Sep. 11—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program, ranked No. 10 in the latest FCS Top 25 poll, faces Idaho State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Potato Bowl at the Alerus Center.
Here are eight things to know about the Bengals from Pocatello.
Idaho State is coached by Cody Hawkins, who’s in his second season as the head coach in Pocatello.
Hawkins’ dad, Dan Hawkins, is on the staff as a director of player and staff development. Dan is a former head coach at Colorado and UC Davis, among other stops.
Dan’s father-in-law is Robert Hokanson, who played basketball and ran track at UND and was selected to the school’s all-1950’s basketball team. He was captain of both teams in the 1958-59 season and an all-North Central Conference pick in basketball in 1958.
Hokanson, a native of Morris, Minn., lived in old Memorial Stadium, which was UND’s primary home for football from 1927 to 2000. After recently being razed, UND’s football coaching offices now sit on the same site in a new facility known as Hyslop at Memorial Village.
Almost everything went right last Saturday in Idaho State’s dismantling of NCAA Division II Western Oregon, but the Bengals did appear to suffer an injury at center.
Alex Ramirez, one of the more experienced Idaho State offensive linemen, suffered a leg injury on the first snap of the game.
“I can only say so much, but he’s going to be out awhile,” Idaho State coach Cody Hawkins told the Idaho State Journal.
Idaho State has trotted out four quarterbacks already this season but the Bengals appear to have settled on senior Kobe Tracy, a Utah Tech transfer.
Tracy didn’t start in the opener against Oregon State but was the most effective thrower.
Tracy is a native of Chubbuck, Idaho, a northern suburb of Pocatello.
Idaho State has also played at quarterback Jordan Cooke, Hunter Hays and Jackson Sharman.
The 6-foot-4 Tracy threw for 5,800 yards in 26 games at Utah Tech and is the program’s all-time passing leader.
The Bengals have a few quarterbacks with starting experience and UND fans may see one-time QB Hunter Hays in a few different ways.
In 2023, Hays appeared in all 11 games for the Bengals. He rushed for 234 yards on 61 touches and six touchdowns. He threw for 882 yards on 89 completions and nine touchdowns.
Against Portland State last year, Hays ran for a career-high 93 rushing yards with two scores.
Last week, Hays had four carries for 24 yards.
In 2022, Hays appeared in eight games for Idaho State and passed for 1,251 yards with five touchdowns. He rushed for 238 yards on 71 touches that season.
In 2021, Hays appeared in nine game and threw for 1,066 yards with six touchdowns. He threw for a career-high 281 yards in a win over No. 7 UC Davis.
Idaho State finished the 2023 regular season with the No. 1 passing offense in the nation, averaging 330.1 yards per game.
The Bengals offense had seven games with 300-plus passing yards and a season-high 523 passing yards against Eastern Washington.
The big game against EWU was the highest single-game performance in the FCS in 2023.
ISU is averaging 329.5 passing yards per game through two weeks in 2024.
Idaho State enters the UND matchup with the No. 104-ranked rushing defense, giving up more than 5.0 yards per carry and 238.0 yards per game.
UND enters with the No. 11 rushing attack in the FCS, averaging 4.58 yards per carry and 208.5 yards per game.
Idaho State ranked No. 121 in the FCS in total defense in 2023.
Idaho State appears to still be working through options at running back.
The Bengals have 11 players with rushes this season and nobody has more than eight carries through two games. ISU is yet to scoring a rushing touchdown.
UND, meanwhile, has five different rushers with four of those having at least 16 carries.
Both UND and Idaho State enter the matchup with the reigning conference special teams player of the week.
Idaho State kicker Gabe Panikowski, a junior college transfer, scored 14 points against Western Oregon behind three made field goals, including a 51-yard make.
Panikowski, who spent the 2023 season at Riverside City College, started his college career as a kickoff specialist at Sacramento State.
