If the college football season was like a horse race, the teams will have made the far turn and started heading down the home stretch.

The finish line is in sight.

For Idaho State, two games remain, starting this Saturday at Eastern Washington.

The Bengals (5-5 overall, 3-3 Big Sky) are coming off their first win at Weber State in 40 years. They’ve won two straight and three of the last four. The five wins are the most since the 2018 season, which was also the last winning season in program history. If ISU can win out, it will not only have its first winning season in six years, but the most successful one in a decade.

Some fans are even whispering the “p” word, as in playoffs. That word hasn’t been spoken around campus in a very long time.

But first things first, the Eagles (3-7, 2-4 Big Sky), are a club that has had a difficult year. They’re only 1-4 on the red turf of Roos Field in Cheney.

“Going to Cheney is always tough,” Bengal head coach Cody Hawkins said at his weekly press conference.

“They do such a good job with their environment there. Nobody on our football team has had an opportunity to go there, so it will be a rare maiden voyage for a lot of our seniors. I don’t know if there’s a team in the conference that mirrors our season quite like Eastern Washington.”

What Hawkins means is that, like ISU, the Eagles have played a number of close games. They’ve lost three games by three points or less and two others have come by 10 points. Eastern Washington is coming off a 43-15 win at Northern Colorado last Saturday. That game saw quarterback Kekoa Visperas throw for three touchdowns and 179 yards.

Hawkins was asked to break down the Eagles and give the fans an idea of what they try to do.

“Defensively, they are going to be a multiple front football team. They throw a lot of things at you from the front standpoint. On the back end, they are a defense similar to ours, but willing to play man on man more. And when you get into third down, they are a roulette of wild stuff,” he said. “They’ll bring all out pressure. They’ll drop eight guys in coverage. On third down, they are one of the more difficult teams to try to guess what they are trying to do.

“On offense, they have done such a great job keeping some of the same traditional Eastern Washington identity, but (head coach) Aaron Best likes to run the football and they’ve been doing that with a quarterback run scheme that’s given us fits at times this year and we are going to see a lot of that in our game.”

The Bengals have made progress this season going from three wins to five at this point. While all coaches and teams expect to do well, Hawkins was asked if anything has surprised him so far with the season and with what has already happened.

“I think with how many different lineups we have had to play, and how well we’ve played despite the things that have happened,” was his immediate answer.

“All the benchmarks that we’ve talked about (to) try to accomplish are all still within reach despite the amount of wild things that have happened. This will be, fingers crossed, the first week where we’ve played the same starting offensive line two weeks in a row. To see our defense be able to respond and beat some good teams despite injuries, I’m proud of that and the fact that we’re building a program where the guys have confidence and know that if we play well, we’re going to win and I think we’re there.”

Now about that word “playoffs.”

If ISU wins out, it will be 7-5 and may have an outside shot for the FCS tournament. Hawkins gave his thoughts on that possibility.

“You know I don’t know what the rest of the field will look like, that’s hard to say,” he said. “Your goal as you try to build a program is to be a playoff football team, but in order to do that, you have to beat the guys at the top. And you have to win the games that you are supposed to win and I don’t know if we’ve done that this year. But we’re getting better and that’s what I focus on.”

Realistically, even if the Bengals were to go 7-5, one of those wins was against Western Oregon, a lower division opponent and that would count against them. But just the fact that the playoffs are being talked about by some of the fan base, shows real progress has been made on the field.

FROM THE SIDELINES:

• ISU quarterback Kobe Tracy was named the Big Sky Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the win at Weber State. Tracy threw for four touchdowns and ran for another in the 43-35 win.
• The last time ISU played at Eastern Washington was back in 2016, a 48-17 loss.
• In the last eight meetings with the Eagles, the winning team has scored at least 40 points. Eastern Washington has won 13 of the last 15 games played.
• The Eagles Efton Chism III leads the Big Sky Conference in receiving with 95 catches, 11 touchdowns and 1,035 yards.
• EWU quarterback Kekoa Visperas leads the Big Sky and in second in the nation completing 73% of his throws.

Eastern Washington Notable Alumni:

EASTERN WASHINGTON NOTABLE ALUMNI:

• Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver; Colin Cowherd, sports media personality; Jim McElwain, former college football head coach; Todd McFarlane, co-owner Edmonton Oilers; Bruce Barnum, Portland State head football coach; Rodney Stuckey former NBA player.

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

• Television: ESPN+ (Pay subscription service) (Kickoff) 2 p.m. (MST).
• Radio: KISU-FM 91 (Pregame) 1:30 p.m., (Kickoff) 2 p.m. (MST).