After surprising the entire country by going 8-4 last season, Idaho State faces high expectations as it enters fall camp Wednesday.

It’s a refreshing change of circumstances for ISU fans, who just want to see if Idaho State can achieve the sort of goals this year that it came up just short of in 2014. Like winning the Big Sky Conference or reaching the playoffs. Those are two of the Bengals’ top priorities as they begin the season ranked No. 24 in the preseason coaches poll and No. 22 in the STATS FCS poll.

Here are five questions that will have a heavy influence on Idaho State over the course of the new season:

1 | How does the JC QB look?

Kramer eliminated any speculation and named junior college transfer Michael Sanders his starting quarterback at the Big Sky media days in July. Kramer indicated his decision is largely based on Sanders’ age (he’s a junior) compared to redshirt freshman Tanner Gueller.

But is it fair to assume it’s Sanders’ job, regardless of how he plays? What if Gueller shows up and is lights out after working his butt off over the summer? What if Sanders isn’t as polished as ISU expects? Those are the kinds of factors that could spark a starting quarterback battle.

Then again, it’s hard to imagine Sanders won’t at least begin the season as the starter. After throwing 38 touchdowns at Scottsdale Community College as a sophomore, all indications seem to point to Sanders excelling in the Bengals’ spread attack.

The biggest question might be, how close can Sanders come to matching the production of All-American Justin Arias from last season?

2 | Who emerges along the defensive line?

Idaho State will start camp with 15 defensive linemen, including BYU transfer and former Rigby prep star JonRyheem Peoples.

Peoples hasn’t played a down of live football since his senior year of high school in 2012. He redshirted the ’13 season at BYU and sat out all of ’14. Despite the layoff, his presence could be as massive as his 6-foot-4, 330-pound frame.

Peoples isn’t the only new defensive lineman to watch. He’ll be competing for playing time alongside junior college transfers Nikko Taylor and Spencer Hoff and true freshmen Rasheed Williams, Robert Schwenke and Treven Aloi.

Combine those guys with returning players like Tyler Kuder, Drew Sharkey and Matt Lewis and Idaho State has the makings of the best D-line in the Kramer era.

If the defensive front is able to take major steps forward and Sanders fits in at quarterback, Idaho State will have solved its two most pressing concerns.

3 | How will the Bengals cope with injuries?

ISU has depth along the offensive and defensive lines, and there probably isn’t a better group of tight ends in the Big Sky Conference than the Bengals’ fearsome foursome of Josh Cook, Colorado State transfer Jordan White, Tyler Wright and Tyler Graves.

But there are a few positions where injuries could wreak havoc. Defensively, do the Bengals have any quality backups for starting safeties Cody Sorensen and Taison Manu? And how would injuries to middle linebackers Hayden Stout and Mario Jenkins affect the defense?

The offense could sputter if receivers Madison Mangum and KW Williams have to miss any significant amount of time. And senior Xavier Finney is a workhorse running back the Bengals are desperate to have healthy when they enter the most difficult part of their schedule against Eastern Washington, Montana and Montana State in October and November.

4 | How much can the defense improve from last season?

Idaho State was elite offensively in 2014. But the Bengals allowed 31.4 points and 474.8 yards per game on defense. They weren’t a total disaster on that side of the ball and had good moments in wins over Cal Poly, Portland State and Northern Colorado.

If ISU truly wants to ascend the rankings and make a run in the playoffs, however, the defense has to be better at harassing opposing quarterbacks, can’t give up chunks of yardage through the air and must consistently provide a stiffer challenge in the run game.

The main challenge? Give up fewer first downs. ISU allowed 300 of them last season. Only Southern Utah was worse in the Big Sky. Fewer first downs means the opposing team is punting, and then Idaho State’s electric offense has more chances to score points.

5 | What the heck is ISU going to do about a punter?

Peoples was a noteworthy addition to Idaho State’s fall camp roster. So too was the fact the Bengals didn’t have a punter listed among the 92 names.

Sophomore Sean Cheney was slated to punt for ISU until he tore up his knee over the summer. It’s left Kramer scrambling for a solution. Most likely, Kramer will go back to the roll punt that he’s favored since 2012.

Who will be that punter? Kramer has said former Highland prep star Tom Jewell is a possibility. Jewell is athletic, punted at Snow College as a freshman and, as a former quarterback, understands the game and can make snap decisions.

Kramer has also mentioned place-kicker Zak Johnson has potential to take over as ISU’s punter. Whoever does, the Bengals will want to improve on a net punting average of 35.1 yards, the ninth-worst mark in the Big Sky a season ago.