the inner workings of the defensive unit.
Once they become fully acclimated to the Bengal secondary, the two very talented transfers will at worst make the ISU secondary much deeper.
For those who suspect the Bengals’ impressive defensive outings thus far to be nothing more than a product of the competition they played, their suspicions should be confirmed or refuted soon.
Next week, the Bengals hit the road for the first time this season to face off against the nationally-ranked Washington Huskies, an FBS team that already has one shellacking of an Idaho-based team under its 2013 belt. The Huskies dominated the Boise State Broncos 38-6 in Week 1 of the college football season, and have yet to be defeated.
It’s a very tall order indeed for any FCS school to topple a ranked FBS team (though not impossible, to which fellow Big Sky Conference member Eastern Washington can attest.)
The realistic expectation is for the Bengals to suffer their first defeat of the season in a lopsided affair with the Huskies next week.
The Bengals may not win, but they’ve made one thing clear: overlooking their revamped defensive unit would be a big mistake.
