Portland State has the video evidence -- and is not afraid to use it
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Whatever happens the rest of the way, Portland State’s 5-1 start has provided the football program with some nice things to show recruits.
Already, the Vikings staff has video being put together with highlights of the team’s upset of Washington State, the 66-7 rout at North Texas and the offensive fireworks produced in last week’s 59-42 home win over Montana State.
“We’ve been selling the school, but now we have something else to get student-athletes interested in Portland State,” coach Bruce Barnum says.
• Portland State went into spring football and the fall with plenty of choices at quarterback.
A junior transfer, Alex Kuresa, got the starting job, and has kept it. He’s been an efficient runner and scrambler, a capable passer and a steady influence.
A 6-foot, 190-pound from Millville, Utah, Kuresa ranks 12th in FCS (and fourth in the Big Sky) in passing efficiency. He has one interception to go with six touchdown passes.
“He takes care of the football, and that helps us win games,” Barnum says.
Kuresa is the Vikings’ second-leading rusher and he has 15 more carries than the most heavily used running back, David Jones.
Passing has taken a back seat to running in the PSU offense so far. Kuresa has run 83 times and completed 52 of 92 pass attempts (56.5 percent, 15.1 throws per game).
“He can make the throws when you need him to,” Barnum says. “He can sling it 20-30 times a game and he’s nails.”
• In the Montana State game, PSU’s offense scored on nine of 11 possessions, with eight touchdowns. That’s a very good rate, even for arena football. The old days of low-scoring games are long gone in college football; they are rare anymore.
“It’s TV football now,” Barnum says.
• Vikings players — “all but one kid” — voted after having morning practices last spring to stick with the early workout schedule in the fall.
“I think it helps them with school, because after practice they go to class and then they have the rest of their day to study,” Barnum says.
The PSU special teams meet at 7 a.m., and players are on the field at 7:30 a.m.
Practices (Tuesday through Thursday) typically end about 9:16 a.m., Barnum says, “and I don’t go past 9:30.”
• Barnum says things aren’t much different for him after a game, win or lose.
“I sit and mull it over, and think about what needs to be fixed,” he says. “But I do take some time to stop and smell the roses.”
• Barnum has two sons who are playing football — Brody for Skyview High in Vancouver, Wash., and Cooper in middle school. Both are quarterbacks. One looks like he might be a future coach, Barnum says, and he blames himself for that.
“I would wish this profession on nobody,” Barnum says, “but I think Cooper might be headed that way. I’ll try my best to steer him in another direction, but he’s into it. He wants to go on the next bus trip. He’s asking me about all the personnel of Cal Poly. He knows every roster in college football and the NFL.”
Brody is talking about studying engineering in college. He grew up reading books like mad.
Cooper, his father says, learned to read by going through college football rankings in a newspaper.
“I used to go up to his room with the paper and have him read the Sagarin ratings,” Barnum says. “He’d read each school and the score of their last game. By third grade, he knew how to pronounce the name of every Division I university in the country.”
• Barnum, 51, says in a lot of ways he’s a better coach now than ever, just because of his 27 years in the business.
“You learn a lot over the years, just by seeing what works and doesn’t work,” he says. “I have some answers now to things I didn’t know when I was a young coach.”
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