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http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/10/02/sports/sports04.txt
Sac State rolls out red carpet for Hornets
By NICK LOCKRIDGE of the Missoulian
First-year Sacramento State head coach Marshall Sperbeck might be on to something here.
Sperbeck wanted his players to feel special in their home opener last Saturday, so he tried something new.
Sperbeck put his players up at the local Hilton Hotel on Friday night, had them eat breakfast as a team Saturday morning and then walked through the tailgate parties outside Hornet Stadium.
The result has Sperbeck feeling pretty special, too, as the Hornets drilled Big Sky Conference rival Northern Arizona 38-9 for their first win of the season - and Sperbeck's first win as a college coach.
A Sacramento native, Sperbeck explained the tactic of putting his kids up at a hotel and having them interact with tailgating fans.
“It's important for everything you're doing,” Sperbeck told The Sacramento Bee. “You can talk all you want to about hard work, doing it the Sac State way. You've got to see the payoff.”
The Hornets (1-3) are one of three teams locked at 1-1 in the Big Sky. Their league loss was a 35-24 come-from-behind win for Portland State.
Sac State's first three contests were all on the road. The Hornets travel to Weber State this Saturday, but are back home on Oct. 13 when Montana comes calling.
Sperbeck said he hopes to make the hotel, breakfast and tailgating routine a tradition.
“You've got to treat players the same way these upper-echelon programs are treating their players,” he said. “These things create team bonding, camaraderie.”
It worked. The margin of victory was the Hornets' largest since they beat St. Mary's 69-19 back in 2003.
The Sac State fans broke in a new tradition as well: leaving a game early because the home team was winning by so much rather than the other way around.
“That was nice to see,” Sperbeck said. “Wow, take a snapshot.”
Vikes strike
Portland State racked up a season-best 520 yards of total offense in handing the Eastern Washington Eagles their first loss of the season, 28-21, Saturday at Woodward Field in Cheney, Wash.
The Vikings, who at 2-0 share the Big Sky Conference lead with Montana State, had 329 yards through the air. The run-and-shoot offense that is Jerry Glanville's staple seems to be sinking in.
However, the Eastern Washington coaches felt their offense was just as much to blame as the defense for allowing so many yards to Portland State.
“On offense we just didn't execute all night long and we never got in sync,” head coach Paul Wulff said in a team press release. “We just didn't play well on offense and it put our defense in a lot of stressful situations.”
The Eagles (3-1) got off to a slow start with 74 yards of offense in the first quarter and then stalled again in the third quarter with 79 yards.
The Vikings even had 191 yards rushing. They came into the game ranked 116th - last - in the FCS in rushing at 21.8 yards a game.
Eastern quarterback Matt Nichols had a career-high 363 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough in the end, as the inconsistency of the Eagles' offense and defense did them in.
“We played hard and competed to the end. That's all we can ask,” Wulff said. “It was just one of those days, we just didn't have it.”
Portland State's previous yardage high was 458 yards in a loss to San Diego State.
Oh, Demetrius
Montana State running back Demetrius Crawford leads the Big Sky Conference in rushing but he isn't even the starting back for the Bobcats.
Crawford, who just transferred to MSU in July, had a league-best 173 yards in Saturday's come-from-behind victory against Idaho State in Bozeman.
He now has 443 yards for the season, while Montana's Lex Hilliard is second at 357 yards.
Yet, Crawford comes off the bench and coach Rob Ash said that is the case again this week as sophomore running back Aaron Mason will start when the Bobcats host Southern Utah.
“It's like a batting order in baseball,” Ash told the Bozeman Chronicle. “It's working right now. I like the arrangement and we're definitely not going to change it.”
It has been working. The Cats won their third straight, 40-20 on Saturday, and they did it in front of 14,427 fans, which was the largest Bobcat Stadium crowd besides a Grizzly game.
The one person you won't hear complaining is Crawford, who's been in the Treasure State just three months.
“I'm blessed to be here,” said Crawford, who came from Sacramento City College. “I'm not going to say I'm the feature back. I'm not going to say none of that.”
Pony up
The Cal Poly Mustangs, the 24th-ranked team in the FCS, ran roughshod over the Big Sky's Northern Colorado en route to a 56-21 victory on Saturday.
Cal Poly, an independent and perennial playoff contender, tallied 612 yards of offense in front of the team's second-largest home crowd at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Junior quarterback Jonathan Dally was responsible for six touchdowns - four on the ground - as the Mustangs won their Hall of Fame Game in front of 9,684 people.
It was just the third time Cal Poly (3-2) recorded 600 yards or more in a game since moving up to Division I in 1994.
Hilliard sighting
The Big Sky Conference had a running back with the last name of Hilliard rush for 100 yards Saturday. His first name, however, wasn't Lex.
Sacramento State freshman Bryce Hilliard ran for 100 yards and his first collegiate score as the Hornets pounded Northern Arizona 38-9 in California's capital city.
Hilliard, who had 20 carries, had 82 yards in the second half as the Hornets won their most lopsided Big Sky Conference tilt since beating Montana State 41-10 in 1999.
“He did a great job,” Sperbeck said. “If you practice hard here at Sac State, you're going to get your chance to play.”
Montana's Lex Hilliard had just 27 yards in limited duty last Saturday.
Power poll
1 Montana (4-0): Griz learn lesson with Weber win. Next up: a team with a winning record (finally!), then a road game (finally!).
2 Montana State (3-1): Cats' D continues to impress, while the O is rolling with transfers Rolovich and Crawford.
3 Portland State (2-3): Showed some fight in win at Cheney. Could be heating up now that it's conference time.
4 Eastern Washington (3-1): After tough home loss, Eagles looking for a bounce-back game. Griz should get them fired up.
5 Sacramento State (1-3): Still not a title contender in Big Sky but conference win bumps 'em up for now.
6 Northern Arizona (2-3): Loss to Sac drops Jacks. Now it's an uphill battle with the toughest competition yet to come.
7 Idaho State (1-3): Hot start vs. MSU snuffed out in rain. Bengals get a break with home date against Greeley guys.
8 Weber State (0-4): Played UM tough, but key losses at D-line and QB will take their toll.
9 Northern Colorado (0-5): Bears absorbed final nonconference beating. Can look forward to strictly league beatings now.
Players of the week
Offense: Portland State quarterback Brian White completed 29-of-47 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns in Portland State's 28-21 victory over Eastern Washington. Defense: Sacramento State linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo and Montana State safety Kevin Retoriano. Mulitalo recorded a team-high nine tackles and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown in Sacramento State's 38-9 win over Northern Arizona. Retoriano tallied four tackles and returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown in Montana State's 40-20 win over Idaho State. Special teams: Montana kicker Dan Carpenter, a 6-2, 211-pound senior from Helena, made all four of his field goals in top-ranked Montana's 18-10 win over Weber State.
FCS poll
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The top 25 teams in The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 30 and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Montana (52) 4-0 2,573 1
2. Northern Iowa (23) 5-0 2,564 3
3. North Dakota State (19) 4-0 2,496 4
4. Massachusetts (11) 4-1 2,422 2
5. Appalachian State (2) 4-1 2,294 5
6. McNeese State (7) 4-0 2,236 6
7. Southern Illinois (2) 5-0 2,115 7
8. Wofford (3) 4-1 2,084 8
9. James Madison 4-1 1,878 9
10. Youngstown State 4-1 1,811 10
11. Delaware 5-0 1,693 12
12. Hofstra 4-0 1,376 14
13. Montana State 3-1 1,229 18
14. Richmond 3-1 1,041 25
15. New Hampshire 2-2 895 11
16. Eastern Illinois 3-2 894 19
17. Nicholls State 3-1 785 23
18. Yale 3-0 746 22
19. Sam Houston State 2-2 744 15
20. Delaware State 3-1 652 NR
21. Hampton 3-1 587 13
22. Western Illinois 3-2 566 17
23. Illinois State 2-3 339 16
24. Cal Poly 3-2 289 NR
25. Southern 5-0 279 NR
Others receiving votes: The Citadel 261, Eastern Washington 180, Georgia Southern 118, Lehigh 109, Furman 86, South Carolina State 75, Grambling 65, Alabama A&M 57, Lafayette 54, San Diego 52, Elon 47, Eastern Kentucky 31, Portland State 26, Princeton 19, Villanova 17, Drake 16, Gardner-Webb 10, Tennessee Tech 7, Norfolk State 5, South Dakota State 5, Towson 5, Missouri State 3, Northwestern State 3, UC Davis 3, Alabama State 2, Morgan State 1, Northern Arizona 1.
Sac State rolls out red carpet for Hornets
By NICK LOCKRIDGE of the Missoulian
First-year Sacramento State head coach Marshall Sperbeck might be on to something here.
Sperbeck wanted his players to feel special in their home opener last Saturday, so he tried something new.
Sperbeck put his players up at the local Hilton Hotel on Friday night, had them eat breakfast as a team Saturday morning and then walked through the tailgate parties outside Hornet Stadium.
The result has Sperbeck feeling pretty special, too, as the Hornets drilled Big Sky Conference rival Northern Arizona 38-9 for their first win of the season - and Sperbeck's first win as a college coach.
A Sacramento native, Sperbeck explained the tactic of putting his kids up at a hotel and having them interact with tailgating fans.
“It's important for everything you're doing,” Sperbeck told The Sacramento Bee. “You can talk all you want to about hard work, doing it the Sac State way. You've got to see the payoff.”
The Hornets (1-3) are one of three teams locked at 1-1 in the Big Sky. Their league loss was a 35-24 come-from-behind win for Portland State.
Sac State's first three contests were all on the road. The Hornets travel to Weber State this Saturday, but are back home on Oct. 13 when Montana comes calling.
Sperbeck said he hopes to make the hotel, breakfast and tailgating routine a tradition.
“You've got to treat players the same way these upper-echelon programs are treating their players,” he said. “These things create team bonding, camaraderie.”
It worked. The margin of victory was the Hornets' largest since they beat St. Mary's 69-19 back in 2003.
The Sac State fans broke in a new tradition as well: leaving a game early because the home team was winning by so much rather than the other way around.
“That was nice to see,” Sperbeck said. “Wow, take a snapshot.”
Vikes strike
Portland State racked up a season-best 520 yards of total offense in handing the Eastern Washington Eagles their first loss of the season, 28-21, Saturday at Woodward Field in Cheney, Wash.
The Vikings, who at 2-0 share the Big Sky Conference lead with Montana State, had 329 yards through the air. The run-and-shoot offense that is Jerry Glanville's staple seems to be sinking in.
However, the Eastern Washington coaches felt their offense was just as much to blame as the defense for allowing so many yards to Portland State.
“On offense we just didn't execute all night long and we never got in sync,” head coach Paul Wulff said in a team press release. “We just didn't play well on offense and it put our defense in a lot of stressful situations.”
The Eagles (3-1) got off to a slow start with 74 yards of offense in the first quarter and then stalled again in the third quarter with 79 yards.
The Vikings even had 191 yards rushing. They came into the game ranked 116th - last - in the FCS in rushing at 21.8 yards a game.
Eastern quarterback Matt Nichols had a career-high 363 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough in the end, as the inconsistency of the Eagles' offense and defense did them in.
“We played hard and competed to the end. That's all we can ask,” Wulff said. “It was just one of those days, we just didn't have it.”
Portland State's previous yardage high was 458 yards in a loss to San Diego State.
Oh, Demetrius
Montana State running back Demetrius Crawford leads the Big Sky Conference in rushing but he isn't even the starting back for the Bobcats.
Crawford, who just transferred to MSU in July, had a league-best 173 yards in Saturday's come-from-behind victory against Idaho State in Bozeman.
He now has 443 yards for the season, while Montana's Lex Hilliard is second at 357 yards.
Yet, Crawford comes off the bench and coach Rob Ash said that is the case again this week as sophomore running back Aaron Mason will start when the Bobcats host Southern Utah.
“It's like a batting order in baseball,” Ash told the Bozeman Chronicle. “It's working right now. I like the arrangement and we're definitely not going to change it.”
It has been working. The Cats won their third straight, 40-20 on Saturday, and they did it in front of 14,427 fans, which was the largest Bobcat Stadium crowd besides a Grizzly game.
The one person you won't hear complaining is Crawford, who's been in the Treasure State just three months.
“I'm blessed to be here,” said Crawford, who came from Sacramento City College. “I'm not going to say I'm the feature back. I'm not going to say none of that.”
Pony up
The Cal Poly Mustangs, the 24th-ranked team in the FCS, ran roughshod over the Big Sky's Northern Colorado en route to a 56-21 victory on Saturday.
Cal Poly, an independent and perennial playoff contender, tallied 612 yards of offense in front of the team's second-largest home crowd at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Junior quarterback Jonathan Dally was responsible for six touchdowns - four on the ground - as the Mustangs won their Hall of Fame Game in front of 9,684 people.
It was just the third time Cal Poly (3-2) recorded 600 yards or more in a game since moving up to Division I in 1994.
Hilliard sighting
The Big Sky Conference had a running back with the last name of Hilliard rush for 100 yards Saturday. His first name, however, wasn't Lex.
Sacramento State freshman Bryce Hilliard ran for 100 yards and his first collegiate score as the Hornets pounded Northern Arizona 38-9 in California's capital city.
Hilliard, who had 20 carries, had 82 yards in the second half as the Hornets won their most lopsided Big Sky Conference tilt since beating Montana State 41-10 in 1999.
“He did a great job,” Sperbeck said. “If you practice hard here at Sac State, you're going to get your chance to play.”
Montana's Lex Hilliard had just 27 yards in limited duty last Saturday.
Power poll
1 Montana (4-0): Griz learn lesson with Weber win. Next up: a team with a winning record (finally!), then a road game (finally!).
2 Montana State (3-1): Cats' D continues to impress, while the O is rolling with transfers Rolovich and Crawford.
3 Portland State (2-3): Showed some fight in win at Cheney. Could be heating up now that it's conference time.
4 Eastern Washington (3-1): After tough home loss, Eagles looking for a bounce-back game. Griz should get them fired up.
5 Sacramento State (1-3): Still not a title contender in Big Sky but conference win bumps 'em up for now.
6 Northern Arizona (2-3): Loss to Sac drops Jacks. Now it's an uphill battle with the toughest competition yet to come.
7 Idaho State (1-3): Hot start vs. MSU snuffed out in rain. Bengals get a break with home date against Greeley guys.
8 Weber State (0-4): Played UM tough, but key losses at D-line and QB will take their toll.
9 Northern Colorado (0-5): Bears absorbed final nonconference beating. Can look forward to strictly league beatings now.
Players of the week
Offense: Portland State quarterback Brian White completed 29-of-47 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns in Portland State's 28-21 victory over Eastern Washington. Defense: Sacramento State linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo and Montana State safety Kevin Retoriano. Mulitalo recorded a team-high nine tackles and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown in Sacramento State's 38-9 win over Northern Arizona. Retoriano tallied four tackles and returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown in Montana State's 40-20 win over Idaho State. Special teams: Montana kicker Dan Carpenter, a 6-2, 211-pound senior from Helena, made all four of his field goals in top-ranked Montana's 18-10 win over Weber State.
FCS poll
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The top 25 teams in The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 30 and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Montana (52) 4-0 2,573 1
2. Northern Iowa (23) 5-0 2,564 3
3. North Dakota State (19) 4-0 2,496 4
4. Massachusetts (11) 4-1 2,422 2
5. Appalachian State (2) 4-1 2,294 5
6. McNeese State (7) 4-0 2,236 6
7. Southern Illinois (2) 5-0 2,115 7
8. Wofford (3) 4-1 2,084 8
9. James Madison 4-1 1,878 9
10. Youngstown State 4-1 1,811 10
11. Delaware 5-0 1,693 12
12. Hofstra 4-0 1,376 14
13. Montana State 3-1 1,229 18
14. Richmond 3-1 1,041 25
15. New Hampshire 2-2 895 11
16. Eastern Illinois 3-2 894 19
17. Nicholls State 3-1 785 23
18. Yale 3-0 746 22
19. Sam Houston State 2-2 744 15
20. Delaware State 3-1 652 NR
21. Hampton 3-1 587 13
22. Western Illinois 3-2 566 17
23. Illinois State 2-3 339 16
24. Cal Poly 3-2 289 NR
25. Southern 5-0 279 NR
Others receiving votes: The Citadel 261, Eastern Washington 180, Georgia Southern 118, Lehigh 109, Furman 86, South Carolina State 75, Grambling 65, Alabama A&M 57, Lafayette 54, San Diego 52, Elon 47, Eastern Kentucky 31, Portland State 26, Princeton 19, Villanova 17, Drake 16, Gardner-Webb 10, Tennessee Tech 7, Norfolk State 5, South Dakota State 5, Towson 5, Missouri State 3, Northwestern State 3, UC Davis 3, Alabama State 2, Morgan State 1, Northern Arizona 1.
