When Idaho State and Weber State meet Saturday to close out the season, neither team is in the mix for a Big Sky Conference title.
In fact, it has been a season of struggles for both the Bengals and the Wildcats as their combined record totals just 2-18. WSU’s lone victory came Oct. 19, a 24-22 conference win at Southern Utah.
“It’s a matchup of two teams that have suffered similar fates,” said ISU head coach Mike Kramer during Tuesday’s weekly press conference. “For us it’s a matter of playing a team that has a lot of similarities in terms of not being very good on defense and a team that likes to throw the ball on offense. It should be a fun fans game on Saturday, just don’t come expecting to see two teams that are lining up at Jostens for rings after the season.”
The issues for Weber State began in April when former head coach John L. Smith bolted for Arkansas and the storied SEC just five months after taking the job in Ogden.
In his stead stepped Jody Sears, Smith’s defensive coordinator who had arrived the same time as the departed head coach.
“Coach Sears and I go way back,” Kramer said. “It’s a tough situation for their staff and their staff’s families, yet I see a lot of good in what Weber State does every week. They play hard, they don’t hurt themselves with a lot of penalties, but they just have not been able to find the endzone to get leads and hold onto (them).”
Offensively, Idaho State and Weber State have similar numbers. The Wildcats average 19.9 points per game while the Bengals score 21.4.
“We’re a cargo ship at sea, we just can’t find the port,” Kramer said, beginning a metaphor. “We’re sailing back and forth across the ocean, we’re getting a lot of miles under our keel, but we’re not putting this thing into port. Somewhere we got to find a place to unload our cargo on Saturday and get ourselves into the endzone.”
Where the wheels fall off is on defense. ISU’s issues are well documented, allowing 55.2 points per game. WSU gives up a more modest 33.8.
That could spell doom for the Bengals as Weber State senior quarterback Mike Hoke runs the ball just as well as he passes it.
Hoke has 129 rushes for 497 yards and two touchdowns and is 187-of-325 for 1,957 yards and 12 scores through the air.
“Hoke is really an exceptional player,” Kramer said. “Playing against an experienced, savvy quarterback like (him) is an immense challenge for a defense that’s had historically as bad numbers as have ever been created in Big Sky Conference history.”
“They have a balanced attack, run and pass, so I think that’s going to be the biggest thing,” said senior cornerback Donovan Henley. “We can’t get fooled with play action and we also have to play the run tough. We just have to make sure that everyone does their job.”
It has been an uphill battle for the Bengals all season as they find themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard early in games. Kramer would like to see that trend disappear on Saturday.
“We are going to do everything in our power to somehow get a lead,” he said. “We have not played defense here with a lead. Whether we give up a touchdown early or our offense fails to score early, some sort of two-score lead would be a welcome edition to our plate here in 2012.”
The winner of Saturday’s game will pull itself out of the Big Sky cellar, but just barely. An loss for Idaho State seals the team as the bottom of the conference barrel, as it does for Weber.
“They want to win,” Kramer said. “It’s their last game (as well).”