The Idaho State Bengals have added six games to their future non-conference football schedules, FBSchedules.com has learned through contracts obtained from the school via a state public records request.
Overall, Idaho State has added six future football games against four different opponents. The Bengals will face the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, San Diego Toreros, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, and Houston Christian Huskies between the 2028 and 2031 seasons.
Below are details on all six games added by Idaho State:
Idaho State and Southern Utah, both members of the Big Sky Conference, will play a home-and-home series, beginning at the ICCU Dome in Pocatello, Idaho, on September 9, 2028. The series will conclude when the Bengals make the return trip to face the Thunderbirds at Eccles Stadium in Cedar City, Utah, on September 13, 2031.
The contract for this series was finalized on Sept. 23, 2025, three months after the Thunderbirds announced their move to the Big Sky Conference.
San Diego will travel to face Idaho State at the ICCU Dome for a single contest on August 25, 2029. The Bengals will pay the Toreros a $165,000 guarantee for the contest.
Idaho State and North Dakota will play a home-and-home series, beginning at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D., on September 8, 2029. The series will conclude two seasons later when the Bengals host the Fighting Hawks at the ICCU Dome in Pocatello on August 30, 2031.
Houston Christian will travel to face Idaho State at the ICCU Dome for a single contest on August 31, 2030. The Bengals will pay the Huskies a $170,000 guarantee for the contest.
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Idaho State has also rescheduled a future football game against the Central Arkansas Bears. The Bengals, previously slated to host Central Arkansas on September 21, 2030, will now entertain the Bears three seasons earlier on September 18, 2027 in Pocatello.
View Comments (5)
I realize the BSC allows teams to play each other in nonconference games to help with travel and this is now the only conference in the west. It seems silly though to play 9 conference games and a 10th game against a conference opponent. Not a big fan of this.
13 in one conference is too many in my opinion. I miss the days where all the teams in one conference played each other and they still haven't explained how to determine a champion if two teams tie in the regular season standings but don't play head-to-head.
Big 10 has 18 members
ACC has 17 members
Big 12 has 16 members
SEC has 16 members
They determine it the same way they do now. They share the title and the higher ranked team gets the autobid.
@ Stan - I'm referring to FCS schools, I don't care how many the P4 have, they are going to go their own route any way. It is just my opinion that the FCS conferences should not be so large that all the schools in one conference can't play each other because what has happened in the BSC in particular is a conference champion wins without playing the upper level teams.
@Jim - that's not correct according to what I have for the BSC. It is determined differently by conference and in the BSC it goes by
Winning % — but if two one-loss teams played, then the winner of that head-to-head would get the AQ, even if they have a lesser win percentage.
Otherwise first tiebreaker beyond head-to-head is record against common conference opponents, then combined win percentage of teams defeated.
Huh? If two one-conference-loss teams played during the season, and one team lost to the other, then they still have the same overall conference win percentage.
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But to the original point... the Pioneer has 11, the SWAC has 12, the CAA has 13 (and recently had more). So what if they don't play EVERY year, they can play every other year and it's not as boring. For example, I've been up here in Maine for almost thirty years and UMaine's schedules have always been varied and interesting. Only the UNH rivalry matters. You should be *liking* that they pick up non-conference booked slots in the Big Sky by seeing a conference team they'd otherwise be skipping. That means they play 10 of the 12 other teams, and they'll trade out who they're playing every other year.