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A quick look at the regional college football teams in action this weekend.
Idaho State
The optimism that surrounded ISU football in the preseason is a distant memory following last week's 38-3 loss to fellow Big Sky cellar-dweller Portland State.
The Bengals
are 0-3 in the Big Sky, including blowout losses in the last two weeks at home against Northern Arizona and at Portland State.
And the road only gets tougher for the Bengals.
Idaho State is trying to regroup this week ahead of Saturday's game at Montana. The Grizzlies, perennial FCS national title contenders, have a first-year coach and already have two losses this year. They are 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Sky, with a loss at Eastern Washington and wins at home against Sacramento State and at Northern Colorado last week.
ISU coach John Zamberlin told the Idaho State Journal that his goal this week was to bring some fun back to the Bengals' practices. Zamberlin said his team looked tired against Portland State, and he wanted to make sure they were fresh against Montana.
""We have to devise a practice to lighten it up on them a little,"" Zamberlin told the Journal. ""The last two teams we have played looked fresher and quicker. In looking at the film, we can see that the effort still is there.""
The effort might be there, but the results have not - especially on defense. The Bengals once again showed little threat against Portland State, finishing with 192 yards, including only 3 rushing yards. Freshman quarterback Kyle Morris completed 13 of 33 passes for 192 yards, was sacked four times and threw two interceptions.
""We have to manufacture a run game to give Kyle time to throw the ball,"" Zamberlin said.
There is a silver lining for the Bengals: last year, ISU lost 12-10 when the Grizzlies kicked a last-second field goal at Holt Arena. The Griz remember it well.
""We looked at the Idaho State game from last year as a, and we were not good taking care of the ball,"" Montana coach Robin Pflugard said. ""They probably should have beaten us. We're trying to take this game, I don't know if revenge is the best, but the Grizzlies have to come out and play well.""
Boise State
That didn't take long.
The disrespect for the Western Athletic Conference took exactly one week to rear its head. Boise State blasted conference foe New Mexico State 59-0 last week, then fell from three to four in both the AP and USA Today top 25 polls.
Predictably, Broncos coach Chris Petersen said he wasn't concerned about being passed by Oregon.
""Not at all,"" Petersen said. ""You ask that question in December.""
Boise State plays its final nonconference game at 6 p.m. Saturday, taking on Toledo (3-2, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) at Bronco Stadium.
The Rockets feature multiple formations on offense, but they have been limited to 21 points and 283 yards per game and have questions at quarterback. Toledo's defense has been stout, piling up 14 sacks and 16 takeaways while allowing just 95.4 yards per game rushing.
Idaho is idle this week. In other WAC games Saturday, Utah State plays at Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State plays host to New Mexico, Hawaii plays at Fresno State and San Jose State takes on Nevada.
BYU
The Cougars hope to put an end to the school's worst start in 39 years Saturday when they play host to San Diego State at 4 p.m.
But it won't be easy.
The Aztecs are 3-1 overall, including a 41-7 win over a Utah State team that throttled BYU 31-16 on Friday.
SDSU is averaging 38.2 points per game while allowing just 13.8.
It all adds up to a tough test for a team that fired its defensive coordinator following the loss to Utah State. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall took over the defensive duties.
""This isn't a scheme issue or a strategy issue,"" Mendenhall said. ""This is capturing hearts and minds and inspiring.""
Former Idaho Falls High School standout Shane Hunter had a big day against Utah State, finishing with a team-high 13 tackles, including 10 unassisted stops. Hunter ranks eighth in the Mountain West with 8.6 total tackles per game.
Utah
It was a pretty productive bye week for the Utes, who rested at home and still rose three spots to 10th in both national polls. Utah returns to action Saturday with a road game against Iowa State of the Big 12.
The Utes are also a top-10 team in two important categories - scoring offense and scoring defense. Utah is allowing just 12.8 points per game, good for seventh in the country, and scoring 44.2 points per game, sixth best in the nation.
The Cyclones (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) are undefeated at home with wins over Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Texas Tech.
In other Mountain West games Saturday, Colorado State plays at Air Force, Wyoming plays at TCU and UNLV plays at West Virginia.
