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Portland State Fan Forum

R

Rontheoldwiseeagle

Active member
The fans have packed it in for this year. Their dozen tailgaters have packed the gear and stored it away. There is not single topic post for this weeks game with the Eags. In fact, not even a post from Screamin_Eagle174 to ruffle their feathers. :lol: The longest and most attactive topic is Next Years team.
Here are a few posts from this topic.
I wonder how much interest the team has in the game? They did put up some numbers in the second half again the MSU bench last week. There are nine of us caravaning down. I sure hope we will be able to get tickets ;)


by VikThunderous » November 11th, 2012, 4:32 pm



jas wrote:After today, I can't decide between two much different thoughts about the Viks:

1) A lot of freshman from the much heralded recruiting class got to play and get experience this year. Burton is a heck of a recruiter, and there seems to be a positive culture. A lot of key contributors are going to be back and, like the tv guy said today, they have the ability to really surprise people next season like Northern Arizona did this year....

Or

2) Record wise, they really aren't much better than they were under JG. In three years under Glanville, they won 7 Big Sky games. In three years under Burton, they have won 8. The momentum of one of the country's biggest turn around seasons seems to have left with Kavanaugh, McCaffrey, Shead, Rau, Waldron, etc. And, after next Saturday, they will no longer have Monahan, Jackson, Sluss, Brown, Lewis, etc.

What are your thoughts on the Viks next year?


No one can be blamed for being frustrated. The team underperformed. Win-Loss record is the bottom line and we haven't made any improvement under Burton. I think this program could go either way at this point depending on the next two recruiting classes. And recruiting only gets a program so far. Burton needs some help coaching.

I can't think of any coaches that go 2-9, 7-4 and then drop to 3-8 that are ultimately successful. Montana State went 6-5, 7-4 and 7-4 in Coach Ash's first 3 years. Maybe someone can show another example of a team regressing so much in the 3rd year that succeeded?VikThunderousWalk On Posts: 191Joined: June 24th, 2008, 4:56 pmFavorite School: PSU
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Re: Your thoughts on next year?

by GreenGiant » November 11th, 2012, 4:36 pm

I think one of the biggest problems going into this year was no emotional leadership on either offense or defense. Each side of the ball needs their leaders. Last season I think it was pretty obvious that there were some guys that really stepped up to fill those important roles. I never got the feeling this year that there was one guy that could pull the others aside and get things turned around.

The offense should be fine. We have enough key players returning that there shouldn't be a step back.

We will need to try and replace some key players up front, and at linebacker. Sluss may be the most difficult player to lose to graduation on the field. We are graduating a bunch of DB's, but as hard as the current guys have worked on every play, I just don't think we could get much worse in this department. Frankly, I blame as much of this on the coaching as I do the actual players. Burton better be spending as much time recruiting a coach as players in this regard.

It seems like the last two games we kind of took a step back and that is a little concerning. If KM was hurt coach should have pulled the trigger earlier and given one of the other QB's a shot.

Either way, I don't think that anyone that takes the time to post here is giving up on anything. I think maybe we all started the season with our rose colored glasses on, We didn't realize just how young we were going to be at some key positions.
GreenGiantHigh-Quality H20 Provider Posts: 21Joined: July 27th, 2012, 11:17 amFavorite School: Portland State
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Fans packing it in doesn't necessarily mean the team packed it in. It's funny, because if you look at the stats from last week, they weren't really outplayed by Montana State. They just had too many turnovers lead to short fields and scores.

I think they'll roll over IF we go out gangbusters early in this game. If we can take a good couple TD lead and then have a good defensive series early, I think they'll quit. But we have to go out and play and expect them to have emotion early.

I worry like hell that we'll come out lethargic and leave this team hanging around. I think we'll beat 'em down, but Eastern has a lot of bad habits when it comes to not going for the knockout when it's available.
 
LDopaPDX said:
Fans packing it in doesn't necessarily mean the team packed it in. It's funny, because if you look at the stats from last week, they weren't really outplayed by Montana State. They just had too many turnovers lead to short fields and scores.

I think they'll roll over IF we go out gangbusters early in this game. If we can take a good couple TD lead and then have a good defensive series early, I think they'll quit. But we have to go out and play and expect them to have emotion early.

I worry like hell that we'll come out lethargic and leave this team hanging around. I think we'll beat 'em down, but Eastern has a lot of bad habits when it comes to not going for the knockout when it's available.
Click to expand...

This. We seem to have a habit of getting up for the big games, then not performing the next week. (See Soth Dakota last season, Southern Utah, UC Davis this season). Luckily we had enough time in the Davis game to pull ahead, but wow did we get dominated in the 2nd qtr. If you allow any team in this conference to hang around in a game you run the risk of losing. The disparity in talent levels between the different teams in the Big Sky just isn't as much as we'd like to think. Even a 3-8 Portland State can be dangerous, and we have lost to them in the past when we were having a good season. Eastern needs to come out, take an early lead and make plays on defense. If we allow them to run for a bunch of yards and hang on to the ball we could be in trouble. That's what they did last season and we couldn't get the offense on the field to score enough points. We want our offense on the field as much as possible, which means we have to stop the read option. We haven't been good at that the last couple of seasons, not even against UND who was gashing us with it until for some unexplicable reason they stopped and tried to pass. I am guessing we load up and make them beat us through the air.
 
Outside of Montana, no team has been more of a kryptonite to us than Portland State. Given the achievements of the Griz over the last couple of decades, it isn't that worrisome that they've been beating more often than not. However, Portland State has been really shitty for a long time and still beaten us far more often than anyone would care to admit.

As you said Ranger, there have been a lot of years where we've been their only or one of their only Big Sky wins, and those have come during our playoff years!
 
No. 5 Eastern Washington Eagles (8-2, 7-1 Big Sky) at Portland State Vikings (3-7, 2-5), 4:05 p.m. (CSN-NW)

Series record: Portland State leads, 19-14-1

Last meeting: Portland State 43, Eastern Washington 26 (Oct. 29, 2011)

What to know: Eastern Washington needed a blocked field goal in the final seconds of play to survive UC Davis last week, 31-28. The Eagles got some great news after Northern Arizona fell in triple overtime versus Southern Utah, so now EWU can earn a share of the Big Sky title with a win this weekend.

Of course, the Eagles would love nothing more than to go on the road and win convincingly to set themselves up nicely for a possible home game in the playoffs. It probably helps that Portland State got dismantled last week at Montana State, 65-30, but the Vikings do have the ability to scare teams with their pistol offense. Which PSU team shows up is another question.

Eastern should feel all right about being able to win close games. The Eagles have shown they understand what it takes to get a win. They have won three games by three points and another two have come by six points.

Quarterbacks Vernon Adams and Kyle Padron are going to get snaps, depending on whoever is playing better, and the Eagles have improved their run game, which obviously complements its explosive offense.

PSU whipped EWU in Cheney, Wash., last season on Senior Day. The Eagles haven't forgotten that game and have a chance to return the favor.

Prediction: Eastern Washington 38, Portland State 21
 
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