Seiji Wood
Sports Editor
The Idaho State football team won their opener against Western Colorado 38-13 this past Thursday. That victory marked the fifth consecutive year the Bengals started the season with a win.
The Bengals put up a total of 532 yards on offense and only allowed … yards on defense. However, the game didn’t go mistake-free. ISU turned the ball over twice, one of which was returned for a touchdown by the Mountaineers.
“We’re 1-0,” Phenicie said. “It’s nice to win games. We have a lot to clean up. It was not our finest product by any stretch of the imagination…we got a lot to work on. If we wanna become a championship team, we gotta clean up a lot of things.”
Along with the win, the Bengals also solidified a starting quarterback in Matt Struck. All spring and fall there’s been a competition between Struck and senior Gunnar Amos. Struck got the starting nod for Western Colorado, played the entire game and tallied 385 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.
“It was extremely fun,” said Struck talking about his first start. “I just tried to go out there and stay calm…I feel like I made some throws but we need to clean up some protection stuff with the O-line and me being on the same page with them.”
Tanner Conner had a career-night with nine receptions for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Dean caught eight passes for 155 yards and one touchdown while Mitch Gueller had three receptions for 41 yards and one touchdown. Ty Flanagan carried the ball 22 times for 96 yards.
Kody Graves and Kainoa Fuiava each had six tackles. Fuiava also had a sack.
The plays of the game almost came in back to back plays. One was made by Anthony Ricks when he ran down and tackled a Mountaineer kick returner on the one-yard line, preventing a touchdown. After a two-yard loss by Western Colorado, Oshea Trujillo intercepted a pass on the goal line to give the ball back to the ISU offense.
“Run,” said Ricks explaining what was going on in his mind during the play. “Run as fast as I can and get him. Thank God I made it and Oshea finished it off. Great interception, great return.”
Idaho State now looks onward to Utah. The Utes are currently ranked 11th in the nation and are the favorites to win the PAC 12 conference. If Utah continues their success, they’ll more than likely crack the top 10 ranking. The last time the Bengals faced a nationally ranked opponent in the FBS was back in 2013 when they played against Washington, who were ranked 17th at the time. The last time ISU played Utah was back in 2014 and lost 14-56. In 2019, the challenge may be even more difficult than 2014.
The Utes are currently 2-0 and have talent all over the field. Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley is a two dimensional quarterback who can throw and run the ball. The Utah defense has forced turnovers in every game so far and have returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
For the Bengals to have a chance, they’ll have to limit their mistakes. Matt Struck will have to protect the ball and find a way to get it to Dean, Gueller and Conner. The defense will need to contain Huntley and prevent big plays from the Utah offense.
The Bengals head to Salt Lake this Saturday to face the Utes.
“We’ll get better this couple days off,” Phenicie said. “Then we’ll get onto the Utes and look to improve.”
