POCATELLO — The story for the 2026 Idaho State Bengals heading into their home opener was the dominance of their defense.
That was on full display in the Bengals' 38-10 win over Virginia Military Institute Saturday inside the ICCU Dome.
The defense set the tone on VMI's first possession, holding the Keydets to a turnover on downs.
"Oh, the guys flew around," ISU defensive coordinator Grant Duff said. "They were excited to play — you can tell they were sick of playing the Bengals and wanted to get onto somebody else. I thought we ran to the ball really well. They focused on the things we were coaching them to do and responded incredibly well to that."
The offense, meanwhile, lost star running back Dason Brooks in the second quarter to a lower-body injury, the severity of which is still undetermined. Brooks, who walked off with help from trainers, finished with 24 yards on five carries and the Bengals ran for 88 as a team.
"I know it's not going to be an easy thing no matter what," ISU head coach Cody Hawkins said about Brooks' injury. "It's not a short-term thing right now. He's a great kid. He's got a smile on his face. He knows that it's going to be tough either way, but we'll do everything we can to get him back and trust our medical team."
One of the pillars for the defense was everyone doing their job, starting with the defensive line.
Against a triple-option team, the line is the key. The Bengals had to fight off double teams, read the eyes of the backfield and handle their individual assignments. They did that successfully for four quarters.
"We approached the game as don't do too much, do your job, do your role," ISU senior defensive lineman Collin Lewis said. "Don't try to make big plays. Do what we've done all practice. We shut down the dive early and that allowed the linebackers to fly around and make plays."
The line created havoc. Lewis and fellow senior Bronson Childs each had six tackles as did freshman Trehsyn Fesili, who added a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in his first collegiate game.
As a unit, the Bengals held VMI to 240 total yards on 61 plays, including 229 on the ground on 52 carries — only 49 of them by halftime. Idaho State forced nine punts and a fumble and allowed just 11 passing yards.
A large share of those rushing yards came in the fourth quarter, when redshirt junior backup quarterback Chandler Wilson scampered for 61 yards on seven carries and the Keydets' lone touchdown. B-back Leo Boehling carried 17 times for 41 yards.
"Going into this game, we obviously knew they weren't gonna try and pass a lot, but our goals the whole time were to have elite eyes," ISU junior cornerback Jackson Daniels said. "That's what we're being coached, drilled in our head — the eyes, the lead eyes, the eyes, everyone did their job."
Offensively, the Bengals were another story.
Leading into the game, Hawkins told his team in a meeting about Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile — a barrier many believed could not be broken.
Idaho State's high-powered offense struggled to move the ball and the simple things it had executed before weren't getting done. Between dropped passes, missed assignments and overthinking, the Bengals had three points heading into the final two minutes of the half.
"I'm pretty sure that our guys felt at some point in the second quarter that scoring a touchdown was impossible," Hawkins said.
So Hawkins walked over to his offense, found them watching plays on an iPad and swatted it out of their hands.
"I was like, 'Guys, what are you watching this for,'" Hawkins said. "All you have to do is catch the football, throw it to the right guy, have your eyes in the right spot and play on time and you're going to be fine."
Heading into the final drive of the half, fifth-year quarterback Jordan Cooke was 9-of-17 for 73 yards. A 17-yard punt return set the offense up at the 49-yard line with 1:23 to score.
That's when Cooke delivered the perfect drive.
A completion to senior wide receiver Julian "Juice" Mason picked up a first down. Cooke then laid the ball perfectly to senior wide receiver Eli Aragon-Cruz, who brought it in at the 5-yard line to ignite the crowd.
Two plays later, Cooke looked left and fired to the slot, into the hands of Mason for his sixth catch of the half and the touchdown. The Bengals took a 10-0 lead into the break.
Mason finished the game tied for the team lead with seven catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
On that final drive, Cooke was 3-of-3 for 56 yards and a touchdown, finishing the half 12-of-20 for 129 yards and a score.
"When we had to go two-minute tempo, we weren't thinking about, 'Oh, what's my line,'" Hawkins said. "We were doing stuff that you do every single day. Once you got the first one to crack it, you realize, 'Oh, he made a play, so I can also make a play,' and then it kind of started to roll from there."
The game slowed down for the offense. Coming out of the locker room, Cooke and the offense found the end zone within two minutes, connecting with senior wide receiver Chedon James for a 49-yard strike to go up 17-0.
"It felt really good," James said. "Excited to be back in front of the crowd. It's a different vibe, so I was really excited to score."
A blocked punt led to another touchdown and Cooke added two more scores — a flea flicker to Aragon-Cruz, who led the team with seven catches for 97 yards, and, just before it, a career-long 83-yard strike to sophomore Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio.
Cooke took the snap, faked the handoff to fifth-year running back Robert Freeman IV and delivered over the middle to Anahu-Ambrosio, who did the rest. He broke a tackle and ran up the ISU sideline without stopping until the end zone. In the span of eight minutes of game time, the offense scored three touchdowns.
"You could just see how fast we can score and how explosive we are," Cooke said. "When we just put the ball in play and do the little things right."
After a shaky first half, Cooke finished the game 18-of-29 for 325 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
The Bengals will need a similar effort next Saturday, Sept. 5, at 5 p.m. when they travel to Logan, Utah, to take on Utah State.
"The biggest thing is just me setting the tone from the start," Cooke said. "Going out there and getting after it right away. We know Utah State's going to be a good football team and well-coached, and if we just execute and do what we need to do, there should be no problem."