Game 9 Preview: Football at Portland State

Game Notes | Audio | Video | Live Stats |

POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State plays at Portland State on Saturday, November 1. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. (MST). Jerry Miller and Mark Liptak will call the action on Rock 102.5 and 930 CBS Sports Radio beginning with the pregame show at 4:30 p.m. Log onto isubengals.com to follow the game online with live stats, video and audio.

Portland State is 3-5 overall and 2-2 in Big Sky Conference play. Portland State is averaging 22.5 points a game and giving up 30.5 points. The Vikings average 214.9 rushing yards and 167 passing yards a game. Portland State nets 381.9 yards of total offense a game while allowing 429.5.

Idaho State leads the series 23-15-1 but the Vikings have won the last four meetings. The last Bengal win over Portland State was 41-34 on Nov. 14, 2009 in Pocatello. Last year Portland State left Pocatello with a 38-31 victory.  The last Bengal win at Portland State was 44-41 on Sept. 26, 1998.

Bengals in the NCAA Team Stats
Here is where the Bengals ranks in the NCAA team stats
1st- Passing Offense- 359.3
2nd- Total Offense - 579.9
3rd- First Downs- 232
13th- Passing Efficiency- 150.91
18th- Rushing Yards per game- 220.6

Bengals Ranked in the NCAA Individual Stats
Here are where the Bengals rank in the indvidual NCAA stats.
Xavier Finney: 4th- rushing yards per game, 143.4
6th- rushing touchdowns, 12; 13th- Scoring per game, 9; 16th- All-Purpose yards, 156.13;
29th- yards per carry, 5.85
Justin Arias: 1st in completions per game (27.50); 1st- passing touchdowns, 27; 1st- passing yards, 2,773; 1st- passing yards per game, 346.6; 2nd- points responsible for, 168; 3rd- total offense, 348.3; 12th- passing efficiency, 150.7
Madison Mangum: 6th receiving yards per game, 105;  6th- receptions per game, 7.3; 11th receiving yards, 735.
Mario Jenkins: 19th in tackles per game at 10.

Winning Streak
Idaho State has won three straight games for the first time since 2003. The Bengals have not won four straight games since the 2002 season. This is the first season ISU has won three conference games and five overall games since the 2005 season. The last winning season for the Bengals  was in 2003 (8-4 overall and 4-3 in conference play).

Defensive Improvement
The 12 points Idaho State gave up at Northern Colorado was the fewest points an Idaho State team has allowed against a Division I team since beating Weber State 34-0 in 2002. In the first half, the Bengals allowed only 55 total yards.  

Bengal Bites
- Xavier Finney has seven 100-yard plus rushing games, the most in the Big Sky Conference.
- Xavier Finney leads the Big Sky Conference in rushing at 143.4 yards a game. That mark is the fourth-best in the nation.  ISU has never had a player finish the season as the top rusher in the Big Sky Conference.
- KW Williams has eight receiving touchdowns. He needs on one more to move into seventh place for most receiving touchdowns in a season.
- The Bengal offense has 26 scoring possessions (24 touchdowns and two field goals) with drives two minutes or less.
- Mike Kramer has 88 wins and is in sole possession of third place on the Big Sky Conference all-time win list.
- Justin Arias has thrown for 300 yards or more in 13 games.
- Xavier Finney has nine 100-yard plus rushing games in his career, tied for the second most out of any active player in the  Big Sky Conference.
- Madison Mangum has four 100-yard receiving games, tied for the most in the Big Sky  Conference.
- Justin Arias is the only quarterbacks in the conference who have thrown for multiple touchdowns in every game this season.
- Xavier Finney has four games with two rushing touchdowns or more.
- Madison Mangum has two games with two receiving touchdowns.
- Xavier Finney's three rushing touchdowns against Sacramento State  and Southern Utah  and Daniel McSurdy's three at Northern Colorado was the most by a Bengal since Matt Gutierrez did in 2006.

Northern Colorado Game Notes
- CJ Reyes, Mitch Beckstead, Justin Arias and Michael Berger were the game captains.
-Xavier Finney's 53-yard run on the first play of the game was a career-long run.  For the second straight week he had a career-high as he carried the ball 22 times for 236 yards, good for an average of 10.7 yards a run. The 236 rushing yards was the third-best rushing performance in program history. This is only the ninth time a Bengal has rushed for over 200 yards in a game.
- Tyler Graves and CJ Hatchett had their first career touchdown receptions.
- Daniel McSurdy's three touchdowns was a career-high.
- Since throwing a third quarter interception at Eastern Washington, Justin Arias has completed 98 passes on 152 attempts for 1,294 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions.
- Xavier Finney became the first Bengal rusher to run for over 1,000 yards in a season since Josh Barnett in 2007, who had 1,022. Finney has 1,147 yards on the season. That mark ranks third on the all-time single-season Top 10 list for rushing yards. Alfredo Anderson holds the record with 1,192 yards in 1995.