VikThunderous said:
Hard to believe this was the same team that pushed Cal. That first half was one of the worst football games i have ever had to sit through. Just awful. And vs. a DII team.
We allowed a lot of yards. They sure converted a ton of third and longs. Were there any positives to take away from beating a DIi?
My wife and I were on a 30th wedding anniversary trip last week to the bay area to visit our son who attends St. Mary's College, and being as we have been Viking football season ticket holders since Pokey Allen's first year on the Park Blocks, we were not going to be denied the opportunity to watch these players compete on that kind of stage.
We had to leave the game in the middle of the third quarter because of a previous engagement that we couldn't escape, and we left Memorial Stadium with the Viks on top. You can't imagine how it felt to walk through the crowd with our Viking gear, and just as we were making our exit near the endzone, the Viks scored again on a fumble that was later ruled an incomplete pass.
The reason I bring this up is that there is almost always an emotional lethargy that creeps in when competing against a lesser rival, and no doubt Cal fell into that realm. But the interesting thing about that particular game is that Portland State was in it to the end. The more common scenario is the favored team comes to their senses and comes back with some kind of vengeance in the second half. This is exactly what Portland State had to suffer through when playing the other PAC 12 schools - keeping it a ballgame until depth and firepower wears you down.
But Portland State absolutely owned that game against Cal, and anyone watching a replay of the contest would have to agree. The Viks did not wither, even after Cal's DL stiffened and their QB made a couple of back breaking big plays. We just made a couple of mistakes too many.
Football, more than most sports, is highly influenced by emotional aggression, particularly on defense. That is why teams that win the coin flip at the beginning of the game almost always defer to kick off because they want that adrenalin put to use right up front. If the juices aren't flowing you've lost that initial edge.
Make no mistake, this Viking team is for real, and having a first half letdown against Humboldt State means very little in the scope of things. Portland State did exactly what they should have done in the second half, just as the Ducks, the Beavers, and the Huskies did when we visited their houses.
Go Nigel, Go Viks !
