Idaho State looks like a Big Sky Conference team from yesteryear.
The league used to be known for its high-flying spread offenses. In fact, Dennis Erickson’s vaunted single-back offense at Idaho and the variations of the spread employed by Montana, Montana State and Boise State were all significantly ahead of their time as each of those respective programs were throwing the ball all over the yard (and the dome) years before exploiting space became en vogue.
Since North Dakota State seized the Football Championship Subdivision throne in 2011, the pendulum across the FCS, particularly in the Big Sky and the Missouri Valley where teams that play in cold weather, has gravitated toward power rushing attacks and powerhouse offensive and defensive lines.
Under third-year head coach Cody Hawkins, ISU looks like a team that would fit right in with the 1990s Big Sky teams that played four wide receivers all the time, like the Montana Grizzlies of old. Heck, Idaho State would fit in with the mid-2010s teams like Montana State, Eastern Washington and Sac State, too.
Plenty of teams across the league and the country still spread teams out and run shotgun offensive formations. But nobody in the league throws the ball quite as often as the Bengals. And there’s a reason for it.
“We’re gonna play with a lot of receivers on the field,” Hawkins said on ESPN Montana last week leading up to his team’s home game against Montana. “I tell people the reason is we have not won a single recruiting battle against Montana State or Montana since I’ve been here. So, if we’re going to go fight them for tight ends, I don’t want to go play Montana State with the tight end that was 15th on their board. I wanna go find a slot receiver that was third on their board because they’re not taking three slot receivers.”
Idaho State has taken its lumps — Hawkins is 10-18 entering Saturday’s game against Montana State in Bozeman after last week’s 42-38 loss to the Griz in Pocatello — but has also made progress forward. And after throwing the ball 54 times last week against UM, the offense the Bengals bring to Bobcat Stadium looks more like a Big Sky flashback than any Montana State has seen.
“It’s a different team than anyone we’ve faced to this point,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said on Monday. “Coach Hawkins has been in the league, so it wasn’t him being brand new to the Big Sky. He said, ‘I’m going to Idaho State and I think this is how we can do it.’ They’ve been able to find some really good skill players at the same time.
“Every program has its own path to success and Cody saw that this is going to be our path to really stress teams with our passing game and be an attractive place for skills players to go.”
It also helped Hawkins attract one of the league’s most talented, live-armed quarterbacks. Idaho State’s gunslinger quarterback Jordan Cooke had the kind of day Bengal’ and Big Sky’ fans have been waiting for last week when he threw for 421 yards and two touchdowns on 33 of 54 passing before falling just short of handing Montana its first loss. It’s the third time Cooke has thrown the ball at least 45 times in a game this year and he’s thrown for at least 334 yards in three games so far this season.
The shootout Saturday isn’t the only near miss the Bengals have been involved in this season. They gave FBS University of Nevada-Las (5-0) and FBS New Mexico (3-2) runs for their money as well, losing to the Rebels 38-31 after leading in the fourth quarter and falling to New Mexico 32-22 with Cooke out of the lineup.
“We’re a lot closer to the Mountain West than people want to give the Big Sky credit for,” Hawkins. “Our guys felt we could go play with them. It was nice to see our good players make good plays against quality competition.”
Even though ISU is 2-4 and the two wins are against NAIA Lincoln (90-0) and Northern Colorado (26-18), Idaho State’s close calls plus its program momentum have Vigen and the Bobcats on high alert.
“They’ve made some of these games really challenging and they really should’ve probably come away with a couple more wins to this point,” Vigen said. “Credit to (Hawkins) they have become a different version of a football team in his short time there that can really light up the scoreboard, that can be competitive, that cause a lot of problems.”
Cooke threw for 380 yards and a touchdown against UNLV. He threw for 334 yards and a touchdown against Southern Utah. And last week, he largely handled Montana’s pressure on the way to throwing for 421 yards and two scores as Idaho State rolled up 28 first downs in its near-miss against the Griz.
That sample size has helped Cooke and the Bengals get the attention of Montana State’s defense and especially its young secondary as the Bobcats will get arguably its stiffest test this week. The game pits the No. 1 passing offense (318.2 yards per game), No. 1 rush offense by yards per carry (5.8), No. 2 team in scoring (38.5) and No. 2 offense in terms of total yards (476.5) in the Big Sky against the No. 1 defense in nearly every category as the Bobcats are No. 1 in points allowed per game (18.2), total yards allowed (296.3), rush yards per carry (3.4) and No. 2 in pass yards per game (185.8).
Idaho State also has talented receivers, led by Michael Shulikov, a 6-foot-6 former track star who has high jumped seven feet before. He has 27 catches for 519 yards (19.2 yards per catch) and has caught three touchdowns. Tsion Nunnally, a 6-foot-4 senior, has caught 23 passes for 333 yards and three more scores.
Cooke is the main catalyst for ISU as he averages 277.4 yards passing per game. His ceiling and his floor were both on display against UNLV when he had the Bengals leading 31-24 in the fourth quarter only to throw interceptions on back-to-back possessions as the Rebels rallied to avoid the upset. An injury in that game threw his season off kilter as he wasn’t 100 percent and was unable to lead ISU to a win over Southern Utah despite 334 yards passing.
“Started off the first three games on the road which was tough” Cooke said. “I got hurt in the UNLV game, played through it against Southern Utah and ended up having to get surgery done after the Southern Utah game. I missed the New Mexico game and then we had a bye week luckily and I was back to full health for the Lincoln game, then back fully last week against UNC.”
Cooke sat out the New Mexico game and only played briefly against overmatched Lincoln College. He struggled in his first full game back from the injury going just 12 of 33 for 209 yards and a touchdown at Northern Colorado. The fourth-year player has grown immensely since arriving in Pocatello.
“The biggest improvement for me was just trusting in myself and just having fun out there,” Cooke said. “My team believes in me, my coach believes in me, and I know I have the talent to play at this level and do what I need to do. I still have a couple things to clean up.”
“He is a huge ball of potential,” Hawkins said. “I hate when people just talk about potential because it makes it seem like it’s unfulfilled. Jordan has a long way to go but the young man that he’s become in the last few years is incredible. Physically what he’s done – he’s always had an incredible arm – but when he got here he weighed about 175 pounds, now he’s about 235. When he got here he was a single kid fresh off the (junior college) life.”
“He got voted a team captain and if you’d told me a few years ago that Jordan Cooke was going to be a team captain, I would’ve laughed at you. He was such a quiet, reserved kid that grew into an authentic, mature version of himself. We gotta get him playing at an elite level if we want to get where we want to go and he’s doing everything he can to get there.”
The offense the Bengals run, and Cooke’s style of play, are a synergistic match.
“I love the offense we run,” Cooke said. “We throw the ball a lot, we’re always in 10 personnel (four wide receivers) and I’m not what you’d call a dual threat or running QB. I’m a pocket passer, and I love to throw. This is a perfect offense for me, and coach Hawk believes in me, and he dials up some plays I’m comfortable with. Our offense is a lot of fun, and we have some good wrinkles to it. We’ve also been able to run the ball well this year, so being able to add that just opens up our pass game even more.”
At a league high 5.8 yards per carry, the Bengals feature running back Dason Brooks, who is second in the league in yards per game at 84.8 and is getting 6.4 yards per carry. That compliments the passing attack and makes ISU a dangerous matchup. Carson Sudbury has also been productive with 169 yards at 5.5 yards per carry. Despite their penchant to throw the ball, the Bengal’ duo has found the end zone nine times on the ground combined with Brooks having five touchdowns and Sudbury four.
The front line is also stiff with five returning starters from last season’s squad.
“We return every O-lineman from last year,” Cooke said. “I love those guys up front they’re tough, they play hard, and we haven’t even given up a real sack yet. Knock on wood. We have one sack, and they’ve kept me on my feet and they’ve been blocking for the running backs well.”
ISU got off to a better start in league play, getting a win against Northern Colorado, and despite the loss to Montana the game served as confidence booster for the offense against the Grizzlies’ tricky defense.
“It was weird finally getting into Big Sky play after the tough non-conference schedule,” Cooke said. “We were excited, Northern Colorado is a good football and it’s hard to win Big Sky games on the road and we went down there and handled business. That’s a good defense and we put up a lot of yards running the ball. We struggled throwing the ball and we put up only 26 points but we thought we had some points left on the board.”
Hawkins, Cooke and the Bengals will put their strategy to the test this week when they travel to Bozeman to face the Bobcats at 1:00 p.m.
