With 1 rivalry trophy already in their possession, the Bengals will travel to Moscow to play for another

POCATELLO — The Idaho State Bengals will play their final game of the 2025 season on Saturday, and a great deal will be on the line.

ISU (5-6, 4-3) has a chance to finish with a .500 or better record for the first time since 2018, the same year the Bengals posted their last winning record in conference play. They went 6-5, 5-3 under head coach Rob Phenicie that year, and with a win would finish the 2025 campaign with a 6-6, 5-3 record under current head coach Cody Hawkins. But more than that, a win would be the first over the in-state rival University of Idaho Vandals (4-6, 2-5) in five years.

And that would bring the Potato State Trophy to Pocatello for the first time in its three-year existence — it replaced the Battle of the Domes Trophy, which was retired after the 2022 season.

“We know that it’s important to play well in rivalry games,” Hawkins said Wednesday during his weekly press conference. “We’ve already done better from a conference standpoint, but now it’s do better from an overall standpoint and try to push to six (wins). We haven’t beaten the Vandals since I’ve been here, and there’s a lot to play for. Very few teams have the ability to win their last game, and we’re in a rare situation where we get to do that.”

Hawkins’ Bengals are riding a three-game win streak, including a 31-3 victory over Weber State last week to retain another rivalry trophy — the Train Bell Trophy — and earn back-to-back wins over the Wildcats in 41 years.

Throughout what has been a season of progress, through, the Bengals have been inconsistent. But they have created a competitive balance where one hadn’t been for several years before Hawkins arrived.

ISU began the season with a one-score loss at UNLV, an FBS school. And after dropping to 0-2 on a 22-point drubbing at Southern Utah, the Bengals were again competitive on the road against another Mountain West foe — this time New Mexico.

They beat Northern Colorado, then hung tough with Montana before falling big at Montana State. A 13-point loss at home against Northern Arizona preceded the current three-game streak, which began with an impressive victory over a nationally ranked UC Davis squad that will move to the FBS and Mountain West next year.

Ending the season with a win over a rival would do a great deal for the program.

Hawkins spoke about the boost it would give the coaches as they continue recruiting trips through the winter.

“I knew how we finished this season was going to be my most important time as a Bengal,” he said. “As our administration, our team, our staff continue working to elevate this thing, you have to take advantage of momentum. Boy, this would sure be a cherry on top going into an offseason that’s going to mean a lot for us.”

Rounding out his thoughts on getting to .500, earning that “cherry on top” and and creating momentum into the future, Hawkins said the key to doing it all is remaining focused on what the team can control, rather than allowing the emotion of a rivalry game to take over.

“”Do I have personal feelings about wanting to beat the Vandals? Absolutely,” he said. “But that’s not how you achieve any goals. You don’t win just by hating someone else. You win by attacking your process with more intention. If it matters, you sleep more, hydrate more, stretch more, watch more film, take better notes. That’s how you win rivalry games.”

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