The Idaho State Bengals are off to their best start to a season since 2005 after Saturday’s 40-26 win over Northern Colorado.

    And though they don’t like to live in the past, the players and coaches feel their 3-3 record could — and should — be better.

    “We don’t really like to think back on games, but I absolutely think we could be 5-1,” said redshirt senior linebacker Trevor Spence. “We kind of hurt ourselves (against) UC Davis and North Dakota. We let those ones get away.”

    “I think there’s always a slight range of good and bad that you’re going to play as a team, and we played below our ability in those two conference games that we lost,” said ISU head coach Mike Kramer.

    “Had we played even within 10 percent of (how we played versus Northern Colorado) those other two ball games, the results would have been much different,” Kramer said.

    Because of the youth and relative inexperience of his team, Kramer said the Bengals were plagued with inconsistency against UC Davis and North Dakota.

    “We lost two games that, really, we felt like we had a great chance to win,” Kramer said. “I said it was a coaching staff issue, and it is a little bit. But it’s more of a confidence issue. I thought that last Saturday, because we played so well the second play to the end, we showed confidence.”

    Senior receiver Luke Austin says the Bengals indeed think about the two games that got away, and use those losses as motivation. The team wants to play like it’s 5-1.

    “We definitely think about it because we’re that good,” Austin said. “We could be top in the Big Sky right now. That kind of pushes us because we still can win the Big Sky.”

    “It’s confidence,” said redshirt junior quarterback Justin Arias. “We know if we would have played like last game, we would easily be 5-1. That’s just a mental game.

    “Staying focused and having that confidence that we can play with whoever we want. We just need to execute. It’s all on us, not who we play. It’s how we’re going to play, execute and limit our mistakes.”

    This week, Idaho State travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona and star running back Zach Bauman. Picking up a road win is a tall order for the Bengals, but they have the confidence — and the ability — not press forward and avoid taking a step back.

    “It’s just a matter of me doing a better job,” Kramer said. “We’re certainly good enough at all phases of the game to stay at this level. We should play like this all the time. We should have played like this three games ago.

    “In order to rise a program, you’re going to have to have a breakthrough game, a series of plateaus that you get to. We’re on that plateau now, let’s hope we didn’t find a false summit last Saturday and slide back”

    Idaho State and Northern Arizona kick off Saturday at 5:05 p.m., Mountain Standard Time.

    NOTES: Kramer expects sophomore tight end Tyler Wright, junior linebacker PJ Gremaud and redshirt junior defensive lineman David Forester to play against NAU. Sophomore linebacker Kurt Karstetter will be unavailable. Idaho State is 17-32-1 all-time against the Lumberjacks, and 3-19-1 in Flagstaff. ISU’s last win over NAU came in 2004, a 24-17 home victory.