POCATELLO — After a full fall camp, two scrimmages and weeks of pondering: “how’s all this going to translate to gametime,” folks finally got an answer Saturday in Idaho State’s 47-3 win against Simon Fraser at Holt Arena.

Sparse offensive highlights. A few explosive plays mixed in with bottled up runs into the middle. Inconsistent offensive line play. Greatness interrupted by moments of “being stupid” from quarterback Tanner Gueller.

And on defense? More flashes of dominance, but glaring areas of weakness. A lethal pass rush, an elite linebacker corps, but too many missed opportunities in the backfield.

“I mean, it’s great to get a win,” said senior wide receiver KW Williams. “I thought we were a little sloppy at times. But nothing better than a W on Saturday.”

“Did all right,” Gueller agreed. “There’s some good things, some bad things to clean up. Just watch the film and evaluate then.”

Members of the defense were much more upbeat.

“It was awesome. I loved it,” said senior linebacker Hayden Stout of playing in a 4-3 base defense for the first time as a Bengal.

But.

“There was a lot of mistakes,” Stout said. “We still played a great game, but if we were to make as many mistakes as we did this game against Colorado, you know it’d be a very different result.”

ISU’s offense started at a blistering pace, scoring on its fourth play when Gueller hit Williams with a screen that went 37 yards to the house.

The defense too, pushing Simon Fraser 3 yards backward and forcing a punt on the Clan’s first possession.

Then Simon Fraser drove down to the Bengals’ 7-yard line next time out. A Stout sack on third down and a missed field goal held the 7-0 lead intact, but SFU threatened to make it interesting.

The Bengals’ ensuing offensive series ended when Stout came up short on a fake-punt-direct-snap on fourth down.

ISU led 7-0 after the first quarter, an underwhelming opening 15 minutes of a long-awaited debut.

But on the other side of the break, the Bengals had their best drive of the day. Seven plays, 98 yards capped off by Jakori Ford’s 11-yard run up the gut.

The back-and-forth, good-and-bad sways continued throughout the day for Idaho State (1-0). A tackle for loss might be followed by an extended play-turned first down by SFU’s mobile signal caller. A series of completions by Gueller might be undone by a collapsed pocket and a fumble.

He had three in the game, each of which Simon Fraser (0-1) recovered.

Gueller and the offense were hindered by a frontline featuring three first-time starters. Gueller was sacked four times and running plays were largely stuffed near the line of scrimmage.

Ford finished with 68 yards and a score on 12 carries, and eight ball-carriers combined to average 4 yards per carry.

Kramer acknowledged the strong play of freshman center Dallen Collins and said his young linemen stepped up valiantly in a moment of need replacing three injured starters.

But he also admitted their flaws. ISU’s next two opponents, Colorado and Oregon State of the Pac-12, will be quite the increase in opposing talent level from Saturday’s Division II friends from the North.

“We have to get way better,” Kramer said, “because the next two weeks we’ll be talking about who Tanner Gueller was, because he’ll be dead if we allow that kind of leakage against Colorado and Oregon State.”

Gueller hit Williams and Josh Cook with quick passes over the middle and made smart snap decisions facing blitzes. Young running backs Ty Flanagan, James Madison and Michael Dean displayed power and elusiveness.

But the offense failed to convert over half its third downs.

ISU’s linebackers flew around the turf and stomped out rushing plays before they developed. The Clan went for minus-22 yards rushing on 23 attempts. Linemen busted through the line to force Clan QB Miles Richardson to scamper away, but lost contain on the outside multiple times.

“We lost contain way too many times as a good pass rush team,” Kramer said. “Way too many times. We lost contain way too many times. We lost contain way too many times. We lost contain more times than I want to even count, and that’s an issue we’ve got to get fixed.”

The bottom line: good win, but there’s work to do. The Bengals play Saturday at Colorado, which just put a 44-7 beatdown on instate rival Colorado State.

“It’s a good warming up game,” Stout said. “Getting back in the feel and everything.”