BOZEMAN, Mont. — As well as the Idaho State football team has played in a number of its games this year − having leads in the fourth quarter, playing hard and staying competitive − maybe they were due for a letdown.

That letdown started early and often at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday, where the fifth-ranked Montana State Bobcats overwhelmed the Bengals 48-14.

It was the fifth straight win for Montana State, running its record to 5-2 on the year and 3-0 in the Big Sky. Meanwhile, ISU fell to 2-5 on the year and 1-2 in league play.

Bengal head coach Cody Hawkins was asked what he thought of his team’s performance.

“Probably the same as yours saying, ‘Wow, that was bad,’” he said. “We played poorly, coached poorly. We probably didn’t do the most basic stuff that we needed to. Whether it’s dropped passes, missed tackles or missed assignments, that was a bummer because we’re a better football team than we showed tonight.

“I told the guys in the locker room, after you have a really close loss against a good team, there’s a natural reaction to think, ‘We’re almost there, let’s just keep doing the same thing.’ But the hardest push up the mountain is that last little bit. We’ve got to continue to find ways to coach better, play better, lead better, so we don’t have these types of outcomes.”

Having to play the preseason pick to win the league and to have to do it on the road was going to be a tall order for Idaho State.

And in front of a big crowd, Montana State immediately took it to Idaho State.

Before the first quarter was even half over, Montana State had already scored twice on two long drives, easily ripping through Idaho State’s defense. The first 11 offensive plays by the Bobcats rang up 149 yards in total offense, featuring runs of 32, 23 and 11 yards and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Justin Lamson.

The Bobcats rushed for 384 yards on Idaho State Saturday, averaging over 7 yards a carry. They also controlled the clock, having the football for over 35 minutes, and finished with 568 yards of offense.

“There’s a lot of stuff on tape we’ve got to figure out,” Hawkins said. “We need to look at our loaded-box run game, how we can pick up those short-yardage situations, and how we can handle the variety of formations that Montana State threw at us in the run game. They kind of did what they wanted at the line of scrimmage, and we’re better physically up front than we showed today.”

Idaho State had very few answers, especially as the game wore on.

Hawkins warned that Montana State had an excellent defense and was very hard to run against in his weekly press conference on Wednesday. He was right. The Bengal running game was non-existent, only gaining a paltry 36 yards carrying the ball.

Now throw in three turnovers by Idaho State, a fumble and interceptions from quarterbacks Jordan Cooke and Davis Harsin, and it made for a very long afternoon.

Not able to move the ball on the ground, Idaho State’s only option was to throw it to some success. In fact, ISU cut the deficit in half to 14-7 on a first-quarter touchdown pass from Cooke to Michael Shulikov. That drive was set up by a 40-yard bomb from Cooke to Tsion Nunnally.

In the second quarter, a 69-yard strike from Cooke to Nunnally resulted in a touchdown to make it 20-14.

But that’s as close as the Bengals got all day.

A 13-play, 75-yard drive by the Bobcats made it 27-14 and then came the crusher. After a Bengal punt, Montana State had another grinding 11-play drive, eating up the clock and scoring with just 25 seconds left before the half. It was 34-14 and the game was basically over.

Montana State added two more scores in the second half while shutting out Idaho State.

Adam Jones racked up 173 yards and a touchdown on the ground as the Bobcats had three players run for at least 60 yards. Lamson was on target all afternoon, going 17-of--21, a modest 184 yards, but four touchdowns as Montana State went 4-of-4 in the red zone.

It was Montana State’s 15th win over Idaho State in the last 16 games.

For the Bengals, Cooke finished 20-of-37 for 307 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Backup quarterback Harsin was 6-of-11 with a pick.

The bright spots for Idaho State were the outstanding games again by Shulikov and Nunnally.

For the second week in a row, both Bengal receivers eclipsed the century mark. Shulikov had 10 catches for 124 yards and a score. Nunnally had a monster afternoon with nine catches for 169 yards and a touchdown.

The Bengals will now get their second bye week of the season at a very opportune time no less. They’ll be off this coming Saturday and don’t return to action until Oct. 25, a homecoming date with, yes, another ranked team, as Northern Arizona comes to the ICCU Dome.

“Obviously, a very welcome bye week,” Hawkins said before adding, “We’d love to get our legs back under us. Our defense was super healthy to start the year, but they’ve taken some shots coming down the stretch. A couple guys didn’t make the trip and were last-minute decisions not to play. The biggest thing in every bye week is to get healthy.”

That game with Northern Arizona will kick off at 4 p.m.