Bengals Fall 19-9 at SUU

Box Score

CEDAR CITY, Utah- The Idaho State football team lost 19-9 at SUU on Saturday afternoon at the Eccles Coliseum in front of a crowd of 3,342. The Bengals dropped to 3-5 and 1-4 in Big Sky Conference play while SUU improved to 6-3 and 3-2 in league.

The Idaho State offense was held to 254 total yards while SUU had 418 yards with 240 on the ground and 178 in the air.

Justin Arias was 22-44 for 241 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Luke Austin caught six passes for 115 yards and Cameron Richmond had four receptions for 42 yards and one touchdown.

Jon Davidson had nine tackles and Hayden Stout had eight. Mitch Beckstead had seven tackles and one interception.
Southern Utah quarterback Mike Sharp had 157 yards rushing on 31 carries while passing for 178 yards, completing 14 passes on 27 attempts.

Southern Utah jumped out to a 13-0 lead with 6:37 left in the second quarter after two Colton Cook field goals and a Sharp one-yard run.

The Bengals then cut the deficit to 13-6 on a four-yard reception by Richmond and a failed extra point with 4:27 remaining in the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, SUU took a 16-6 lead with 10:53 remaining on another Cook field goal. Brendon Garcia kicked a 34-yard field goal to cut the T-Bird lead to 16-9 but a fourth Cook field goal with 27 seconds left in the game sealed the Southern Utah victory.

Idaho State returns home to host Eastern Washington next Saturday, November 2 at 3 p.m. in Holt Arena. The Bengals then close out the 2013 home season on November 9 vs. Portland State.

Mike Kramer Post Game Quotes
"I want all our fans that listen to us back home and on the internet across the country to know that we are trying as hard as we can on every single play. We are playing as hard as we can. We didn't quit and we didn't let down. Hats off to Southern Utah. They put their backup quarterback in the game from the start and he outplayed us. He ran the ball, threw the ball and kept us off balance. Defensively we didn't have an answer for him."

"Defensively, I don't want to hear it was a great job by us defensively. We knew they were one dimensional and we couldn't stop the guy. It was a great game by their defense. They did a great job of staying in front of us offensively and forcing us to earn it. We are underplaying ourselves at wide out."

"Our defense needed to get off the field and we couldn't get off the field defensively."
"This is a game we should have won. Congratulations to Southern Utah to take a redshirt freshman who played within himself. We couldn't get him sacked, tackled or stopped."

"It will be great to be home. We are 3-1 at home and we play pretty fast and well at home."

Game Notes
- Jon Davidson had a career-high nine tackles and Hayden Stout had a career-high eight tackles.
- Mitch Beckstead had his third  career-interception.
- Brendon Garcia's 34-yard field goal puts him one field goal from tying James Ferrell for the second most field goals made in program history.
- Luke Austin had 115 receiving yards and is five yards away from moving into 10th place in the program most career receiving yards.