As season meets its end, Viks looking for answers
Portland State suffers sting of loss to Sac State, looks to even record at Cal Poly
The difference was stark.
Whether it was scheme or depth, No. 2 Sacramento State was better in nearly every aspect on Saturday night in Hillsboro, wiping out Portland State, 45-17, on a cold, blustery night.
Hobbled by injuries yet again late in the year, the Viks weren’t the team they expected to be when the 2022 season began.
Preseason All-Americans Anthony Adams and VJ Malo didn’t play on Senior Night because of knocks they picked up earlier in the year. Star middle linebacker Parker McKenna dressed but wasn’t able to contribute much thanks to an injury picked up in the third game of the season. Quarterback Dante Chachere, a one-time Big Sky player of the week, sat the entire second half.
The Viks are literally limping to the finish line for a second straight season, a trend that is becoming a theme on the Park Blocks.
The program, and the entire league, has pledged to focus more money on training staff and recovery facilities, but the immediate reality is a Portland State team relying each season on luck. Luck that nagging injuries don’t hit important players, and if they do, they hit at positions that are deep with talent.
That turns the focus to recruiting, where the Viks need to start adding waves of talent to make up for the eventual missing All-American.
As it was, the Viks showed flashes against what is likely the best team in the nation.
Unable to move the ball on the ground, PSU found holes in the Sac State pass defense but couldn’t turn them into points after drops stalled progress multiple times in the first half.
Late on, with the game already in hand, the Viks popped two long touchdown runs, the last by true freshman Quincy Craig, a highly-touted recruit who will still have four years of eligibility remaining.
In contrast with the team across the field — a legitimate national title contender seeking the top overall seed in the FCS playoffs — was in worse shape five years ago, struggling to a 2-8 record, the third time in four years it had just a pair of wins to its name.
As Bruce Barnum relayed in his weekly radio interview, Sac State’s turnaround came with a significant investment, both financially and by the school’s administration.
A turnaround is possible. Much like the Hornets, PSU is a large university in a large metro area with a lot recruiting benefits. While there are bigger programs nearby that can stifle attention, the Viks are the only FCS program in the Pacific Northwest, a region with two major metro areas and links to some of the world’s biggest companies.
With the administration in flux — President Stephen Percy has already announced his departure at the end of this school year — it’s unclear if Portland State will see the same type of buy-in.
The right philosophy and, maybe more importantly, the right investment can set the Viks sights above .500.
Portland State will look to get back to that mark with a win at Cal Poly to finish the season. Beau Baldwin’s team has given up 186 points in the last three games, struggling to an as of yet winless Big Sky campaign.
The game is scheduled to start at 5:02 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
ACROSS THE BIG SKY
Well, it finally happened.
After two years of campaigning to get ESPN to bring it’s weekly college football pregame show to Montana, the Big Sky is getting its first taste of College GameDay, the program announcing it will make its first trip to Bozeman this Saturday for the Cat-Griz game.
Aside from the typical massive stature of the rivalry game, this year’s contest brings huge playoff implications.
Montana, ranked No. 13 in the polls this week, needs to win to guarantee itself a spot in the first round or could risk hoping for good favor from the committee, banking that the group will admit a four-loss Griz team based on stadium capacity and past performances.
No. 3 Montana State can lock in a top-four seed with a win, and given results in some of the nation’s other games, could land even higher as it looks to repeat last season’s run to Frisco.
While the Brawl will get all of the headlines, it’s not the only Big Sky rivalry that is worthy of national attention.
The Causeway Classic is shaping up to be one of the most exciting games in the country, and if it had a better backdrop and more cache, could be hosting ESPN itself.
Sac State, still ranked No. 2, would have a legitimate case for the nation’s top seed with a win over No. 24 UC Davis, the Hornets potentially posting wins over four end-of-season top 25 teams and an FBS squad. The game against the Aggies could serve as a benchmark too, with top-ranked South Dakota State eking by UCD, 24-22, earlier this year.
On the other hand, the suddenly resurgent Ags, having just topped No. 21 Idaho 44-26, have won five straight, scoring an average of 52 points in the five wins. Suddenly looking like the team that opened the season ranked in the top 25, UCD can lock in a playoff spot with what would be the nation’s biggest upset this season.
Saturday, Nov. 19
No. 13 Montana at No. 3 Montana State, 11 a.m. PT, ESPN+
No. 7 Weber State at Northern Arizona, Noon, ESPN+
No. 21 Idaho at Idaho State, Noon, ESPN+
Northern Colorado at Eastern Washington, 1 p.m., ESPN+
No. 24 UC Davis at No. 2 Sacramento State, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Portland State at Cal Poly, 5:02 p.m., ESPN+
Last week’s results
No. 2 Sacramento State 45, Portland State 17
No. 3 Montana State 72, Cal Poly 28
No. 7 Weber State 45, Idaho State 7
No. 16 Montana 63, Eastern Washington 7
UC Davis 44, No. 15 Idaho 26
Northern Colorado 21, Northern Arizona 20
AROUND THE BLOCKS
The Portland State men’s basketball team shook off a rough two games to start the season by eviscerating Evergreen, 113-40, on Wednesday night.
The win was their highest scoring output in nearly four years and a complete departure from how the Viks opened the season against Division I competition.
The Viks lost each of their opening games this weekend, falling 98-91 to Portland and 83-71 to Seattle.
While both games were different, they offered some of the same themes.
PSU’s defense is still coming together with so many new players in new roles learning not only the playbook but how to interact with each other in game action.
The offense is great in transition and has multiple players who can attack the basket but — for now — has just two that can shoot.
Much like the start of last season, Portland State has plenty of players willing to take shots from deep but very few able to make them at an efficient clip. Only Cam Parker and Hunter Woods are shooting above 40% from 3-point distance, with Parker the only one of the pair logging regular minutes.
Despite that, the Viks have averaged 34 3-point attempts per game, making just 31% as a team.
Last season’s squad was able to flip those bad shooting numbers, not by shooting less and reverting to an early-2000s focus on driving to the hoop but by shooting more, eventually shaking their mojo loose and opening up the floor.
The tide already seemed to turn late against Evergreen, the Viks making 11 3s in the second half.
The Viks will hope that form holds on Saturday when they head down the road to Corvallis, looking to complete the upset of Oregon State this time around.
Like Portland State, Saturday’s game is a warmup for the Beavs, with a matchup against No. 7 Duke looming at the Phil Knight tournament next week. Oregon State has been playing better in the leadup than they did a year ago, winning all three games they've played, albeit against lower competition.
The Viks led OSU by 11 points in the second half of last season’s season opener but couldn’t close the door on an eventual 73-64 loss.
This week’s game begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
The women’s basketball team was nearly caught in Seattle too, trailing 67-63 in the final minute when Jada Lewis stepped up with a clutch basket:
The senior guard hit a corner 3 through contact, making the ensuing free throw to tie the game and send it to overtime, where the Viks pulled away for the big nonconference victory.
It was a departure from how many of these games finished last season, with the Viks continuing to push back as their early advantage slipped away.
Likewise, the PSU women hung around with a sturdy San Diego team on Saturday, losing 57-47 to the Toreros, a squad that nearly beat USC in its next outing.
The Viks are proving to be dynamite at guarding the perimeter, allowing just 13 3-pointers through three games, and have been very disciplined in their zone defense, surrendering just 10 trips to the free-throw line, 17th-best in the nation.
Their limitations are still stark, however. Playing such a small lineup, PSU is one of the worst rebounding teams in the nation in this early season, and thus have some of the fewest possessions per game. That leaves the margin for error slim, the Viks relying on first shots to fall.
The competition picks up again this weekend with a trip to Boise State on Sunday. The Broncos’ style seems to fit well with the PSU defense, Boise relying on free throws for points while its long-range shooting has been poor, making just 19.6% against three Division I opponents.
The game starts at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast online on the Mountain West Network.
Volleyball has continued its late-season slide, falling 3-1 to Eastern Washington in the final game in the Pavilion this season.
It’s the fourth loss in the last five matches after ripping off seven straight wins to climb to the top of the Big Sky. The slump has dropped the Viks to fourth in the league with one game remaining, with the possibility of falling to fifth with a loss at Sacramento State on Friday.
The Viks still rank as one of the best teams at the net, ranking second in the conference in hitting percentage and kills and holding opponents to the fewest kills and second-fewest assists. Led by two-time Big Sky libero of the year Ellie Snook, the Viks also are second in the conference in digs.
PSU has the chance to straighten out its record and enter the tournament on a high note, playing Sac State at 7 p.m. on Friday, the game to be broadcast on ESPN+.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
November 19 has been a good date in Portland State history.
This week in 1977, the Viks toppled Montana State 56-35 in the final game of the season, Mouse Davis’ crew finishing with a winning record for the third-straight year, the first time that had been done in the program’s short history.
The program was going so good, Portland State would advance to Division I the next season, an experiment that would only last a few years because of financial difficulties. The Viks didn’t move back up to Division I again until joining the Big Sky in 1996.
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