WSU won 37 of the last 40 rivalry meetings entering Saturday, including 19 straight at home. But, for the first time since 1984, the Bengals will bus back to Ogden as victors.

Several Idaho State players ran to Stewart Stadium’s north end zone to pick up the newly reintroduced, 86-pound Train Bell Trophy and take it to Pocatello after securing a 43-35 win.

The Wildcats limp along with a 3-7 record having lost four straight games for the first time since 2014 — also the last season ISU had defeated WSU until Saturday.

“The buy-in’s got to be greater. Nothing’s ever good enough and all the losses, I’ve got to be better,” second-year WSU head coach Mickey Mental said. “We’re falling short in areas we’ve got to keep cleaning up and not have repeated mistakes.”

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Ultimately the one-score difference came on the game’s first series. WSU sophomore quarterback Richie Muñoz overthrew a receiver, was nearly picked off on a pass batted at the line of scrimmage, and had a third-down pass dropped before a low punt snap ultimately resulted in punter Oscar Doyle falling on the football for a 14-yard loss.

With a 28-yard field, sixth-year quarterback Kobe Tracy needed five plays to get Idaho State on the board, throwing an 18-yard touchdown to Raiden Brown for a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

Between that, last week’s interception-fest to go down 21-0 at Northern Arizona, and the Wildcats logging four 15-yard penalties in the opening five minutes of the second half Saturday, Weber State has made a habit of looking unprepared to start halves.

“It falls on me. I’ve got to make sure we’re locked in more and focused, and do a better of job of getting those guys ready to go,” Mental said. “So always analyzing, seeing what we can do different, seeing how we can get these guys better locked in when we exit the locker room.”

There’s no doubt Weber State (3-7, 2-4 Big Sky) stayed in the fight to the end. In the second quarter, Muñoz threw a 25-yard touchdown rope on a slant to Jayleen Record, then scrambled to keep a long play alive and lined a 33-yard touchdown to Marvin Session.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

But defensively, WSU couldn’t get enough stops and offensively, the Wildcats weren’t sharp enough to capitalize when it did. Weber State scored 35 points on 83 offensive plays and 506 yards.

Tracy and company had answers for those scores, converting a third-and-18 from the WSU 31 with a 31-yard dumpoff screen touchdown to Donald Auson and Keoua Kauhi powering through poor tackling for a 20-yard touchdown run to give Idaho State a 22-14 halftime lead.

Idaho State (5-5, 3-3) got the ball to start the second half and scored in 1:20 thanks to Weber State’s penalties, capped with a Tracy 19-yarder to Tsion Nunnally to go up 29-14.

A flubbed snap and an unsportsmanlike conduct flag against Muñoz appeared to consign the Wildcats to a death-knell Bengals score but — after Idaho State scored on its first five possessions, converted 10 of its first 11 third-down plays and drove inside the WSU 20 — WSU finally got a defensive stop.

Pushing a third-down pass out of bounds short of the sticks, Weber State bottled a Tracy keeper for a fourth-down stop at its own 13-yard line with 7:19 left in the third quarter.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

It seemed WSU might create its own momentum and keep its rivalry streak alive. On an 11-play drive, Muñoz’s best throw of the day came on third down, a 39-yarder to Noah Kjar in coverage that set up a 7-yard Davion Godley touchdown run. That made the score 29-21 with 3:28 left in the third.

The Wildcats’ defense followed that score by forcing Idaho State into consecutive three-and-out possessions, including one stellar pass breakup from Toddrick Dixon, but WSU’s offense did nothing with the opportunities.

Of Weber State’s 10 penalties for 105 yards, possibly the most costly flag came early in the fourth quarter when Muñoz converted a third-and-8 to Mason York for a first down to the Idaho State 20-yard line. Completely immaterial to the result, offensive lineman Lavaka Taukeiaho drew a personal foul flag behind the play.

Instead of going in to score and perhaps tie the game, or even being able to attempt a field goal, WSU instead backed up to a third-and-23 and punted from its own 43.

“Are the kids playing the call to the highest standard and are we putting these guys in good situations to be successful? As of right now, I don’t know; I don’t make that judgment until I watch the film,” Mental said. “We’ve got to complement each other a little bit more.”

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

A 45-yard delayed option pitch to Kauhi set up a 13-yard, Tracy-to-Brown touchdown pass to put the Bengals ahead 36-21 with 8:12 left.

Two 15-yard ISU penalties helped WSU stay in it on a five-play drive capped with tight end Pete Knudson’s first career touchdown (11 yards), making it 36-28 at the 6:46 mark.

But WSU had exhausted its defensive stops. Idaho State marched again and took away a 28-yard field goal when Jalon Rock jumped offside attempting to block it, accepted the penalty and scored a touchdown two plays later (a 1-yard Tracy rush) for a 43-28 lead with 3:17 left.

Weber State used the sideline to slowly march for an answer and extended the game when Muñoz threw a 6-yard touchdown to Record, making it 43-35 at the 0:40 mark.

Sloan Calder got the desired high bounce on the ensuing onside kick but the ball flew out of bounds before a WSU player could reach it, and Idaho State kneeled out its victory.

For the winners, Tracy threw 27 of 37 for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Jeff Weimer caught eight passes for 89 yards and Brown had five catches for 86. Kauhi rushed seven times for 83 yards.

Muñoz finished 28 of 43 for 315 yards and four touchdowns. Marcus Chretien had seven catches for 58 yards, Jacob Sharp hauled in four passes for 55 yards, Session had 44 receiving yards and Godley added 33.

The loss spoiled the freshman Godley’s first 100-yard game; he rushed 16 times for 109 yards after Damon Bankston was removed from the game in the third quarter due to an unknown injury.

Linebacker Garrett Beck and defensive end Kemari Munier-Bailey each had six tackles, with Munier-Bailey logging 1.5 tackles for loss.

Weber State’s season continues with a road trip to Idaho (7-3, 4-2). The Vandals survived a scare and beat Portland State 39-30 on the road Saturday.