Week 5: Sac State at Idaho State
The Hornets (2-2) hit the road to face Idaho State (1-2) in Pocatello, ID. The Bengals are in their second year of rebuild mode under Head Coach Kramer and are coming into this game off of a huge loss in a payday game against Nebraska. This will be the first BSC game for ISU and ISU should be improved from last year as they returned a lot of skilled players. The Hornets will be looking to turn the page from their disappointing showing a week ago and get headed back into the right direction for the second half of the season.
Offense
The Bengals run a pass happy offense which spreads the field with multiple receiver sets. They mostly run an up-tempo no huddle style and come into this game with a highly ranked passing offense. In the past the Bengals have struggled to find quality lineman up front. It’s hard to tell if this has been addressed as the Bengals have played 2 FBS games and a D2 opponent, but they are starting two freshmen at left tackle and center and have allowed 9 sacks so far. Their linemen are not huge but have respectable size. The Bengals don’t run the ball very much so this offense is pretty one dimensional.
Quarterback (#15) Kevin Yost is more than capable at running this offense and he has the ability to move the ball through the air. Yost’s spreads the ball around to his receivers very well. There is a fine balance of receptions and yards to the top three receivers led by (#7) Derek Graves and (#5) Cameron Richmond. In the past, Yost’s main target has been stud receiver (#13) Rodrick Rumble but it looks the two have not been able to connect on plays very much so far.
Season Stats/Averages:
The Hornet secondary will have their hands full. There is going to be a lot of running around chasing receivers so they will have to bring their “A” game. This game will truly test how far this secondary has progressed. At linebacker I am not sure how the coaches want to play this. (#91) Todd Davis will be a liability defending the pass and will be a liability in open space. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a lot of (#48) Henry Fernandez and (#42) Cody Allen this week to better defend the pass.
Defense
The participation report indicates that ISU runs a 3-4 defense but I am not entirely sure. Much like UND, the ISU rush defense is horrible but statistically they have a great pass defense. Given the opponents they have played so far (run heavy Air Force and lopsided loss at Nebraska), their pass defense stats are most likely due to the play calling their opponents had and not necessarily because of their ability to shut down the pass. Nonetheless we will see how their defense plays against the Hornets. It’s hard to gauge how this Bengal defense will do against an FCS opponent so there are quite a few unknowns about this defense heading into this game.
Season Stats/Averages:
Special Teams
There is no telling how ISU will perform on special teams. It looks like they have a couple of different players capable of getting decent returns and the kickoff coverage looks solid as well. It does not appear that the Bengal kicker, (#37) Brendon Garcia has been tested. He has a couple of misses so far so their kicking game might be suspect.
Season Stats/Averages:
Intangibles
I have no idea if the Bengals took any serious injuries in any games thus far, but they are coming into this one off of a pounding at the hands of Nebraska so they could be a little beaten up. This game will be indoors so weather won’t be an issue. I also believe Holt Arena got new turf last year so playing on carpet covered concrete is no longer an issue.
This game is a must win for the Hornets. ISU is still rebuilding so they are probably missing some pieces but they still have a good passing attack. If the Hornets play a mistake free game it should be enough to win this game. The Hornets need to take care of business on the road and rebound from a bad game last week. The Hornets cannot afford to look past this Bengal program.
Go Hornets!
Game Info
The Hornets (2-2) hit the road to face Idaho State (1-2) in Pocatello, ID. The Bengals are in their second year of rebuild mode under Head Coach Kramer and are coming into this game off of a huge loss in a payday game against Nebraska. This will be the first BSC game for ISU and ISU should be improved from last year as they returned a lot of skilled players. The Hornets will be looking to turn the page from their disappointing showing a week ago and get headed back into the right direction for the second half of the season.
Offense
The Bengals run a pass happy offense which spreads the field with multiple receiver sets. They mostly run an up-tempo no huddle style and come into this game with a highly ranked passing offense. In the past the Bengals have struggled to find quality lineman up front. It’s hard to tell if this has been addressed as the Bengals have played 2 FBS games and a D2 opponent, but they are starting two freshmen at left tackle and center and have allowed 9 sacks so far. Their linemen are not huge but have respectable size. The Bengals don’t run the ball very much so this offense is pretty one dimensional.
Quarterback (#15) Kevin Yost is more than capable at running this offense and he has the ability to move the ball through the air. Yost’s spreads the ball around to his receivers very well. There is a fine balance of receptions and yards to the top three receivers led by (#7) Derek Graves and (#5) Cameron Richmond. In the past, Yost’s main target has been stud receiver (#13) Rodrick Rumble but it looks the two have not been able to connect on plays very much so far.
Season Stats/Averages:
- • Rushing Offense: 75.3 ypg (2.6 ypr), 4 TD’s (111th FCS, 12th BSC)
• Passing Offense: 355.3 ypg (9.5 ypc), 5 TD’s (5th FCS, 1st BSC)
• Total Offense: 430.6 ypg (5.1 ypp), 9 TD’s, 1 FG (24th FCS, 6th BSC)
• Time of Possession: 37:12
• Turnovers: 6 (2 Fum, 4 INT)
• Penalties: 19 for 195 yds (65.0 ypg) (7th most BSC)
• QB: (#15) Kevin Yost: 97 of 143 for 926 yds, 4 TD’s, 3 INT’s
• WR: (#7) Derek Graves: 33 recs for 281 yds, 1 TD
• WR: (#5) Cameron Richmond: 23 recs for 241 yds, 1 TD
• WR: (#82) Luke Austin: 17 recs for 277 yds, 1 TD
• TE: (#88) Josh Hill: 13 recs for 119 yds, 2 TD’s
• RB: (#3) Xavier Finney: 43 carries for 117 yds, 3 TD’s, 7 recs for 52 yds
The Hornet secondary will have their hands full. There is going to be a lot of running around chasing receivers so they will have to bring their “A” game. This game will truly test how far this secondary has progressed. At linebacker I am not sure how the coaches want to play this. (#91) Todd Davis will be a liability defending the pass and will be a liability in open space. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a lot of (#48) Henry Fernandez and (#42) Cody Allen this week to better defend the pass.
Defense
The participation report indicates that ISU runs a 3-4 defense but I am not entirely sure. Much like UND, the ISU rush defense is horrible but statistically they have a great pass defense. Given the opponents they have played so far (run heavy Air Force and lopsided loss at Nebraska), their pass defense stats are most likely due to the play calling their opponents had and not necessarily because of their ability to shut down the pass. Nonetheless we will see how their defense plays against the Hornets. It’s hard to gauge how this Bengal defense will do against an FCS opponent so there are quite a few unknowns about this defense heading into this game.
Season Stats/Averages:
- • Rushing Defense: 323.3 ypg (7.2 ypr), 12 TD’s (120th FCS, 13th BSC)
• Passing Defense: 142.3 ypg (11.9 ypc), 3 TD’s (12th FCS, 1st BSC)
• Total Defense: 465.7 ypg (6.8 ypp), 15 TD’s, 2 FG’s (103rd FCS, 11th BSC)
• Opponent Time of Possession: 27:48
• Turnovers Forced: 4 (3 Fum, 1 INT)
• Opponents Penalties: 23 for 216 yds (72.0 ypg)
• LB: (#46) Mitch Beckstead: 24 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s
• SS: (#25) Tanner Davis: 21 tackles, 1 BU, 1 PD
• LB: (#11) Demetrius Allen: 19 tackles, 2.5 TFL’s, 0.5 sacks
• CB: (#1) Anthony Boyles: 16 tackles, 1 FF
• CB: (#2) Donovan Henley: 16 tackles, 1 INT, 3 BU, 4 PD
• FS: (#28) Cameron Gupton: 15 tackles, 1.5 TFL’s, 1 BU, 1 PD
• NT: (#99) Austin Graves: 14 tackles, 3 TFL’s, 0.5 sacks
Special Teams
There is no telling how ISU will perform on special teams. It looks like they have a couple of different players capable of getting decent returns and the kickoff coverage looks solid as well. It does not appear that the Bengal kicker, (#37) Brendon Garcia has been tested. He has a couple of misses so far so their kicking game might be suspect.
Season Stats/Averages:
- • K: (#37) Brendon Garcia: 1/3 FG’s (long of 19 yds), 9/9 PAT’s
• P: (#17) CJ Reyes: 16 punts for 636 yds (39.8 ypp), 5 I-20
• KR: (#2) Donovan Henley: 3 kr’s for 61 yds (20.3 ypr)
• KR: (#24) Phil Pleasant: 3 kr’s for 64 yds (22.3 ypr)
• PR: (#27) Jon Davidson: 5 pr’s for 14 yds (2.8 ypr)
• Kick Coverage: Allowed 230 yds on 10 returns (23.0 ypr), 3 TB’s
• Punt Coverage: Allowed 114 yds on 5 returns (22.8 ypr), 1 TD allowed
Intangibles
I have no idea if the Bengals took any serious injuries in any games thus far, but they are coming into this one off of a pounding at the hands of Nebraska so they could be a little beaten up. This game will be indoors so weather won’t be an issue. I also believe Holt Arena got new turf last year so playing on carpet covered concrete is no longer an issue.
This game is a must win for the Hornets. ISU is still rebuilding so they are probably missing some pieces but they still have a good passing attack. If the Hornets play a mistake free game it should be enough to win this game. The Hornets need to take care of business on the road and rebound from a bad game last week. The Hornets cannot afford to look past this Bengal program.
Go Hornets!
Game Info
- • Kickoff: Saturday, September 29th @ 12:30 PM Pacific time @ Holt Arena Pocatello, ID.
• TV: None
• Video/Internet: Big Sky TV
• Audio/Radio: 93.1 FM, audio link available on Hornetsports.com
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