I think it's worth noting that Gueller was left in this game well beyond when the game was out of reach for the Vandals to make a comeback which ultimately padded the heck out of his stats. Look at every other game the Bengals have played this season and Gueller has been an average QB at best in terms of passing. What makes ISU good is that (outside of this game) they have had a very balanced attack between passing and rushing. Their 2 main running backs are both averaging over 5 yards per carry and Gueller is very mobile himself. In the Massey rankings, our offenses are comparable with our defense being quite a bit better than their's. Massey is also currently (could change throughout the week) giving us a 69% chance of winning. This will definitely be a tough challenge for the Aggies in which they can't have mental lapses. I think that we are still the better team from what I have seen, but I wasn't predicting ISU to be this good. I thought we would have another week before we entered the meat grinder portion of our schedule with the rivalry games, Montana, EWU, and NAU.

GO AGS!

I watched a good portion of this game and the Bengals looked like the real deal to me. Of course, Idaho is surprisingly weak also which made for an easy romp for ISU. I couldn't stop thinking I was watching a pee wee version of the Cincinnati Bengals looking at those horizontally striped, orange helmets that ISU wears too. This game will be a real test for the Aggies.

Gueller's season so far...

vs Western State Colorado University (who???)
- 17/27, 213 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs Cal
- 15/23, 179 yards (63 came on 1 pass), 1 TD, 1 INT

vs North Dakota
- 16/31, 293 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs NAU
- 15/32, 179 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs Idaho
- 19/30, 492 yards, 8 TD, 0 INT

All I'm saying is that the Idaho game was an outlier so far this season. He could very well go on a tear again, but I'm not 100% sold yet.

Good point...

Time to strap er on!

We have to be prepared if they decide to go air raid on us like the did on Idaho, but I'm more worried about what they can do on the ground. Madison and Flanagan (their 2 RBs) have both had very good seasons so far and Gueller runs it frequently himself. Gonna have to be prepared for anything.

I think that they are susceptible defensively despite the fact that they have held most teams in check in terms of points. Idaho dropped over 500 yards on them, NAU over 400 (without Cookus), North Dakota was pushing 500 yards on them as was Cal (although I'm less inclined to count this one). Only team that didn't do damage on them yards-wise was D2 Western State Colorado University and I just looked them up... they are 0-6.

So we know that we can put yards up on them, just have to finish our drives.

The two backs, Madison and Flanagan, appear to be very agile and explosive. I imagine we'll focus on corralling those two as best we can.

Couldn't help but notice North Dakota fumble on the 1 yard line going in early in that game...very costly mistake for UND.

Also, the highlight reels are a little interesting in that the person cutting the video jumps around to different parts of the game with each successive highlight, Not in order, and you can't really get a feel for how the game played out, very strange.

We could have real, track meet shootout in this one!

ISU feeds off turnovers...very opportunistic bunch, a real challenge for us coming to town.

Our victory over SJSU still looms so large.

They look potent. Their WRs made some great catches.

Good thing we also have a great turnover margin this season. Only 1 fumble lost on the season and technically 3 interceptions (although 1 was not thrown by Jake and it was in garbage time). So only 3 turnovers for the starters through 5 games.

This was posted by Mtfan4life over at the anygivensaturday.com forum:

"Let's just all sit back and marvel at the fact that next week UC Davis and Idaho State will be playing each other for a share of FIRST place in the conference. If Weber State takes down EWU, the Davis/ISU winner would be in sole possession of the temporary top spot in the conference. Those two teams were a combined 5-17 just two seasons ago."

How sweet it is to finally be back in the Big Sky as a legitimate contender!

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?214271-Big-Sky-Predictions-10-6/page3

ISU put up some insane offensive numbers against Idaho: 754 yards of total offense of which 518 were through the air and 236 on the ground. That's crazy! I hope we're ready to play a full 40 minutes on Saturday...

i think we would have had similar numbers if Hawk hadn't throttled back.

Yeah we played multiple drives with the backups in vs Idaho. Had we left the starters in we could have done more damage. This will be a good game. I just can't help looking at Gueller's other games this season and Idaho is a MASSIVE outlier in terms of performance.

ISU certainly sent Idaho home with their heads down and their tails between their legs after thrashing them 62-28. The last time the two teams had met was in 2008 in Moscow and the Vandals won that game 42-27. Idaho had refused to schedule the Bengals since then. This was also ISU's first win over the Vandals since 1995 and they are now 4-1 for the first time since 2000.

“ISU's here. We're ready to play,” Bengals offensive lineman Dallen Collins said. “We're not the little red-headed stepchild — orange-headed stepchild — anymore. … We're happy to play anybody who wants to play us.”

“They loaded the box,” ISU coach Rob Phenicie said. “We've been waiting for this to happen by virtue of our running game. We needed to have the ability to throw the ball.”

“They went up and down the field at will,” Vandals coach Paul Petrino said. “We just got our butt kicked, bottom line.”

“We were able to end the game on our terms,” Collins said. “... It puts us on the map.”

- Linebacker Aren Manu was ejected for targeting after the first play of the game. He is the third ISU defender to be flagged for the penalty in two weeks. Manu started in place of Kody Graves, who was suspended for the first half of Saturday's game for the same penalty. Becasue Manu's infraction happened in the first half, he will not miss any of next weekend's game at UC Davis.

https://www.hjnews.com/pocatello/members/orange-headed-stepchild-no-more-bengals-crush-vandals/article_5338f61c-28e3-51da-9096-263ccdeed56a.html

Bringing some peeps out for this one baby!

The rest of this schedule starting Saturday looks like a real test, the heart of the Big Sky - this is what it's all about. Gotta get after these Bengals!

Yup, this is when we really find out something about this team and its place in the conference pecking order, IMO.

AGS voters giving ISU no love @ 24. Woof.

Comparison of the AGS vs the Coaches Poll:

I could see them maybe a little bit higher, but they lost their FBS game and one of their wins was over a really bad D2 school. That leaves their games against NAU, UND, and Idaho in play. Of those, Idaho looks pretty dang bad and I don't think NAU is as good as people originally projected them to be. That's probably what is holding them back at this point. We'll see how good they are on Saturday.

Still crazy that we are getting top 10 votes in the AGS poll and other sites have us actually in the top 10... who would have thought we'd be here after the Ron Gould era?

STATS FCS Poll: http://www.fcs.football/cfb/polls.asp?div=fcs

The anygivenday.com FCS football forum has a poll going for the Game of the Week and the ISU @ UC Davis game is currently leading the voting. It's easy to join the forum if anyone is interested and then you could vote for this game too. This is the best forum for FCS football and has the most dedicated and knowledgeable members.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?214667-2018-10-13-AGS-GOTW-Week-7

deleted

i don't get why Idaho State isn't getting more run from the pollsters. wins over North Dakota and NAU (without their QB, but still a good team) vs. our wins over San Jose, USD and UNC (both beat up on Idaho). put up alot of points vs. NAU and Idaho. Seemed like they deserve a ranking.

I agree. I think this is one of those things where, if you're new to the party, they sit back and wait to see if you're the real deal or just an upstart pretender. If you are a team with a good amount of history in the FCS playoffs and the polls, you pretty much get free entry until you really flop.

A lot of people will be taking notice of this game and I actually think this is the most important game in we've had to date in our D1 history. A solid win will convince a lot of folks that we are a legitimate power in the FCS.

Statistically, this game is a toss-up:

ISU is ranked #7 in offense @ 42.2 ppg and the Ags are #9 @ 40.2 ppg

Defensively, the Ags and the Bengals are tied at #60 and both have allowed 29.2 ppg

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/27

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/28/p2

Massey has our defense ranked quite a bit better than theirs. I'm assuming it takes into consideration quality of opponent. 2 FBS for us, 1 for them, and they have a D2 team on their record.

https://www.masseyratings.com/cf/fcs/ratings