Idaho State football notes

Idaho State concluded a football season ranked for the first time in over a decade after coming in at No. 25 in the final Sports Network FCS Top 25 poll that was released Monday.

The Bengals wrapped up the 2003 season at No. 22 in the Sports Network and ESPN/USA Today Poll. In 2002, ISU finished the year ranked No. 18 in the Sports Network and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.

Before last season, those were the last two years Idaho State fielded a winning football team. In 2014, ISU went 6-2 in the Big Sky Conference and 8-4 overall.

ISU coach Mike Kramer was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and the College Sporting News tabbed Kramer the Roy Kidd FCS National Coach of the Year.

Idaho State led the nation with an average of 348.1 passing yards per game, and finished second in total offense with an average of 562 yards per game.

The Bengals had 16 players earn all-conference honors and Justin Arias was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award where he finished third in the voting and earned third-team All-American honors by the Sports Network. Arias led the nation in passing yards (4,076) and passing touchdowns (38) during the regular season.

Junior running back Xavier Finney, who was a first-team all-conference selection, rushed for single-season school record 1,495 yards. Junior wide receiver Madison Mangum caught 83 passes for 1,234 yards and 10 touchdowns. Idaho State’s offensive line allowed 15 sacks despite 535 passing attempts.

Idaho State’s defensive unit led the Big Sky in interceptions with 19, and linebacker Mario Jenkins was named the Freshman of the Year after tallying 120 total tackles.

The Bengals return nine starters on offense and five starters on defense for the 2015 season.

ATTENTION FROM THE SPORTS NETWORK

The Sports Network's Craig Haley ranked the top 17 teams for the 2015 season, and placed Idaho State at No. 16.

Haley, who does a great job covering FCS football, had Montana State at No. 11 and Eastern Washington at No. 3 overall. Interestingly enough, Haley left out Montana.

Haley's reasons for ranking Idaho State were all the good ones: lots of returning starters on offense (9) and a defense with some young stars (Mario Jenkins, yes, but safeties Taison Manu and Cody Sorensen and nose guard Tyler Kuder are going to have great senior seasons).

The main takeaway from Haley's article (for me) is that Idaho State will start the 2015 season with some clout. It took nearly the entire 2014 season for the Bengals to break into any rankings, which hurt Justin Arias' shot at the Walter Payton and the team's chance to make the 24-team playoff.

Check out Haley's rankings for yourself here.