Seiji Wood

Sports Editor

ISU’s football team opened conference play last Saturday against No. 22 North Dakota.

The previous two games with the Fighting Hawks have been close and this game wasn’t much different. It was a tough fought game with ISU walking away with the win, 25-21, the first time ISU has beat a ranked opponent since 2015, when they beat the same school in the same building.

It was a great team win and I’m glad to see the Bengals get off to a good start. The only loss so far is to Cal.

Last week, I predicted we would win and it’s nice to be right. I said our passing game could have success and that’s exactly what happened Saturday. Tanner Gueller did his job and threw for 293 yards. Michael Dean finally got going for the first time this year and had nine receptions for 130 yards and Mitch Gueller continued his productive year with 108 yards and a touchdown of his own.

I was pleasantly surprised with the running game. James Madison and Ty Flanagan both had over 100 yards rushing. I know that ISU’s running backs can make big plays and that’s what they did. But I wasn’t too confident that they’d do it against UND because of its run defense but I’m not complaining that they couldn’t contain Madison and Flanagan. ISU had a good balance on offense, rushing for 273 yards while passing for 293.

Special teams played an important role. We need to give credit to Campbell Sheidow, the ISU freshman kicker. He went 4-of-4 with field goals from 44, 38, 22, and 22 yards out. Without him, the Bengals don’t win this game.

The defense did what they needed to do. They forced three turnovers, two interceptions and fumble recovery. The interception by defensive back, Christian McFarland late in the fourth quarter sealed the win.
I’m more confident with our play on the defensive side of the ball now moving forward into the season.

This week ISU plays Northern Arizona (NAU) at home for Homecoming. Another conference game, another chance to prove that ISU belongs closer to the top of the Big Sky Conference.

NAU is currently 2-2 and coming off a 31-23 win against Southern Utah. Last time ISU played the Lumberjacks was back in 2016 where ISU got thumped 52-7. But a lot of things have changed since then and I’m expecting a much closer game.

This game is interesting because I’m not too sure what to expect from NAU. The Lumberjacks passing game is their strength, averaging 264 yards per game while only rushing for 148 yards per game.

The NAU defense allows an average of over 200 yards in both passing and rushing. By that statistic alone, I’m sure the ISU offense will be able to move the ball however it wants. This time around, hopefully the offense will be able to finish drives with touchdowns instead of settling for short field goals.

I think this game will come down to the pass defense. This was the weakest part of the ISU defense last year, but it’s seemed to have improve significantly this year. Through three games, ISU has five interceptions, all from different players. That’s only three off from the amount of interceptions ISU had last year.

Right now, ISU is giving up an average of 200 passing yards per game, but that’s better than an average of 279 yards per game, which was ISU’s average last season.

The Lumberjack’s offense will more than likely put the ball in the air. If the defense can slow that down and continue the pattern of creating turnovers, ISU should be able to come out of this game on top.

This is the first home game since the season opener back in Aug.

ISU has the home field advantage, it’s Homecoming and the Bengals are coming off a big win. I think that plays a part for ISU’s momentum and the Bengals are playing well enough for me to feel confident in saying that ISU will win this game.