POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State opens the Cody Hawkins' fourth season Saturday as the Bengals host Virginia Military Institute in the first-ever meeting between the two programs inside the ICCU Dome.

Coming off a 6-6 finish and a four-game winning streak to close 2025, a stretch that included a 37-16 win at rival Idaho for the Potato State Trophy, Idaho State enters 2026 picked fourth or fifth in the Big Sky, depending on the poll, and carrying real preseason buzz: six Bengals on Phil Steele's preseason All-Big Sky list, three Big Sky Conference preseason honorees, and votes in both national top-25 polls.

Standing in the way of a fast start is a VMI team under first-year head coach Ashley Ingram that went 1-11 a season ago but brings a triple-option attack the Bengals haven't seen much of in recent years.

HOW TO FOLLOW / What to Know

Kickoff: 4 p.m. MT, Saturday, from the ICCU Dome, Doors Open 90 Minutes before

Watch: ESPN+

Broadcasters: Scott Gross on PxP and Mitch Beckstead on Color

Listen: 91.1 FM and KISU.orgKISU

Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Gamenotes: Idaho State Gamenotes

Scouting the Keydets

VMI enters year one under Ashley Ingram off a 1-11, 0-8 SoCon season in 2025.

The ground game is the clear point of continuity. Leo Boehling is expected to play at B-Back (128 carries, 537 yards, 2 TD in 2025) and Aslin Shipe is expected to play at A-Back (270 yards on 4.0 yards per carry), backed up by Trevin Simon and Cole Varner. A-Back appears to double as a backfield/receiver spot in VMI's offense, and that's also where returning pass catcher Traveion Slaughter (3 catches, 87 yards) is expected to line up this week, with newcomer Jace Ballard behind him.

The quarterback competition has settled into a two-man rotation. JoJo Crump and Nana Utsey are expected to split time at quarterback, with Chandler Wilson as the backup. None of the three carried a starter's workload in 2025 (Crump saw brief action, Utsey completed 15-of-41 for 215 yards, Wilson 26-of-54 for 197 yards and a touchdown), so Saturday will be the first real test of how the staff plans to use the room.

At receiver, Cade Cox (10 catches, 62 yards in 2025) is expected to play at the X spot rather than a traditional in-line tight end role, with Hayden Morris behind him. Brooks Martin, a Stony Brook transfer, is expected to play at Z, with returning pass catcher Halim Hardnett (1 catch, 8 yards) as his backup. Of VMI's four leading pass catchers from 2025, Noah Grevious (52 catches, 728 yards, 3 TD), Owen Sweeney (44 catches, 723 yards and a team-high 8 TD), Malik McNeely (24 catches, 331 yards) and Morgan McPhaul (15 catches, 179 yards), none are part of the plan this week. Leo Boehling actually leads all returning pass catchers with 14 grabs for 88 yards out of the backfield a year ago, so beyond Cox, Slaughter and Boehling, the receiving room is almost entirely new.

Defensively, there's a mix of returning production and unproven depth up front. Isaiah Grevious is expected to play at MIKE linebacker after leading returning linebackers with 60 tackles and 7 tackles for loss in 2025, the most among the linebacker corps, and remains the unit's most established piece. Camden Clinton is expected to play at WILL, with returning tackler Henry Berling (50 tackles) behind him. In the secondary, Robert Powell and Anthony Allen are expected to play at cornerback and free safety, respectively, each intercepting a pass in 2025, with EJ Wilborne (43 tackles, INT) also in the mix at safety. 

Special teams shows a role split from a year ago. Jack Joyce, who made 4-of-6 field goals in 2025, handles placekicking, while Ben Shrewsbury, who split placekicking and punting duties last season, is now the dedicated punter. Shrewsbury gained national recognition in the preseason, being named an FCS Football Central and Phil Steele Preseason All American at the punter spot.

Shipe, VMI's leading kick returner in 2025, keeps that job, while Hardnett takes over punt returns.

BENGAL Bites

GROWING THE STANDARD: Cody Hawkins enters his fourth season at the helm off the strongest finish of his ISU tenure. After opening 1-3, the Bengals won four straight to close the year, over UC Davis (then No. 6, on the road), Cal Poly, Weber State and Idaho, to finish 6-6 overall and 5-3 in Big Sky play, the program's best conference finish since 2018. Idaho State also finished the season leading the Big Sky in total offense (459.4 ypg) and passing offense (302.8 ypg), and led the conference in net punting, sacks allowed and third-down defense. Hawkins is 14-21 overall and 11-13 in Big Sky play at ISU.

FIRST MEETING, FIRST TEST: Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between Idaho State and VMI. The Keydets, playing their first season under Ashley Ingram after finishing 1-11 (0-8 SoCon) in 2025, run a triple-option offense that will pose an unusual early test for a Bengal defense that otherwise won't see the look again this year. "It's still football," said defensive coordinator Grant Duff. "People want to make it out to be the hardest thing ever done. You've gotta have a sound scheme and the players have to understand what they're doing... We've got to have the mindset that their military discipline and structure are not going to be better than ours."

PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Idaho State enters the year with six players on Phil Steele's preseason All-Big Sky list, offensive linemen Stryker Rashid and Will Davis, wide receiver Chedon James and running back Dason Brooks on offense, linebacker Nathan Reynolds and defensive lineman Bronson Childs on defense. The Bengals also picked up three selections to the Big Sky Conference's official preseason team: Brooks and Rashid on offense, Childs on defense. Brooks, who broke 1,000 rushing yards in 2025, is also on the Walter Payton Award watch list, the first Bengal to earn that nod since James himself was a finalist in 2023. On the national stage, Rashid was a Stats Perform preseason first-team All-American, with Brooks and James earning third-team recognition, and both James and Rashid were named second-team preseason All-Americans by Sports Illustrated.

NATIONAL and BIG SKY BALLOTS: Idaho State picked up votes in both major national polls ahead of the season, 100 points in the FCS Perform Top 25 and 15 points in the AFCA Coaches Poll, despite sitting outside the top 25 in each. The Bengals were picked fourth in the Big Sky's preseason media poll (349 points) and fifth in the coaches' poll (99 points), with Montana State, Montana and UC Davis all ahead of them in both.

THE NATION'S STINGIEST LINE: Idaho State returns the best pass-protecting unit in the country. The Bengals allowed just three sacks on 489 attempts in 2025, a 0.6 percent sack rate that not only led the nation, but was roughly half that of the next-best rate over the last decade-plus (Valparaiso's 1.3 percent in 2014).

A CHANGED MAN: Cornerback Jackson Daniels returns to the field this season with a different perspective after tearing his ACL in the final game of his freshman year in 2024. Daniels came back midway through the 2025 season and recorded his first career interception against UC Davis. "I don't feel like I've got the chance to really show my full potential," Daniels said. "This year is the time for that... We have a really good opportunity to go out there and shock the world."

THE BEST VERSION OF HIMSELF: Quarterback Jordan Cooke, ISU's career passing leader in the making, enters his final season after closing 2025 on the best stretch of his career, a 63 percent completion mark, seven touchdowns and just two interceptions (none in the final three games) across the Bengals' four-game winning streak. He'll do it behind a nearly entirely rebuilt offensive line and receiving corps, with the return of Chedon James, the 2023 FCS receptions leader, as his most proven target.

Up Next
The 2026 season continues next week as the Bengals get set for a showdown with the Utah State Aggies. Idaho State heads to Logan, Utah to open up Utah State's 2026 schedule. Kickoff is set for 5:00 PM and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network