Idaho State Routs Portland State 38-8 to Snap Three-Game Skid

Idaho State started the season 4-0, then lost three straight one-score games. The Bengals did not want to find out what a fourth one felt like, so they made sure Portland State never got close.

Idaho State rolled to a 38-8 win over Portland State in front of 5,747 at the ICCU Dome in Pocatello, building a 24-0 halftime lead and outgaining the Vikings 488 to 276. Idaho State improved to 5-3 and 2-3 in the Big Sky. Portland State fell to 2-6 and 2-3.

"I don't know how to describe how awesome this feels after the past couple weeks," head coach Cody Hawkins said. "We know that this is a quality football team, and to drop three one-possession games in a row and have an opportunity to win it, and not finishing the job, that was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of guys."

The last of those losses was a 27-20 decision at Weber State on Oct. 17. This one was never in doubt.

Twenty-four points before the break

The tone was set on Portland State's very first snap, when Trehsyn Fesili sacked quarterback Tyrese Smith. The Vikings never really recovered.

Idaho State got on the board first with a 10-play, 42-yard drive that stalled close enough for Mason Lindberg to hit a 41-yard field goal at 6:26 of the first quarter. The key play on that drive was a 31-yard completion from Jordan Cooke to Julian Mason on third-and-16, the kind of conversion that tells a defense it is going to have a long day.

It got longer quickly. Tytan Mason ripped off a 14-yard run that was extended by a Portland State penalty, and Cooke found Tommy Poe for a 38-yard touchdown at 4:36. It was Poe's third touchdown of the season, and Poe kept it simple afterward: "I was able to get him stacked, and then JC put it in the right place."

Then Cooke hit Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio for 46 yards down to the 1 and finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run of his own. It was 17-0.

The knockout punch came from the defense. With 5:17 left in the half, Fesili came through completely unblocked and stripped the quarterback, and Jackson Irwin recovered at the Portland State 45. Poe hauled in a 31-yard catch, and Tytan Mason ran it in from 7 yards out at 3:15. Idaho State led 24-0 at halftime.

"I came in free," Fesili said of the strip sack. "I was shocked a little bit, but I just did my job and got to the quarterback and made a play."

Portland State had 57 yards of offense in the first half. It went 0 for 7 on third down. The Vikings were not in this game for a single snap of it.

Portland State finds some life, briefly

The Vikings switched quarterbacks for the second half, and Gabe Downing gave them a spark. Portland State opened the third quarter with a 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by Delon Thompson's 4-yard touchdown run at 8:44. The two-point try was stopped, but it was 24-6.

A few minutes later, Avery Ducsik sacked Cooke in the end zone for a safety at 3:09 of the third quarter, and suddenly the margin was 16. Then Portland State hit a 35-yard pass to Tanner Beaman, and the Vikings looked like they might make this interesting.

That is when Nathan Reynolds made the play of the game. Reynolds chased Beaman down from behind, punched the ball out at the Idaho State 11 and recovered it at the 8 with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. Hawkins called it "clinic tape stuff," and it is hard to argue.

Reynolds put it more vividly. "I just went in there and started the lawnmower, rip it out, you know?"

Closing it out

Portland State got one more chance, and Collin Lewis took it away by stuffing Downing on fourth-and-2 at the Idaho State 47. The Bengals then went 53 yards in 10 plays, converting a fourth-and-5 along the way, and Cooke scored on a 4-yard run at 7:07 to make it 31-8.

That run came with a side bet. "I told him, 'Hey, if we win and you have a touchdown run on this play,' the play we ran, I was like, 'I'll buy you an Oreo milkshake,'" Hawkins said. "And he's a sucker for an Oreo milkshake, so milkshakes all around."

The defense forced one more stop, with Nathan Abbott and Irwin pressuring Downing into a fourth-down incompletion. Tytan Mason broke a career-long 54-yard run, and Carson Sudbury finished things off with a 2-yard touchdown with 38 seconds left.

The players who decided it

Cooke completed 29 of 45 passes for 334 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and added two rushing touchdowns on 16 carries. That line, along with Fesili's day, earned Big Sky Player of the Week recognition for both.

Poe caught seven passes for 121 yards and the touchdown. Julian Mason caught 10 for 115, and Anahu-Ambrosio added nine for 83. Tytan Mason ran 10 times for 101 yards and a score, the first 100-yard rushing game by a Bengal since Dason Brooks went for 106 against Cal Poly on Nov. 8, 2025.

On defense, Fesili had seven tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and three quarterback hurries. It was the first two-sack game by an Idaho State player since 2023. Reynolds had nine tackles to go with the forced fumble and recovery.

The numbers that matter

Portland State converted 1 of 12 third downs and 1 of 3 fourth downs, and ran for 56 yards on 22 carries. Idaho State's defense logged 14 quarterback hurries and forced two fumbles, recovering both. That is complete control.

The offense was efficient, too. Idaho State scored touchdowns on all four red-zone trips, ran for a season-high four touchdowns, won the first-down battle 23 to 16 and held the ball for 31:43. Lindberg went 5 for 5 on extra points.

Some history came with it. The 30-point margin was Idaho State's largest over Portland State since a 51-6 win in 1972, and 38-8 had never been a final score in program history. The Bengals now lead the all-time series 28-20-1. The full story is in the Idaho State recap (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Idaho State, this was a reset at the right moment. Cooke said the losing streak hurt, but that "the belief never wavered in this program," and the Bengals played like a team that believed it. They were set to visit Utah Tech on Halloween, a team that just picked up its first Big Sky win, and Hawkins was clear about the approach: "We ain't taking nobody lightly."

Cooke was clear about the league, too. "This is the SEC of FCS football, and there's no break."

For Portland State, 2-6 is a long way from where the Vikings want to be. The Downing drive offered a glimpse of something, but an offense that goes 1 for 12 on third down is not going to win many Big Sky games. The Vikings did beat Utah Tech 30-14 back on Oct. 10, so they know how to win in this league. None of that showed up in Pocatello.

The last word

Reynolds summed up the feeling in the Idaho State locker room. "This is one of the best teams that I've ever been on, I would say."

For three weeks, that belief got tested by close losses. On Saturday, the Bengals took the close part out of it.

Sources: Idaho State Athletics recap and postgame quotes. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Idaho State Athletics.