The good and the bad: ISU vs Simon Fraser

DECIPHERING THE PLUSES AND MINUSES FROM THE BENGALS' WIN

Idaho State did everything it needed to in a 52-point dismantling of Simon Fraser on Saturday at Holt Arena.

The defense, apart from two garbage touchdowns in the fourth quarter, snuffed out Simon Fraser’s attack and the offense was absolutely dynamite, scoring 42 points by halftime.

The Clan isn’t a good football team and never had a shot at making the game close. So the fact the Bengals looked like a world beater has to be viewed though a prism that the Bengals should have played as well as they did in the 66-14 victory.

Still, it’s promising ISU played well against a perceived-to-be-weaker opponent in a game sandwiched between two Big Sky Conference contests.

Idaho State hosts Southern Utah this weekend. In a season full of big games, it’s the biggest to this point. The Bengals can start 2-1 in the Big Sky and win four games in a season for the first time since 2005, when they went 5-6.

Before that, though, let’s look back and decipher the pluses and minuses from Idaho State’s win against Simon Fraser.

Plus
Idaho State’s receiving corps. Madison Mangum, Broc Malcom and Aaron Prier, who was Mangum’s backup, all missed the Simon Fraser game. In their absence, Idaho State showed off its depth at the position.

KW Williams, the only Bengals receiver who started in his regular position, had a career-high 129 yards, freshman Hagen Graves had the best game of his young career with five catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Tight ends Tyler Wright and Tyler Graves, who had expanded roles with Josh Cook’s move to play outside wide receiver, combined to snag 11 passes for 127 yards.

Through the first half of the season, six different Bengals have at least 124 yards receiving.

Plus
Idaho State’s running backs. Junior Xavier Finney receives most of the praise in ISU’s backfield. With a Big Sky-best 742 yards on the ground, he probably should.

But the contributions of senior Daniel McSurdy can’t be overlooked. McSurdy has run for 296 yards and is averaging a team-high 5.8 yards a carry this season. He might only have five or six carries a game, but that’s enough to give Finney a breather so he can still have strong legs in the fourth quarter.

Plus
Idaho State’s offensive line play. ISU’s 770 yards of total offense against Simon Fraser is the most by an FCS team this season.

The Bengals have been electric the last few weeks with a vertical passing attack and an effective running game. All of that success emanates from the beef up front.

“I feel like it’s just been clicking all year,” Arias said about ISU’s offense. “It’s just so much easier. Our offense is so much efficient now with the run-pass game. ... You drop seven or drop eight, we run the ball. You blitz, we throw the ball. It’s literally that simple. When you break it down it’s an easy game. When you get in a zone it’s a fun game to play.”

Minus
Idaho State’s fans. Props to the those who did show up to witness Idaho State demolish Simon Fraser.

The minus goes to those who weren’t there.

ISU’s crowd of 4,422 is the lowest since Oct. 17, 2009 when 4,383 watched the Bengals lose to Northern Colorado 30-7.

On Sept. 24 the Journal ran a story on ISU’s attendance with the headline “If the team wins, people will come.”

Is that true? The Bengals might have their best team in over a decade and attendance is as low it has been in five years.

Plus
Handing out the game ball to injured senior wide receiver Aaron Prier, who was hurt at EWU two weeks ago. Season-ending injuries are brutal. It’s hard to see a player work his butt off to get in the best shape of his life and then lose the opportunity to see that tireless effort pay off. When it happens to a senior, it’s that much worse.

But it was nice that Idaho State named Prier as a honorary team captain for the rest of this season. Bengals quarterback Justin Arias gave the game ball to Prier in the locker room after the game.
   
BENGALS IN BIG SKY RANKINGS
    — Idaho State coach Mike Kramer notched his 86th career win while coaching in the Big Sky to move into sole possession of third place on the league’s all-time victories list. Nevada’s Chris Ault won 111 games while coaching in the Big Sky. Current Northern Arizona coach Jerome Souers is second with 96 victories.
    — Idaho State is 10th in Big Sky Conference home attendance with an average of 5,637 fans in three home games. Three teams (Northern Colorado, Portland State and Southern Utah) have drawn fewer fans than the Bengals.
    — Freshman Mario Jenkins is eighth in the Big Sky averaging 9.5 tackles a game. Mitch Beckstead (8.3 tackles a game) is 16th, Taison Manu (8.2) is 18th.

BIG SKY PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
For the second straight week and the third time this season, Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop is the Big Sky Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week. North Dakota linebacker Dayo Idowu is the Defensive Player of the Week, and North Dakota's Alex Tillman is the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Prukop compiled 509 yards of total offense and accounted for six touchdowns in Montana State's 77-37 win over UC Davis. Prukop completed 17-of-22 passes for 361 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He had an efficiency rating of 275.1. He also carried the ball 14 times for 148 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Montana State finished with a school-record 737 yards of total offense and the 77 points were the most scored by the Bobcats against a Division I opponent.

Idowu tied his career-high with eight tackles and intercepted a pass in North Dakota's 24-16 win over Portland State. Idowu's biggest tackle of the game came when he stopped Portland State's Nate Tago on the 2-yard line with the Vikings facing a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line on the game's final play.

Tillman set a school record with a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown against Portland State.