In the fall of 1981, the Idaho State University football team shocked the nation, as the Bengals capped an improbable season with a I-AA national championship.

The season was all the more remarkable because in 1979 the Bengals went 0-11, and the championship came just 14 months after ending the longest losing streak in I-AA history at 19 games.
After an opening win over Eastern Washington, the Bengals took out defending national champion Boise State in Boise 21-10.  They followed that with home wins over a strong Nevada team and Northern Arizona, and a road win at Portland State.

ISU lost at Montana 24-21, but they would not falter again.  They knocked off Idaho on the road 24-14, and then scored impressive home wins over Montana State 21-3, and Utah State, 50-24, setting up a winner-take-all showdown with Weber State for the Big Sky title and a berth in the NCAA playoffs.  The game went to three overtimes, with ISU surviving a missed 32-yard field goal in the second overtime by WSU’s Roger Ruzek that would have won the game.  In the third overtime, Case deBruijn nailed a 33-yard field goal for a 33-30 win.

Idaho State then waltzed to the championship game after home wins against Rhode Island 51-0, and South Carolina State 41-12.

In the Pioneer Bowl, as the I-AA game was called, ISU went up against perennial power Eastern Kentucky, but the Bengals would not be denied, winning the title with a 34-23 victory.