April 28, 2008

2008 Football Schedule

Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State University's 2008 football schedule is now complete, as Acting Athletics Director Jeff Tingey has finalized the game times for the 2008 home season. All of the away time slots are now filled as well, and all told, the Bengals will have six night games and six day games, including three home night games.

Idaho State's first three home games of the season will be at night, starting with a Thursday night game against the University of North Dakota, a new Division I program for football, on September 18. The Bengals are also scheduled to play at 6:35 pm against both Montana State (Oct. 4) and Northern Arizona (Oct. 18). The final two home games, against Weber State (Nov. 8) and Sacramento State (Nov. 22) will be day games starting at 3:05 pm.

Idaho State University conducted a survey on a wide-range of issues regarding a variety of marketing theories, and included in that were questions pertaining to football game times, with interesting results, as 44% of those polled wanted night games at 6:35 pm or later, and 44% preferred 3:00 pm or earlier.

"By playing the early season games at night, it will allow our fans to enjoy the great fall weather that we have in Pocatello, get the things done they want to during the day, and then come out and cheer the Bengals to victory. Plus the weather will still be good for BengalFest," said Tingey. "Once we change the clocks in November, it gets darker much earlier, so we moved those games up so we can still have BengalFest in daylight hours and before it gets too chilly."

"Holt Arena was originally conceived to allow the Bengals to play games at night and during inclement weather," added Tingey. "But back then it was just a football game, whereas you add BengalFest to it, and it's more than a game, it's a community event."

Idaho State also has all of their road game times set as well, including their two FBS games. The Bengals will play Boise State at 6:00 pm, and Idaho at 3:00 pm Mountain Time. The Bengals also have night games at Eastern Washington and Cal Poly, and they will play early games at Northern Colorado (1:35 pm), Portland State (2:00 pm Mountain), and Montana (12:05 pm).