PSUVikings2
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Playing for pride now folks.
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Portland State @ Montana State Game Thread
- Thread starter PSUVikings2
- Start date
ManOfVision
Active member
Any weather reports for Bozeman? I imagine that could be a factor.
ManOfVision said:
Looks like it'll be cloudy and probably in the low 40s at kickoff. Given their new turf, it shouldn't be an issue.
ManOfVision
Active member
WiViking said:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122642035595696900
The Portland Tribune offers some details. Sounds like the 3rd string guy has been playing WR. Glad to know our team isn't the only one with QB issues.
ManOfVision said:
Hopefully Jones and Shead can each get a pick.
Vikings Final Road Game At Montana State Televised In Portland
GAME 10
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-6, 2-4) vs. MONTANA STATE BOBCATS (6-4, 4-2)
Saturday, November 15, 11:05 a.m. PT, Bobcat Stadium (12,500), Bozeman, MT
http://www.goviks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?temp_site=NO&DB_OEM_ID=19300&ATCLID=1622216
GAME 10
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-6, 2-4) vs. MONTANA STATE BOBCATS (6-4, 4-2)
Saturday, November 15, 11:05 a.m. PT, Bobcat Stadium (12,500), Bozeman, MT
http://www.goviks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?temp_site=NO&DB_OEM_ID=19300&ATCLID=1622216
This should be an interesting game. PSU played tough against the Griz and except for the turnovers and two 4th down conversions had a good shot at an upset. Watching a replay of the game it looked like if PSU is able to get consistent play from their qb then they are super tough to stop. PSU's defense is progressing nicely.
MSU is very beat up right now with seven starters out and several more playing half a game. That said, they have been playing backups most of the year especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Cats have performed very well after losing two conference games and are a pretty resilient bunch. I expect a big crowd on Saturday as their third string qb is a local Montana kid who happens to hold the state record for most yards thrown during a career in high school (a little over 9000 yds). He can make plays but keeping the interceptions to a minimum during his first start will be a big key to the game. The Cats have struggled all year with their passing game relying on the run to win games and that won't change.
I can see PSU winning the game if your qb gets hot, because I believe your defense can hold down the Cats enough to score a win with around 30 points.
Either way it should be a great game decided by just a few points.
MSU is very beat up right now with seven starters out and several more playing half a game. That said, they have been playing backups most of the year especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Cats have performed very well after losing two conference games and are a pretty resilient bunch. I expect a big crowd on Saturday as their third string qb is a local Montana kid who happens to hold the state record for most yards thrown during a career in high school (a little over 9000 yds). He can make plays but keeping the interceptions to a minimum during his first start will be a big key to the game. The Cats have struggled all year with their passing game relying on the run to win games and that won't change.
I can see PSU winning the game if your qb gets hot, because I believe your defense can hold down the Cats enough to score a win with around 30 points.
Either way it should be a great game decided by just a few points.
bpcats1 said:
He's (Desin) thrown two passes this year, right? How do you think he'd do against a blitz often defense like JG's 3-4?
Well as mentioned earlier, Desin is and has seen some action at wideout; he is pretty darn quick. If you blitz him, he is mobile enough to get some big gains on the ground. He is undersized at 5'10/11, but as bpcats also mentioned he broke Dave Dickenson's high school passing yardage record, and Dickenson was only 5'11. I would imagine with his size you will see a lot of rollouts and playaction to get him into space where he can either run or throw. Scout actually had him rated as a 2 start QB recruit.
High school numbers:
9,500+ passing yards
62% completion
63 passing TDs
27 rushing TDs
Also scored over 1,000 points in basketball.
Some fans have been clamoring for him to start all year, so we will see how it turns out. We haven't had a local QB for years.
High school numbers:
9,500+ passing yards
62% completion
63 passing TDs
27 rushing TDs
Also scored over 1,000 points in basketball.
Some fans have been clamoring for him to start all year, so we will see how it turns out. We haven't had a local QB for years.
rharristx said:
It's not out, but...
Oregon State will be on the schedule.
Also, sounds like we'll have either Indiana, or Kentucky on the schedule next year as well.
VIKING NOTES: Turnovers have got to go, Glanville says
PSU coach returns to Bozeman, where he played freshman football
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122652108768892600
GAME: Portland State (3-6, 2-4 Big Sky) at Montana State (6-4, 4-2)
WHEN, WHERE: 11 a.m. PT Saturday, Bobcat Stadium (13,000)
TV, RADIO: CSN, KTRO (910 AM)
Public enemy No. 1 with the Vikings: Turnovers.
“If you throw interceptions, you know you’ve got problems,” coach Jerry Glanville says.
And Portland State’s recent tendency to pass the ball to the other team has Glanville, offensive coordinator Mouse Davis and the rest of the coaching staff scratching their heads.
The primary starter at quarterback, Drew Hubel, “was never as accurate as (QB) Tygue (Howland), but he didn’t throw the picks,” Glanville says. But now Hubel has bouts of intercepted-itis.
Glanville says that right after the post-game prayer last Saturday, following PSU’s home loss to Montana, Hubel came up to him and told the coach how badly he felt about making the turnovers.
“What do you do? You just line up and play the next game,” Glanville says.
• Portland State lost to Montana State last year, 50-36 at PGE Park, with the Vikings throwing five interceptions.
• When things aren’t going well, Glanville says his philosophy is to simplify things.
“The worst thing you can do is add things. If it ain’t working, subtract. So we’ll try to do less and do it better,” he says.
• The run-and-shoot style isn’t going to change, though, he says.
“I ran another offense my first year as coach of the (Houston) Oilers and first year with the (Atlanta) Falcons. We ran the ball 42 times a game, and we scattered bodies and bruised bodies, but we didn’t score points,” he adds. “You run the ball for attitude, but you throw the ball for points. That’s why we play like we play; we’re trying to get points.
“If you don’t get points, everybody wonders why you’re doing what you do. But in the past, we’ve always been able to get points.”
• The Vikings couldn’t consistently stop Montana’s determined ground game last week, and Montana State senior Demetrius Crawford had an impressive 160 yards against a good Northern Arizona run defense.
Glanville was able to joke a bit about the issue of run defense on Wednesday, though.
“Believe it or not, we try to stop the run every week,” he said.
• Glanville, on Crawford: “Good change in direction, good acceleration. Against Northern Arizona, he looked like the fastest guy on the field, which is kind of scary.”
• Next year, Glanville says, the Vikings for once won’t have to play Montana and Montana State back-to-back. That will help, he adds, because playing either one seems to sap a lot of emotion out of the Vikings, who are trying hard to line up favorably with those two perennial conference contenders.
“Last year, we spilled out guts at Montana” and then had trouble finding much intensity for Montana State, Glanville says.
He says he’s concerned about the same thing happening on Saturday, with the Vikings still showing some emotional residue from the tough battle with Montana.
“I think our team is kind of worn out with what happened last week, and I’m trying to fix flat tires,” Glanville says. “I’ve got a big air hose.”
• Glanville is excited about the trip to Bozeman. He spent one year at Montana, in 1959, as a member of the Bobcats’ freshman football team. He left to work at a General Motors transmission plant in Michigan, closer to his roots, and then played three seasons of linebacker at Northern Michigan, graduating in 1964.
“The whole city has changed probably so much,” he says, “and I don’t want this to be anything about me.”
But a bunch of his former teammates plan to meet him Friday for the Vikings’ walkthrough at Bobcat Stadium.
“A little piece of that place never leaves you,” he says of Bozeman.
He visited there once during a football offseason and went into a souvenir shop, looking for a Montana State shirt.
“And the guy said, ‘Jerry Glanville, welcome home, welcome back.’ And I hadn’t been there for 30 years,” Glanville says. “That just gives you chills.
“Everyone has treated me better than I deserve – the city and the town.”
PSU coach returns to Bozeman, where he played freshman football
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122652108768892600
GAME: Portland State (3-6, 2-4 Big Sky) at Montana State (6-4, 4-2)
WHEN, WHERE: 11 a.m. PT Saturday, Bobcat Stadium (13,000)
TV, RADIO: CSN, KTRO (910 AM)
Public enemy No. 1 with the Vikings: Turnovers.
“If you throw interceptions, you know you’ve got problems,” coach Jerry Glanville says.
And Portland State’s recent tendency to pass the ball to the other team has Glanville, offensive coordinator Mouse Davis and the rest of the coaching staff scratching their heads.
The primary starter at quarterback, Drew Hubel, “was never as accurate as (QB) Tygue (Howland), but he didn’t throw the picks,” Glanville says. But now Hubel has bouts of intercepted-itis.
Glanville says that right after the post-game prayer last Saturday, following PSU’s home loss to Montana, Hubel came up to him and told the coach how badly he felt about making the turnovers.
“What do you do? You just line up and play the next game,” Glanville says.
• Portland State lost to Montana State last year, 50-36 at PGE Park, with the Vikings throwing five interceptions.
• When things aren’t going well, Glanville says his philosophy is to simplify things.
“The worst thing you can do is add things. If it ain’t working, subtract. So we’ll try to do less and do it better,” he says.
• The run-and-shoot style isn’t going to change, though, he says.
“I ran another offense my first year as coach of the (Houston) Oilers and first year with the (Atlanta) Falcons. We ran the ball 42 times a game, and we scattered bodies and bruised bodies, but we didn’t score points,” he adds. “You run the ball for attitude, but you throw the ball for points. That’s why we play like we play; we’re trying to get points.
“If you don’t get points, everybody wonders why you’re doing what you do. But in the past, we’ve always been able to get points.”
• The Vikings couldn’t consistently stop Montana’s determined ground game last week, and Montana State senior Demetrius Crawford had an impressive 160 yards against a good Northern Arizona run defense.
Glanville was able to joke a bit about the issue of run defense on Wednesday, though.
“Believe it or not, we try to stop the run every week,” he said.
• Glanville, on Crawford: “Good change in direction, good acceleration. Against Northern Arizona, he looked like the fastest guy on the field, which is kind of scary.”
• Next year, Glanville says, the Vikings for once won’t have to play Montana and Montana State back-to-back. That will help, he adds, because playing either one seems to sap a lot of emotion out of the Vikings, who are trying hard to line up favorably with those two perennial conference contenders.
“Last year, we spilled out guts at Montana” and then had trouble finding much intensity for Montana State, Glanville says.
He says he’s concerned about the same thing happening on Saturday, with the Vikings still showing some emotional residue from the tough battle with Montana.
“I think our team is kind of worn out with what happened last week, and I’m trying to fix flat tires,” Glanville says. “I’ve got a big air hose.”
• Glanville is excited about the trip to Bozeman. He spent one year at Montana, in 1959, as a member of the Bobcats’ freshman football team. He left to work at a General Motors transmission plant in Michigan, closer to his roots, and then played three seasons of linebacker at Northern Michigan, graduating in 1964.
“The whole city has changed probably so much,” he says, “and I don’t want this to be anything about me.”
But a bunch of his former teammates plan to meet him Friday for the Vikings’ walkthrough at Bobcat Stadium.
“A little piece of that place never leaves you,” he says of Bozeman.
He visited there once during a football offseason and went into a souvenir shop, looking for a Montana State shirt.
“And the guy said, ‘Jerry Glanville, welcome home, welcome back.’ And I hadn’t been there for 30 years,” Glanville says. “That just gives you chills.
“Everyone has treated me better than I deserve – the city and the town.”
STEVE SAYS: Vikings have a shot at elusive road win, if they can score on depleted Bobcats
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122661237671805700
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122661237671805700
Bozeman trip takes Glanville down memory lane
http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index.ssf/2008/11/bozeman_trip_takes_glanville_d.html
When Portland State football coach Jerry Glanville takes his Vikings to Bozeman, Mont., on Saturday for this season's final Big Sky Conference road game, he'll be going back to a place he never envisioned himself going to in the first place.
And he can thank Woody Hayes for the original trip.
As a star high school middle linebacker in Perrysburg, Ohio, Glanville was heavily recruited by big-time college programs in the winter of 1958.
Yet his mother, Helen, kept telling all the coaches they were wasting their time. "He's going with Woody," she said, meaning that Jerry was going to Ohio State to play for coach Hayes, who had visited Glanville several times since he was a sophomore.
"When Ohio State would go to the Rose Bowl, Woody would send my mother a dozen roses," Glanville said. "That's how he recruited me."
After having Glanville in his sights for three years, however, Hayes reassessed the 5-foot-9 1/2, 210-pound middle linebacker who was the MVP of the Perrysburg Yellow Jackets' undefeated 1958 team. The change of heart came when Glanville returned to Columbus for his final recruiting visit.
"Woody asked me, 'What size shoe do you wear?'" Glanville recalled. "I'm a 17-year-old kid, so I said, 'Nine and a half, 10.' Woody said, 'How long have you been wearing that?' I said, 'I guess about four years.'
"Well, I now know that Woody knew I wasn't going to get any bigger."
That was one of Hayes' inflexible standards. Former Buckeye linebacker Randy Gradishar, the longtime NFL star, often has told the story of how when Hayes visited him in Champion, Ohio, the coach asked his shoe size, too -- and was impressed when Gradishar said 14 1/2. "Son," Hayes said, "you have a pretty good foundation there."
Hayes wasn't as impressed with Glanville's answer.
Soon, but after most schools had finished recruiting, Hayes notified Glanville in a letter that the Ohio State coach had decided against offering Glanville a scholarship.
"I remember walking home that day, because without a scholarship, I wasn't going anywhere," said Glanville, whose parents had divorced. "It was just my mom and me. And I didn't know how to tell my mom.
"I can't remember if I read it to her or I handed it to her. But I can remember walking home with the letter and thinking, 'Should I throw it away and just tell her I'm not going to school? What should I do?'"
Where's Bozeman?
Then Montana State assistant coach Joe "Rhino" Berry showed up unannounced at the high school, asking to talk to Glanville.
"It was as if somebody at Montana State knew about Woody's letter, because they jumped in and said, 'Here's your full scholarship,'" Glanville said. "All of a sudden -- bam! -- I'm on my way to Bozeman."
Glanville's scholarship with the Bobcats covered room and board, tuition and books, and included a $15 monthly stipend.
When he left home, he said he had no idea where he was going, other than "You had to go through Chicago to get there."
Looking to this weekend's return trip, Glanville said the school today isn't that much different from the one he attended briefly in 1959. At least, it hasn't changed as much as the town.
"It was a cowboy town then," Glanville said. "There were about three traffic lights, and a bell went off when the lights changed so the horses would know to go."
He tried his first buffalo burger and bought his first pair of cowboy boots as a freshman at Montana State.
"I was the only guy on campus without cowboy boots," he said. "I've been wearing them ever since."
Glanville played middle linebacker on defense and left guard on offense on Montana State's '59 freshmen team that went 1-4, losing to Montana's freshmen 12-6 in the annual Cubs vs. Kittens rivalry game in Butte.
"Jerry was tough," said Buck May, who was a freshman fullback on Glanville's team. "He was built real close to the ground. I remember that. He never had trouble getting down underneath anybody.
"He was a lot of fun, too. He always was quick with a quip. We knew he was going to be a coach or a stand-up comedian. It had to be one or the other."
Herb Agocs, the Bobcats' head coach, was from Pennsylvania and recruited several players from Allentown, Philadelphia and Pottstown. And one from Perrysburg, Ohio.
"The funny part," said May, a native of Montana who grew up in Havre and now lives in Whitefish, "is that if they made it past two or three weeks, they still live in Montana today.
"The rest of them sold their watches and their transistor radios to get a bus ticket home right away."
Takes assembly line job
Glanville stayed through the end of football season, but didn't make it to the end of the school year. His mother, a waitress, was struggling to pay bills, so he left Bozeman, went home and took a job on an assembly line at the Chevrolet transmission plant in Toledo, earning $114 a week.
"That was huge in '59," Glanville said.
A year later, Northern Michigan coach F.L. Ferzacca heard about Glanville's situation and persuaded Glanville to restart his college career in Marquette, Mich., with the Wildcats before the start of the 1961 season.
Glanville went on to get his bachelor's degree in psychology from Northern Michigan in 1964.
Although his stay in Bozeman was brief, the lessons learned during the late 1950s have stayed with him to this day.
"That's why I recruit the way I do," Glanville said. "I had no idea Ohio State could withdraw the offer. Because of that, you learn. So I tell every kid now, 'We're offering you a scholarship. If you wait to accept, the longer you wait, the more likely we are to find somebody else.' And I do that, so they don't go through what I went through.
"And then I ask them what size shoe they wear."
http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index.ssf/2008/11/bozeman_trip_takes_glanville_d.html
When Portland State football coach Jerry Glanville takes his Vikings to Bozeman, Mont., on Saturday for this season's final Big Sky Conference road game, he'll be going back to a place he never envisioned himself going to in the first place.
And he can thank Woody Hayes for the original trip.
As a star high school middle linebacker in Perrysburg, Ohio, Glanville was heavily recruited by big-time college programs in the winter of 1958.
Yet his mother, Helen, kept telling all the coaches they were wasting their time. "He's going with Woody," she said, meaning that Jerry was going to Ohio State to play for coach Hayes, who had visited Glanville several times since he was a sophomore.
"When Ohio State would go to the Rose Bowl, Woody would send my mother a dozen roses," Glanville said. "That's how he recruited me."
After having Glanville in his sights for three years, however, Hayes reassessed the 5-foot-9 1/2, 210-pound middle linebacker who was the MVP of the Perrysburg Yellow Jackets' undefeated 1958 team. The change of heart came when Glanville returned to Columbus for his final recruiting visit.
"Woody asked me, 'What size shoe do you wear?'" Glanville recalled. "I'm a 17-year-old kid, so I said, 'Nine and a half, 10.' Woody said, 'How long have you been wearing that?' I said, 'I guess about four years.'
"Well, I now know that Woody knew I wasn't going to get any bigger."
That was one of Hayes' inflexible standards. Former Buckeye linebacker Randy Gradishar, the longtime NFL star, often has told the story of how when Hayes visited him in Champion, Ohio, the coach asked his shoe size, too -- and was impressed when Gradishar said 14 1/2. "Son," Hayes said, "you have a pretty good foundation there."
Hayes wasn't as impressed with Glanville's answer.
Soon, but after most schools had finished recruiting, Hayes notified Glanville in a letter that the Ohio State coach had decided against offering Glanville a scholarship.
"I remember walking home that day, because without a scholarship, I wasn't going anywhere," said Glanville, whose parents had divorced. "It was just my mom and me. And I didn't know how to tell my mom.
"I can't remember if I read it to her or I handed it to her. But I can remember walking home with the letter and thinking, 'Should I throw it away and just tell her I'm not going to school? What should I do?'"
Where's Bozeman?
Then Montana State assistant coach Joe "Rhino" Berry showed up unannounced at the high school, asking to talk to Glanville.
"It was as if somebody at Montana State knew about Woody's letter, because they jumped in and said, 'Here's your full scholarship,'" Glanville said. "All of a sudden -- bam! -- I'm on my way to Bozeman."
Glanville's scholarship with the Bobcats covered room and board, tuition and books, and included a $15 monthly stipend.
When he left home, he said he had no idea where he was going, other than "You had to go through Chicago to get there."
Looking to this weekend's return trip, Glanville said the school today isn't that much different from the one he attended briefly in 1959. At least, it hasn't changed as much as the town.
"It was a cowboy town then," Glanville said. "There were about three traffic lights, and a bell went off when the lights changed so the horses would know to go."
He tried his first buffalo burger and bought his first pair of cowboy boots as a freshman at Montana State.
"I was the only guy on campus without cowboy boots," he said. "I've been wearing them ever since."
Glanville played middle linebacker on defense and left guard on offense on Montana State's '59 freshmen team that went 1-4, losing to Montana's freshmen 12-6 in the annual Cubs vs. Kittens rivalry game in Butte.
"Jerry was tough," said Buck May, who was a freshman fullback on Glanville's team. "He was built real close to the ground. I remember that. He never had trouble getting down underneath anybody.
"He was a lot of fun, too. He always was quick with a quip. We knew he was going to be a coach or a stand-up comedian. It had to be one or the other."
Herb Agocs, the Bobcats' head coach, was from Pennsylvania and recruited several players from Allentown, Philadelphia and Pottstown. And one from Perrysburg, Ohio.
"The funny part," said May, a native of Montana who grew up in Havre and now lives in Whitefish, "is that if they made it past two or three weeks, they still live in Montana today.
"The rest of them sold their watches and their transistor radios to get a bus ticket home right away."
Takes assembly line job
Glanville stayed through the end of football season, but didn't make it to the end of the school year. His mother, a waitress, was struggling to pay bills, so he left Bozeman, went home and took a job on an assembly line at the Chevrolet transmission plant in Toledo, earning $114 a week.
"That was huge in '59," Glanville said.
A year later, Northern Michigan coach F.L. Ferzacca heard about Glanville's situation and persuaded Glanville to restart his college career in Marquette, Mich., with the Wildcats before the start of the 1961 season.
Glanville went on to get his bachelor's degree in psychology from Northern Michigan in 1964.
Although his stay in Bozeman was brief, the lessons learned during the late 1950s have stayed with him to this day.
"That's why I recruit the way I do," Glanville said. "I had no idea Ohio State could withdraw the offer. Because of that, you learn. So I tell every kid now, 'We're offering you a scholarship. If you wait to accept, the longer you wait, the more likely we are to find somebody else.' And I do that, so they don't go through what I went through.
"And then I ask them what size shoe they wear."
VIKING NOTES: Hubel starts at quarterback, as Viking offense battles injuries at other positions
Montana State missing key players, too, including a top-notch defensive end
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122669708509196700
THE GAME: Portland State (3-6, 2-4) at Montana State (6-4, 4-2)
WHEN, WHERE: 11 a.m. PT Saturday, Bobcat Stadium (13,000), Bozeman, Mont.
TV, RADIO: CSN, KTRO (910 AM)
• Drew Hubel will start at quarterback for Portland State.
“We started out the week with that thought, and that’s where we are,” offensive coordinator Mouse Davis says.
• The Vikings are starting to get a little short on bodies.
Left tackle Landon Laurusaitis, who had to miss most of last week’s Montana game after hurting a knee, won’t play. Freshman Dustin Waldron (6-6, 250) from Marist High will get the start.
Wide receiver Ty Coleman (knee) also is out, and slotback Raymond Fry, who pulled a hip flexor last week, didn’t practice all week and probably won’t play.
Backup slot Cory McCaffrey, the freshman from Sisters, is not expected to suit up, either. He’s been nursing a hamstring injury.
Starting slot Mario D’Ambrosio, the third-leading receiver in the Big Sky, continues to play through a groin injury.
• The Vikings did their walk-through at Bobcat Stadium Friday morning. The weather is expected to be clear, with temperatures in the upper-40s for Saturday's game.
Davis says the last time he and the Vikings visited Bozeman, which would have been 1975, they went by bus.
"It's a lot faster by plane," he says.
• Montana State’s injury list includes its top two quarterbacks, fast-improving receiver DeSean Thomas and star defensive end Dane Fletcher, who was Big Sky defensive player of the week for his performance against Northern Arizona last week.
“I think Dane is one of the best players in the conference,” MSU coach Rob Ash says. “Against NAU, he had three tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble that he recovered, two blocked kicks including one for a safety … it was a monster game. No single guy is going to walk out on the field and be the new Dane Fletcher.
“Our team defense has to rally and make plays as a group.”
Thomas was “becoming our go-to guy,” Ash says. He had caught a pass in all nine games and made two big plays to help get Montana State over the top in its 25-23 win.
Senior DeAndre Green (6-1, 172) takes Thomas’ place.
Fletcher’s spot is likely to be played by some combination of Dustin O’Connell (6-2, 235, sophomore), Dylan Kinkelaar (6-2, 260, senior), Brad Smith (6-5, 228, freshman) and John Laidet (6-5, 225, freshman).
“There is tremendous resolve to keep this going,” Ash says of the healthy Bobcats and a team that has won its last three games. “People aren’t discouraged. If anything, it’s going to make us play harder. We have some guys who believe they can step up, and we believe in them.”
• Ash says he can’t recall a worse run of injuries.
But he has been through worse. In 1982, while coaching Juniata College in Pennsylvania, about a third of his team (19 players) came down with mononucleosis and was out for about six weeks.
“A local high school team had to cancel its season,” he says.
• Bobcat receiver Tyler Lulay, a senior from Regis High, is a standout on special teams and ranks third on the team in receptions with 18.
• Freshman kicker Jason Cunningham of the Bobcats has hit a field goal in six consecutive games. He was the Big Sky special teams player of the week for last week’s game-winner against NAU.
• PSU coordinator Davis is impressed with the Bobcat defense.
“They reall took Northern Arizona apart,” he says. “That’s a good defensive group.”
• The Bobcats had 13 consecutive regular-season sellouts until last week, when they drew 12,147 to 13,000-seat Bobcat Stadium for the Northern Colorado game on Nov. 1.
• Fifth-ranked Montana gets to tune up for Montana State (they meet Nov. 22 in Missoula) with a home game against 0-10 Idaho State on Saturday.
• Northern Colorado, which will visit PGE Park on Nov. 22 for the season-ender, travels to Sacramento State this Saturday.
Northern Colorado is 1-8 (1-5 Big Sky), while Sac State is 5-5 (2-5 in the conference).
Montana State missing key players, too, including a top-notch defensive end
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=122669708509196700
THE GAME: Portland State (3-6, 2-4) at Montana State (6-4, 4-2)
WHEN, WHERE: 11 a.m. PT Saturday, Bobcat Stadium (13,000), Bozeman, Mont.
TV, RADIO: CSN, KTRO (910 AM)
• Drew Hubel will start at quarterback for Portland State.
“We started out the week with that thought, and that’s where we are,” offensive coordinator Mouse Davis says.
• The Vikings are starting to get a little short on bodies.
Left tackle Landon Laurusaitis, who had to miss most of last week’s Montana game after hurting a knee, won’t play. Freshman Dustin Waldron (6-6, 250) from Marist High will get the start.
Wide receiver Ty Coleman (knee) also is out, and slotback Raymond Fry, who pulled a hip flexor last week, didn’t practice all week and probably won’t play.
Backup slot Cory McCaffrey, the freshman from Sisters, is not expected to suit up, either. He’s been nursing a hamstring injury.
Starting slot Mario D’Ambrosio, the third-leading receiver in the Big Sky, continues to play through a groin injury.
• The Vikings did their walk-through at Bobcat Stadium Friday morning. The weather is expected to be clear, with temperatures in the upper-40s for Saturday's game.
Davis says the last time he and the Vikings visited Bozeman, which would have been 1975, they went by bus.
"It's a lot faster by plane," he says.
• Montana State’s injury list includes its top two quarterbacks, fast-improving receiver DeSean Thomas and star defensive end Dane Fletcher, who was Big Sky defensive player of the week for his performance against Northern Arizona last week.
“I think Dane is one of the best players in the conference,” MSU coach Rob Ash says. “Against NAU, he had three tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble that he recovered, two blocked kicks including one for a safety … it was a monster game. No single guy is going to walk out on the field and be the new Dane Fletcher.
“Our team defense has to rally and make plays as a group.”
Thomas was “becoming our go-to guy,” Ash says. He had caught a pass in all nine games and made two big plays to help get Montana State over the top in its 25-23 win.
Senior DeAndre Green (6-1, 172) takes Thomas’ place.
Fletcher’s spot is likely to be played by some combination of Dustin O’Connell (6-2, 235, sophomore), Dylan Kinkelaar (6-2, 260, senior), Brad Smith (6-5, 228, freshman) and John Laidet (6-5, 225, freshman).
“There is tremendous resolve to keep this going,” Ash says of the healthy Bobcats and a team that has won its last three games. “People aren’t discouraged. If anything, it’s going to make us play harder. We have some guys who believe they can step up, and we believe in them.”
• Ash says he can’t recall a worse run of injuries.
But he has been through worse. In 1982, while coaching Juniata College in Pennsylvania, about a third of his team (19 players) came down with mononucleosis and was out for about six weeks.
“A local high school team had to cancel its season,” he says.
• Bobcat receiver Tyler Lulay, a senior from Regis High, is a standout on special teams and ranks third on the team in receptions with 18.
• Freshman kicker Jason Cunningham of the Bobcats has hit a field goal in six consecutive games. He was the Big Sky special teams player of the week for last week’s game-winner against NAU.
• PSU coordinator Davis is impressed with the Bobcat defense.
“They reall took Northern Arizona apart,” he says. “That’s a good defensive group.”
• The Bobcats had 13 consecutive regular-season sellouts until last week, when they drew 12,147 to 13,000-seat Bobcat Stadium for the Northern Colorado game on Nov. 1.
• Fifth-ranked Montana gets to tune up for Montana State (they meet Nov. 22 in Missoula) with a home game against 0-10 Idaho State on Saturday.
• Northern Colorado, which will visit PGE Park on Nov. 22 for the season-ender, travels to Sacramento State this Saturday.
Northern Colorado is 1-8 (1-5 Big Sky), while Sac State is 5-5 (2-5 in the conference).
Wow, a true frosh in Waldron on the line. That'll be interesting to watch. Hopefully he can step up. Plus, we're beat up at WR.
Sounds like it may be an ugly grind it out game.
Mouse and JG: Do yourself a favor and try to ensure that the defense isn't out for 40 plus minutes again. If we start seeing 3 and outs with H & H, we'd better see CK under center. Don't hang that defense out to fail.
Sounds like it may be an ugly grind it out game.
Mouse and JG: Do yourself a favor and try to ensure that the defense isn't out for 40 plus minutes again. If we start seeing 3 and outs with H & H, we'd better see CK under center. Don't hang that defense out to fail.
Hangover effect
After physically demanding game last week, Vikings face tought test in Bozeman
http://media.www.dailyvanguard.com/media/storage/paper941/news/2008/11/14/Sports/Hangover.Effect-3544347.shtml
After physically demanding game last week, Vikings face tought test in Bozeman
http://media.www.dailyvanguard.com/media/storage/paper941/news/2008/11/14/Sports/Hangover.Effect-3544347.shtml
