The lights were out on the scoreboard, but it’s not as if Sacramento State’s offense would have been lighting it up much anyway.

The Hornets suffered their third conference loss at the hands of Idaho State, 27-17, on Saturday Night.

The Hornets killed themselves once again with turnovers, negating a solid defensive performance. The Hornets had six turnovers on the night which led to 20 of the Bengals’ 27 points.

“It’s very simple, you can’t win a football game when you give up that many points off turnovers,” head coach Steve Mooshagian said. “It’s kind of like the same old story for us.”

The Bengals only had one scoring drive of more than 50 yards during the game, and even that drive was triggered by a trick play when wide receiver Eddie Thompson’s lateral to running back Josh Barnett resulted in a 29-yard rushing score. It would be their only points not scored off a turnover.

Josh Barnett led the Bengals offense with 25 carries for 126 yards and one touchdown.

In the second half, the defense got the Hornets back in the game when cornerback Brandon Smith baited Idaho State quarterback Luke Sniewski and took the interception 55 yards to pay-dirt to cut the score to 27-17 early in the fourth quarter.

“I was waiting on that chance,” Smith said, who nearly missed a few interceptions earlier in the game. “They liked to throw those short routes so I anticipated that one (the return for the score).”

Smith said the Hornets’ inept offense had no affect on how many chances the defense was taking in trying to make a big play and cause a turnover.

“Our defense is based on making big plays when needed and trying to get the ball back for the offense regardless of the situation,” he said.

Mooshagian was proud of how the defense played, considering the circumstances given to them by the turnovers.

“(The defense was) great tonight, I really saw some growth with that,” Mooshagian said. “If I could smile at one thing from this game it was how they kept saying let’s get (their offense) off the field and let’s get the ball back.

“They weren’t fighting with one another on the sideline; they just said ‘let’s get the ball back.’ They don’t care about statistics other than takeaways. I give credit to the defensive coaches who have them programmed like robots when it comes to just getting turnovers for us.”

Linebacker Matt Logue led the Hornets with 13 tackles, including one for a loss. Safety Brett Shelton had an interception and eight tackles.

Kris Daniels started his first game at the tailback position, rushing the ball 13 times for 56 yards for the Hornets. Ryan Mole, who started the first seven games at tailback, carried eight times for 31 yards.

Receiver Ryan Coogler led the team with 56 receiving yards, but fumbled twice. Quarterback Chris Hurd completed 13 of 33 for 150 yards and one interception.

The Hornets will face another Big Sky opponent at home this weekend in Eastern Washington, a perennial conference power.

The Eagles enter the game at 3-2 in conference play, but have had success on the road winning at both Northern Arizona and Montana. Montana didn’t lose a home game all of last season on their way to playing in the Division I-AA National Championship game.

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Mitch McLaughlin can be reached at [email protected]