Matadors Looking for Payback

It was a season--or a season finale, in the case of Cal State Northridge--best forgotten by both teams.

Idaho State was 3-8 and finished last season with a lame-duck coach.

Northridge had the Big Sky Conference title in its grasp but pulled up lame against the last-place Bengals, losing, 33-29, at Idaho State.

“The last series was a joke,” said interim Coach Jeff Kearin of Northridge, a Matador assistant last season. “Really heinous.”

Kearin is referring to the Bengals’ game-winning, four-play drive in the final minute that culminated with a three-yard scoring pass from Seth Burford to DeRonn Finley. Or the Matadors’ failure to stop it.

The picture was rosy for Northridge after Marcus Brady and Aaron Arnold connected for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:28 to play that gave the Matadors a 29-24 lead. But Northridge, needing a victory to win its first Big Sky title, could not hold on.

“We blew it,” Kearin said.

Painful memories are likely to resurface on Saturday at 3 p.m. when Northridge hosts Idaho State in a Big Sky game at North Campus Stadium.

For the Matadors (0-2, 1-2 in conference play), who lost their conference opener against Eastern Washington and have been pummeled on the ground, Idaho State again represents a must-win situation.

Northridge enters the toughest part of its schedule, with road games at Montana and Montana State and a home game against vastly improved Cal State Sacramento in the next three weeks.

For Idaho State (2-2, 0-2), a perennial bottom feeder in the Big Sky, the urgency is the same if the Bengals are to avoid prognostications of a last-place finish.

Idaho State, which is 1-4 against Northridge since the series began in 1988, has had only two winning seasons since 1983. The Bengals have not won more than six games in a season since 1981, when they were Division I-AA national champions.

Enter first-year Coach Larry Lewis, a longtime defensive coordinator at Washington State hired the day after last season ended. Lewis replaced Tom Walsh, who was 6-16 in two seasons as coach and who was fired before the Bengals put the ball on the tee against Northridge.

Idaho State’s third coach in four years, Lewis is emphasizing everything a new coach typically does--defense, recruiting and positive attitudes. Anything but the past.

“The biggest thing for me coaching is to come in here and not worry about what has happened in the past,” Lewis said. “I think we have a great future here and we’re going to get kids out here and move toward it. My whole focus is, we don’t care what the other [Idaho State] teams have done. The commitment has been made here to move on.”

In their preseason poll, Big Sky coaches tabbed Idaho State to finish last in the nine-team conference. The Bengals lost 10 starters on defense and seven starters return on an offense that ranked last in the conference in virtually every category.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” Lewis said. “I can understand why they say what they do. My job is to change that.”

So far, the going has been difficult. Idaho State suffered a blow in the second week against Ft. Lewis when quarterback Shane Griggs suffered a torn knee ligament. Griggs will miss the remainder of the season. Griggs’ replacement, Kevin McCarthy, started last season.

The Bengals were routed by Portland State last week, 52-13, after losing their conference opener to Weber State, 17-14.

“I don’t know if Idaho State has ever had a good start,” Lewis said. “But we have a lot of wins ahead of us, I know that.

Idaho State (2-2, 0-2) vs. CS Northridge (1-2, 0-1)

When: Saturday, 3:05 p.m.

Where: North Campus Stadium

What: Big Sky Conference game

Fast fact: Northridge leads series, 4-1, dating to 1988.