News Story - Idaho State Journal

MISSOULA, Mont. -- If John Zamberlin is to eventually be judged by the abilities and attitude of his younger players, then true freshman A.J. Storms' explanation for the Idaho State football team's performance Saturday probably will encourage the second-year coach.

"We know that this season's close to the end," Storms said, "and we haven't got that win yet."

The Bengals exhibited Storms' can-do resolve during their 29-10 loss to the fifth-ranked Montana Grizzlies at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. They played their best game in weeks -- perhaps of the whole season -- against the Big Sky's most historically successful program.

Players said their game plan wasn't too different from those in previous contests; they just executed be tter. And that is an encouraging thought for the 0-11 Bengals, who will get one more chance for a victory in the season finale Saturday at Holt Arena.

Rushing offense: B

Senior Kenyon Blue carried the ball more often than he had all season and turned nine rushes into 56 yards, with a long of 17. Junior Clint Knickrehm did the bruising and churned out 58 yards on 14 carries. Largely because the two teams were within two scores of each other almost the entire game, the Bengals ran 35 times. That's more than they have in any conference game this season, and the commitment to rushing illustrated that the Bengals are indeed good at it.

Passing offense: C

Junior quarterback Kyle Blum threw for 246 yards, 37 more than opponents have averaged against Montana this season. Blum also changed how the Bengals played offense by running five times and by throwing deep on at least five other plays. But he did throw three interceptions, including one late in the first half that led to a Montana score.

Rushing defense: B-

Were it not for Chase Reynolds' bulldozer-like drives in the second half for Montana, this would be a higher mark. At halftime, the Grizzlies had just 63 yards on 16 carries, and they had only achieved eight first downs. But Reynolds ran for 123 yards in the second half to help Montana grind out the win.

Passing defense: A

This was easily the best performance of the year for the Idaho State secondary. It allowed 112 passing yards -- 20 of which came on a wide receiver pass -- and Montana threw for 4.9 yards per attempt, half the season average for Idaho State's opponents. The Bengals secondary actually played much like it did two years ago in Missoula, when it held the Grizzlies to 15 completions in 31 attempts and 157 passing yards.

Special teams: B

Idaho State allowed a punt-return touchdown for the first time in five years, but otherwise it played pretty well on special teams. Montana returned kickoffs an average of 14.2 yards to Idaho State's 21 yards, and Blue returned two punts for 34 total yards.

Coaching: A

Whether Montana played down to Idaho State or the Bengals played up to the Grizzlies, it doesn't matter. The Bengals are 0-11 but played their best game of the season against arguably their best opponent. Montana coach Bobby Hauck said Zamberlin told him to expect a maximum effort from the Bengals. They delivered on that promise.

GPA: 3.11, a 'B' on a 4.0 scale

This document was originally published online on Monday, November 17, 2008

Article Rating

Reader Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of our paper.

Submit a Comment

Commenting Rules

We encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.

Report a Comment

Report a comment for review to the ISJ web staff.