POCATELLO — Aug. 30, 2025, is a night the Idaho State Bengals football team wants to forget.

This week they get a chance to avenge last season’s 46-24 loss to the 1-3 (0-1) Southern Utah Thunderbirds, when the teams kick off Saturday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah.

No one takes more responsibility for last year’s loss than head coach Cody Hawkins.

“Nobody failed more than me last year,” Hawkins said. “Going from when everybody’s patting you on the back for not getting your butt kicked against UNLV — it doesn’t mean you’ve done enough. You need to do more to win the game. And we just kind of went status quo, and a good, playoff-caliber football team in Southern Utah beat the tar out of us. Rightfully so — they beat us schematically. We did not coach well.”

This time, the Bengals come in 3-0 and don’t want to settle for any pats on the back. They’re going to Cedar City to win the game and get to 4-0.

“I think that attitude is part of the reason we got our ass kicked last year,” Hawkins said. “Everybody was like, ‘Oh, we played good against UNLV.’ Well, guys, no, you didn’t. Everybody wants to hand out consolation prizes instead of getting ready to play a good opponent. And I think our program saw a little bit of that.”

The T-Birds come in off a 28-26 heartbreaking loss to St. Thomas, where they lost in the final seconds, and they’ll be out to get their season back on track. Their identity is running the football — something Idaho State learned the hard way last season.

In the 2025 matchup, the Bengals surrendered 563 total yards, 320 of that on the ground on 50 attempts. Idaho State managed just 16 carries for 23 yards, as the T-Birds broke the Bengals’ will by running it right at them.

The Bengals defense leads the Big Sky in fewest points allowed (44), points allowed per game (14.7), and fewest touchdowns allowed (5) — all while having played one fewer game than the rest of the conference. They’ve also forced seven turnovers — six interceptions and one fumble recovery.

Senior linebacker Nathan Reynolds leads Idaho State with 33 tackles and an interception. Senior Jacob Perez has 24 tackles, and freshman Trehsyn Fesili has 19 tackles with a team-high 2.5 sacks.

The T-Birds may have a new roster, but they have the same identity, and it starts with redshirt senior running back Floyd Chalk. Chalk has carried the Thunderbirds’ ground game all season, with 92 carries for 545 yards and six touchdowns, an average of 136.3 yards per game, including 26 carries for 118 yards against St. Thomas.

Redshirt junior quarterback Will Burns has accounted for 1,150 yards of total offense, completing 66 of 103 passes for 851 yards and six touchdowns, while adding 299 yards and three scores on the ground. Redshirt senior wide receiver Mark Bails has back-to-back 100-yard receiving games and leads the team with 12 catches for 284 yards and one touchdown.

The T-Birds live on explosive plays, and they’ve had them all over the field through their first three games. It will be the Bengals’ job to limit those explosive plays and try to stop the lethal running attack of Chalk and Burns.

“St. Thomas went and kicked the hornets’ nest, so they’re going to empty the canvas to try and get this thing right,” Hawkins said. “Floyd Chalk’s obviously an unbelievable player, and Will Burns too — I mean, he already has a 70-yard run in him against us from last year. If somebody has 700 yards receiving, I don’t care. I don’t care, but I don’t want to see Chalk and Burns run all over us, and that’s been a big point of emphasis for us this week.”

Defensive coordinator Grant Duff echoed a similar sentiment.

“We can’t defend Chalk one-on-one,” Duff said. “He’s going to be an all-conference Big Sky guy. He’s the best player on their team. If we are going to lose, it better not be because of that guy. Make him beat us doing something else.”

On offense, the Bengals lead the conference in points per game with 42.0, behind the brilliant play of fifth-year quarterback Jordan Cooke. Cooke has completed 51 of 88 passes for 808 yards and eight touchdowns with one interception, including 331 yards and three touchdowns against San Diego.

Sophomore Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio has been the Bengals’ big-play threat, with 281 yards and three touchdowns on just five catches, including a 195-yard, two-touchdown outing on catches of 79 and 90 yards. Senior Julian “Juice” Mason leads the team with 18 catches for 203 yards and a touchdown, and Chedon James has 10 catches for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bengals will be down a key receiver this week, with senior Eli Aragon-Cruz out due to a lower-body injury.

The Bengals’ run game has not matched their passing attack through three games, after losing all-conference running back Dason Brooks in the season opener. As a team, they’ve rushed for 355 yards, 178 of which came against San Diego. Running back duties have been split between fifth-year Robert Freeman IV and sophomores Carson Sudbury and Tytan Mason, with Tytan Mason leading the group at 81 yards and a touchdown.

For the Bengals, this game has been circled on their schedule since it came out — for no reason other than to prove Idaho State is a program moving in the right direction, and to pick up their first Big Sky win of the season.

“It’s an important game because the Bengals are playing it,” Hawkins said. “You don’t need to play harder on Saturday. What you need to do is prepare your butt off, and treat this game with the reverence it deserves. Every single team we play the rest of the year can beat the tar out of us if we don’t prepare well, and if we play well, we can beat anybody in America.”