Idaho State (4-6, 2-5 Big Sky Conference) has its lone bye week of the season this week, following a 56-17 home loss Saturday against UC Davis. The Bengals finish the season Nov. 18 at 14th-ranked Weber State. The week off gives ISU a chance to regroup after back-to-back losses, and should be ample time for the team’s starting quarterback to return to full status.

GUELLER UNLIKELY TO PRACTICE

During Monday’s weekly press conference, Bengals coach Rob Phenicie said redshirt junior quarterback Tanner Gueller will “probably not” practice this week. Gueller missed the second half of Saturday’s game with an undisclosed unavailability. Phenicie said Gueller will “be fine” for the season finale against Weber State.

Gueller is having a hallmark campaign, with career highs in passing yards (2,695), passing touchdowns (21), completion percentage (58.8) and yards per completion (15.3). His seven interceptions — one every 42.3 passes — are also a career best.

Gueller has appeared in 10 games each of the last three seasons. He split duties with Michael Sanders as a redshirt freshman in 2015 and missed the Eastern Washington game last season after sitting out the second half against Montana a week earlier.

Gueller was replaced Saturday by sophomore Gunnar Amos, who Phenicie said is the team’s clear-cut No. 2 quarterback. Amos, who spent 2015 and 2016 at Idaho, transferred to ISU midway through fall camp. He completed 8 of 18 passes for 54 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing six times for 21 yards Saturday in his first extended action since his senior year of high school in 2013.

In his career at Idaho, Amos completed 3 of 10 passes in eight appearances.

Phenicie said the dual-threat signal caller will take the first-team reps this week at practice.

“He did what we thought he’d do,” Phenicie said. “Got in there and ran around. We’ll get him settled down a little bit this week. … That’s the hardest job of being a backup quarterback, you have to be game ready without getting game reps when you go in there.”

ISU’s other QB options are sophomore Mike Goggin, redshirt sophomore Robert Kvinsland, and freshmen Drew Cash and Anthony Posada. Kvinsland is the only one with college game experience, completing 1 of 3 passes for 10 yards last season at Oregon State.

BYE WEEK TIMING YIELDS SOME BENEFITS

Phenicie said that while he prefers to have a bye week in the middle of the season, having a week off after 10 consecutive games has its perks.

Phenicie said the team will practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, while taking Monday and Friday off. ISU’s first-year head coach said that because the team is so far into its season, a couple days off can be afforded to rest weary bodies.

“If (the bye) is early in the year, you’ve still got to stay on your schedule, get your routine down,” Phenicie said Monday. “Whereas, we’re so far into this, it’s not going to affect us. We’re going to have three good days here and then take a couple days off and then reconvene Monday to the final push.”

Phenicie also said the free weekend opens a window for recruiting before the NCAA’s early signing period, which begins Dec. 20.

Next season, ISU’s bye is the second week of the schedule, meaning the Bengals will again play at least 10 games in a row.