Bengals make a change following OSU loss — name Tracy full-time QB1

POCATELLO — The Bengals began their 2024-25 season Saturday with a 38-15 loss on the road against Oregon State University. But the final score was not totally indicative of the game.

Idaho State led 9-7 at the end of the first quarter and came a stop short of sending the game into halftime with the Beavers leading 10-9. Instead, Oregon State converted three third downs en route to a touchdown and a 17-9 lead late in the second quarter. From there, the size and strength of the FBS team wore the Bengals down, according to ISU head coach Cody Hawkins.

Hawkins said he saw “deficiencies on all sides of the ball” but felt his team left Corvallis with a “status quo” outcome he likened to an “extra-medium” t-shirt.

Now, as they prepare for their first home game of the season Saturday against the DII Western Oregon Wolves, Hawkins said at his weekly press conference Wednesday that the Bengals will make one major change.

Senior Kobe Tracy has been named the full-time quarterback.

“He showed the most poise, which is what you’re going to get from a senior,” Hawkins said Wednesday, later adding, “He gives us the best chance to win in the longterm.”

Tracy was one of four quarterbacks to get snaps in Oregon, and one of three to attempt at least 10 passes. He was the only of those three — which included Jordan Cooke and Jackson Sharman — to throw for a score, and, again the only of the three, to avoid turning the ball over.

Cooke and Sharman each were sacked once while throwing one interception apiece.

Hunter Hays also saw the field, completing his only pass attempt for a nine-yard touchdown.

Hawkins, a former DI quarterback at the University of Colorado, said that he wanted to give all four signal-callers a chance to earn playing time on the field. And beginning the season with four non-conference opponents means he could do so without risking ISU a shot at a conference title.

Tracy completed nine of 14 pass attempts for 114 yards and a 35-yard touchdown pass to Christian Fredericksen. Cooke completed 9-of-20 for 71 yards while Sharman completed 4-of-10 for 35.

The decision to hand Tracy the keys to the offense was made in-game, Hawkins said, noting that had the game remained close the senior would have stayed in throughout the second half.

With a newly defined role, and Tracy taking all — or nearly all — of the first-team reps at practice, Hawkins expects more “clarity” and “efficiency” on the offensive end.

One positive the coach pointed out following the loss was the offensive line play.

“I thought the O-line played their nuts off. I thought they did a really good job,” Hawkins said.

Facing a larger and deeper FBS defense, the ISU offense allowed just two sacks — unique for what is commonly referred to as a “tune-up game.” But even that is not the whole story, according to Hawkins.

One of those sacks was purely the fault of Cooke, whom Hawkins said missed an open man and held the ball for far too long. The other, he added, came when Sharman was scrambling and stumbled over his own feet.

Take away the two sacks and the running game was also very productive behind the line, gaining 6.4 yards per carry on 14 attempts.

Run defense was definitely the biggest problem for the Bengals, who allowed 362 yards on the ground.

Stopping the run has been a problem for the Bengals for several seasons now and continues to be a point of emphasis for the coaching staff.

All told, though, ISU played the Beavers tighter than the score would suggest. Hawkins agreed that, had a few plays turned out differently, they would have led to an entirely different outcome.

“It always comes down to three plays a game,” the coach said. “If you take the interception that we threw where we had a guy past the sticks that was open, the fourth down that we didn’t convert and then the (other) interception we threw, it’s a drastically different game. Do we pull it out? I don’t know, because they were really wearing on us.”

Thirty-five minutes into the game, the Bengals were within one score of the former PAC-12 team. The difference, Hawkins said, is being “sharp on the details” and prepared for any and all circumstances.

“Little things” is not a term Hawkins likes to use, he said, because nothing is “little.” But the finer details is another point of emphasis for his coaching staff.

Having finished being Oregon State’s tune-up opponent, the Bengals can now focus on what should be their own tune-up, hosting the Wolves at the newly named and renovated ICCU Dome.

Asked how he goes about preparing for a school from a smaller division playing its first game of the season, with little information to go off of, Hawkins said that division has “absolutely nothing to do with it.”

“You’re going to prepare for the Packers the same way you prepare for Pocatello High School,” he said. … “I always tell our guys, ‘The Bengals are playing the Bengals,’ and we’ve got to hold ourselves to our standard every week.”

Kickoff between ISU and Western Oregon is scheduled for 4 p.m.