2018 Idaho State Bengals football team

The 2018 Idaho State Bengals football team represented Idaho State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bengals were led by second-year head coach Rob Phenicie and played their home games at Holt Arena. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

2018 Idaho State Bengals football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2018 record	6–5 (5–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Rob Phenicie (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Ferriter (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Roger Cooper (1st season)
Home stadium	Holt Arena (Capacity: 12,000)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Bengals finished the 2017 season 4–7, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for ninth place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Bengals were predicted to finish in twelfth place in the coaches poll and tenth place in the media poll.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Bengals had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

James Madison – Sr. RB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:30 p.m.	Western State*		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Pluto TV 243	W 45–10	5,062
September 15	4:00 p.m.	at California*		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	P12N	L 23–45	37,104
September 22	3:00 p.m.	at No. 22 North Dakota		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV 240	W 25–21	11,157
September 29	2:30 p.m.	Northern Arizona		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Pluto TV 243	W 56–42	9,129
October 6	3:30 p.m.	Idaho		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID (Battle of the Domes)	Pluto TV 243	W 62–28	11,015
October 13	5:00 p.m.	at No. 14 UC Davis		Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	Pluto TV 245	L 37–44 ^OT	10,849
October 20	12:00 p.m.	at Liberty*		Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	ESPN3	L 41–48	16,502
October 27	3:30 p.m.	Montana State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	ELVN	W 24–17	8,851
November 3	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State		Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	ELVN	W 48–45	3,924
November 10	5:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 24	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV 244	L 14–37	5,250
November 17	2:30 p.m.	No. 3 Weber State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Pluto TV 235	L 13–26	10,077
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Sources: Official Schedule Homecoming

Game summaries

Western State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mountaineers	0	3	7	0	10
Bengals	14	17	14	0	45

at California

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	0	3	6	14	23
Golden Bears	7	21	3	14	45

at North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	6	13	0	6	25
No. 22 Fighting Hawks	14	7	0	0	21

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	7	14	14	42
Bengals	7	28	14	7	56

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	14	0	28
Bengals	14	21	20	7	62

at UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Bengals	9	14	7	7	0	37
No. 14 Aggies	7	7	8	15	7	44

at Liberty

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	0	17	14	10	41
Flames	7	13	14	14	48

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	0	0	10	17
Bengals	0	17	7	0	24

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	14	17	10	7	48
Vikings	3	21	14	7	45

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Bengals	0	7	7	0	14
Mustangs	3	10	7	17	37

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Wildcats	3	13	7	3	26
Bengals	0	0	13	0	13

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	RV	RV
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	RV

References

1. "Eastern Washington Picked to Win the Big Sky".
2. "Doss, Buss Headline Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team".