Sven Alskog
News Editor
After a 46-12 victory over Northern Colorado last Saturday in Greeley, Colorado, the Idaho State University football team is out to prove they are the real deal this season in the Big Sky Conference.
The win was especially sweet for the Bengals as it broke a 48-game road-losing streak, serving as the first road victory since Oct. 7, 2006 which also came in Greeley.
Led by a mammoth game on the ground by junior running back Xavier Finney, Mike Kramer’s Bengals would dominate the Bears, leading 24-0 at halftime and fending off a third-quarter rally from the home team.
With his 236-yard performance, Finney, a product of California, eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the year, something which had not happened for an ISU rusher since the 2007 season. The star on the ground for the Bengals also leads the conference in rushing yardage by a large margin.
After 48 total losses in a row on the road, 28 of those in conference-play, Kramer appears to have the Bengals headed in the right direction.
Knocking off the Bears improved ISU’s overall record to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in Big Sky action, good for a tie with Northern Arizona and Cal Poly for fourth place in the conference.
In the big picture, the hope is that the win will help to continue to change the attitude surrounding the football program.
“It is no longer just about the numbers,” Kramer said to ISU Sports Information. “There was a time in this program we had to have the numbers because we weren’t going to get the win. Now we are getting the win we don’t care about the numbers.”
While plenty of optimism surrounds this season, the squad also appears to be set for years down the road with plenty of talent on both sides of the ball returning for more after the final whistle is blown in the 2014 campaign.
One of the exceptions is senior quarterback Justin Arias, a player who has allowed the coaching staff to open up the playbook more.
Efficiency has been the name of the game for the man behind center, twirling 27 touchdowns while falling victim to interception just five times.
When combined with the emergence of the rushing attack this season, the Bengal offense has excelled, putting up over 44 points in each conference game to this point.
While the points have come in bunches, the improvement on the defensive side of the ball has helped keep ISU competitive every week.
Freshman Mario Jenkins has stood out as a bright spot, earning national accolades for his performance on the field. The linebacker was nominated as one of 21 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) players to be on the watch list for the 2014 Jerry Rice Award given to the top first-year player in the FCS.
Jenkins has 80 tackles on the season, the most on the roster.
Four more conference games remain for ISU, two at home and two on the road.
The road contests will be at Portland State and Montana State, while Cal Poly and Weber State will make their way to the dome.
Both Weber State and Portland State are below .500 overall, with Montana State currently leading the conference and Cal Poly in the middle of the pack.
Much will be decided in those matchups, with the Bengals having their best chance in recent memory to reach the playoffs.
While the coaching staff and team are pleased with their performance thus far, the hope is for continued improvement to reach their goals. The head coach focused on the defensive side of things.
“Our defense played great in the first half only giving up 55 yards, then just fell off the table in the second half,” stated Kramer to ISU Sports Information following the Northern Colorado victory. “Defensively we are not where we need to be yet and we have a ways to go. We got good pressure in the second half, we just didn’t get the tackle.”
Other highlights for the win were the first touchdowns in the careers of Tyler Graves and CJ Hatchett, with Daniel McSurdy adding a career-best three touchdowns on the ground, netting 92 yards on just 11 carries, including a 41-yard run which went for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Next, the Bengals will face off against Portland State in Portland, Oregon at 5:35 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 and will return home to Holt Arena to play Cal Poly starting at 2:35 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8.
