This week, CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero talked to Lucas Gebhart, the Sports Editor at The Daily Bengal, Idaho State’s student newspaper.
Justin Guerriero: Last week, the Colorado Buffaloes pummeled their in-state rivals, the Colorado State Rams, 44-7 to open the season. The win has led the Buffs to receiving a lone vote in the AP Top 25 for this week (believe me, that’s a big deal for us.) It’s only one game, but the impressive showing has many people excited to see what this Buffs team can do in 2016. On paper, I’d say that the Buffs should easily handle the Bengals. How do you like the Bengals’ chances this Saturday?
Lucas Gebhart: Obviously, a Big Sky team won’t be able to match the physicality, speed and depth of a Pac-12 football team. Any Pac-12 school will be better on paper. ISU is a little banged up on the offensive line. The Bengals are starting a true freshman at center and redshirt sophomores at both right guard and tackle, so protecting quarterback Tanner Gueller will be problematic. On paper, there is no possible way the Bengals will win this game, but they don’t play football on paper. Eastern Washington did beat Washington State last week, and that was a Pac-12 vs. Big Sky game, so you just never know.
JG: I noticed that Idaho State lost some key personnel heading into the 2016 season. Namely, quarterback Michael Sanders, who transferred, and running back Xavier Finney (the school’s all-time leading rusher) and wide receiver Madison Mangum, who both graduated. What offensive weapons do the Bengals have? And are they going to be capable of putting up points against CU’s experienced defense?
LG: Losing Michael Sanders isn’t a huge loss. Unfortunately, Sanders was a guy that just never fit well into head coach Mike Kramer’s system, so it was good for both parties to part ways. As a redshirt sophomore, Gueller is inexperienced at the quarterback position but has a good arm and mobility. He is still working out some things in Kramer’s offense, chief among those things being that Kramer wants him to stay in the pocket more than he does. We ran a two-back system last season with both Xavier Finney and Jakori Ford. Although Finney is now gone, we still have a good running back in Ford who played a lot last season. He is a downhill, in-your-face runner that finishes his runs very well and never takes a play off. Behind Jakori are three younger guys that could see some time. James Madison, Ty Flanagan and Michael Dean all saw carries last week. Dean is a true freshman and is a guy who Kramer chose not to redshirt, so he will be used in some sort of fashion this year.
Losing Madison Mangum hurt. He had some of the best hands I have ever seen in a college receiver and was a great route runner and had deceivingly good speed. We also lost another top receiver from last year to academic issues with Broc Malcom. Gueller’s top targets are KW Williams, Josh Cook and Pat Carter. Williams caught two touchdowns against Simon Fraser last week and is the big play receiver, but Gueller will spread it around. Nine different players caught passes last week. With that being said, we will have a lot of trouble upfront with the inexperience we have at offensive line. I could see Gueller being under a lot of pressure all afternoon going against a defense of that caliber. Another player we lost from last year was Tyler Kuder, who was picked up by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent.
JG: This game is a showdown between the Big Sky and the Pac-12 Conferences. I don’t mean to inflate the Buffs’ reputation and chances to win this game, but does this game feel like a David vs. Goliath type of matchup to you?
LG: It does feel a little like David vs. Goliath. I certainly don’t see any of the experts picking the upset. But like I said, Eastern Washington beat Washington State last week. Mississippi State lost to Southern Alabama and Appalachian State gave Tennessee a good game, so it’s not unheard of for FCS teams to be overlooked. There is the money factor. ISU will be making $500,000 off of this game, but Kramer isn’t a huge fan of these types of games. Kramer compared it to a Pac-12 school playing an NFL team. Here is what he said in Wednesday’s press conference… this man is a quote machine.
“If we were in the Pac-12, I wouldn’t want to play an NFL team,” Kramer said. “That’s the same thing. When you’re going up to resources that are just unimaginable above you, and you’re saying they got 11 guys, you got 11 guys, compete. It’s not quite the same.”
JG: Wow. I mean, I respect the honesty but at the same time…at least put on a face of confidence Coach Kramer! But Lucas, the Bengals have indeed struggled recently. Eleven out of the last 12 years have been losing seasons and the Bengals went 2-9 last year (1-7 in Big Sky Conference play). What have been some key factors in the failures of the football program in recent years?
LG: The Bengals had a lot of injuries last season, especially on the defensive side of the ball. In 2014, the team went 8-4 and just missed the FCS playoffs. Two of the four losses were to FBS schools (Utah and Utah State) while the other two were nail biters against Eastern Washington and Montana State. They were one blown pass interference call and one blocked punt away from winning the Big Sky Conference that year. Quarterback Justin Arias was in his senior year and he was 1st Team All-Conference and a Walter Payton Award finalist. He threw for a single-season record of 4,076 yards and 38 touchdowns. I’d say our program is on the upswing and last season was a transition year.
JG: What do the Bengals look like defensively? Will they attempt to put Buffs’ quarterback Sefo Liufau under pressure? What is Idaho State’s defensive scheme?
LG: This is the first year they are running a 4-3 defense as opposed to the 3-4 that has been standard in years past. Our defense is definitely the strength of our team. We have a linebacker in Mario Jenkins, who missed last season due to a torn ACL, who Kramer believes has NFL potential. Outside linebacker Joe Martin and Hayden Stout, who plays up the middle, fly to the ball and know the game very well. We also lost our strong safety Taison Manu last year to a broken foot. Having him back has sewn up a hole in the secondary and has provided us with some much-needed leadership. Obviously, ISU will try to get Liufau under as much pressure as possible, but the Pac-12 is a much bigger and more physical conference than the Big Sky probably ever will be. With that being said, we have a couple of 300-pounders up the middle playing defensive tackle that will be hard to move.
JG: The Bengals surrendered 40.9 points last season. Will similar numbers be yielded to the Buffs on Saturday?
LG: Part of the problem for us last season was losing two of our top three leading tacklers from 2014 in Jenkins and Manu. Giving up 80 to UNLV and 52 to Boise State also didn’t help either. We certainly won’t see CU putting up a score in the 80s, especially with Jenkins and Taison back. Our defense is a lot better this year than it was last year and I can guarantee we won’t average 40.9 per game this season. We only allowed 233 yards of total offense last game and held Simon Fraser to 11 first downs and forced three turnovers. In order for ISU to win it needs to be an ugly game for the Buffs, though.
JG: To build off that last question, I’ve heard some good things about the Bengals’ defense. Returning from injuries are linebacker Mario Jenkins and safety Taison Manu. Could those two be a game changer for ISU?
LG: Getting Jenkins and Taison back is absolutely a game changer. They were two of the top three leading tacklers in 2014. Having them back not only makes the defense better, in that we now have two of its best players back, but the leadership aspect of it as well. Nobody has depth in the Big Sky, so when you lose two top guys like that in the preseason like we did, it hurts.
JG: Final question: score prediction? How does this game go down.
LG: I grew up in Fort Collins, so I hate CU. My heart says ISU by 40 but I think it will be the other way around. 45-10 CU.
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo.
Contact Daily Bengal Sports Editor Lucas Gebhart at gebhluca@isu.edu.
