Everyone you need to know going into ISU's season opener at Oregon State

And away we go.

The Idaho State football team has been working out all summer, especially since the start of fall camp on Aug. 1. Saturday at Oregon State in Corvallis, officially kicks off year two of the Cody Hawkins era.

The Bengals head coach, his team and the fan base have higher expectations for this year coming off a three-win season and being competitive in several other games. But it will be a test on the road against a team that finished fourth in the last year of the Pac-12 and 8-5 overall. The two haven’t played since September 2016 when OSU won 37-7. They have won both games in the series.

The Beavers have a new head coach in Trent Bray, the longtime assistant coach who was in charge of a defense that only gave up 21 points a game last year. He played linebacker for the Beavers from 2002-2005, but is no stranger to the Big Sky Conference. He talked about this at his Monday press conference.

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for the Big Sky Conference, at that level, there’s a ton of good players,” Bray said. “We’ve played against them (Big Sky) before, and I kind of grew up in the Big Sky when my dad coached at Idaho.”

Bray was specifically asked about playing Idaho State Saturday and immediately talked about the Bengals passing ability.

“On offense they spread you out and they do a lot of good stuff in the passing game that can cause problems,” Bray said. “And they have a unique defense with that three-high safety look. It’s going to be unique playing against them and they put a lot of stress on both your offense and defense. So we’ve got to be ready to play.”

Hawkins, meanwhile, was asked at his Wednesday press conference if he knew anything about Bray’s approach to football. If for example, OSU may try to run the football more than in the past.

“The Beavers have done a great job running the football and they’ve done it against some of the best teams in America. But it seems like every defensive coordinator who became a head coach says they want to run the ball more,” Hawkins said. “Their backs are two of the better runners in the country, if you look at what they’ve done in their previous stops. They are in a good spot running the football and it’ll be good for us because we’ve got to emphasize stopping the run.”

Given that ISU just could not stop the run last year, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Oregon State tried to overpower the Bengals on the ground Saturday. In fact, Bray came out and said this was going to be a big part of the game plan.

“We’re going to roll with three backs in the game,” he said. “Everything is built off the run game and that’s going to be a huge emphasis for us this week and this season.”

Given all the transfers and newcomers that impacted the Beavers this off season, the offensive line at least has some stability. Joshua Gray and Grant Starck both took at least 400 snaps last year and are back. The line also added Colorado’s starting center Van Wells, who had an excellent 2023 season in Boulder.

Like Idaho State, Oregon State didn’t decide on a starting quarterback until the final week of fall camp. When the Beavers go on offense Saturday, under center will be former Idaho signal caller Gevani McCoy.

The 2022 National FCS Freshman of the Year, never played against Idaho State in his career, but Hawkins has seen enough of his resume and tape to know how dangerous he is.

“He’s been effective off play action and he’s extremely accurate. You look at his completion percentage when he was at Idaho. Yeah he had some good receivers, but there’s a reason he was ‘the guy,’” Hawkins said. “He played darn good football and made a difference for them. He’s not a guy who’s new. Usually if you are going to play a brand-new kid you think maybe you can rattle him or give him some different looks. But he’s played a lot of college football and he’s played against defenses that do a lot of similar stuff to what we do.

“He’s a phenomenal quarterback with an even better surrounding cast then he’s used to playing with. So he’s going to be even more dangerous.”

For his part, Bray was asked what was the difference in giving McCoy the starting nod over the other quarterbacks on the roster.

“He started making the plays we need him to make,” Bray said. “The comfort with the offense and doing stuff with his legs, made the difference.”

And as for ISU’s own quarterback situation?

The Bengals will start Jordan Cooke. Although multiple quarterbacks are expected to play in the game, which can be construed somewhat as an “exhibition” game for them.

But Hawkins explained why Cooke got the nod.

“He’s been the most consistent throughout camp. The other guys have made some awesome plays, but I told them what happens in week one versus week three, has no bearing on that,” Hawkins said. “I think it is close and in some of those scrimmage game time situations, Jordan had a little bit of an edge. All the guys will play, and we probably won’t decide the majority starting quarterback until we get to week three or four.

“But Jordan’s preparation has been different this year compared to last and there’s a little bit more confidence in his answers.”

As far as the keys Saturday for a competitive game?

“We’ve got to stop the run and we’ve got to force turnovers, we know that,” Hawkins said.

FROM THE SIDELINES

The highlight for ISU the last time they faced Oregon State was a 75-yard touchdown run by Jakori Ford in the third quarter. The run made SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.Of the 26 players last season for OSU who played at least 300 snaps in a game, 22 of them left the program.The Bengals added 21 transfer players in the offseason including 11 from NCAA Division I universities. ISU has also added 33 freshmen to the roster.ISU ended the 2023 season with the No. 1 passing offense in the FCS. The Bengals averaged 330.09 yards per game.

OREGON STATE NOTABLE ALUMNI:

Cecil Andrus former Governor of Idaho; Gary Payton former NBA player and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame; Jacoby Ellsbury former MLB outfielder; A.C. Green former NBA player; Paul Lowe former NFL running back; Bronco Mendenhall college football head coach; Chad Johnson former NFL receiver.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television: The CW Network-KIFI (Kick off 4:30 Pocatello time)

Radio: KISU FM 91.1 (Pregame 4:00, Kick off 4:30 Pocatello time)