Eastern Washington kept its status as the cream of the Big Sky Conference, while North Dakota, Weber State and Cal Poly all kept pace, capitalizing on Montana’s loss in the process.
Eastern Washington put together a nearly flawless final 32 minutes in a 41-17 win at Montana State (0-5 in Big Sky, 2-6 overall, click here for game story). North Dakota outlasted Idaho State for its sixth straight win and Weber State rallied for its fifth straight over Southern Utah as UND and WSU stayed unbeaten alongside EWU. Cal Poly earned a win in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe against rival UC Davis to earn its third league win and sit alone in fourth place.
Montana (2-2 in league, 5-2 overall), a team on a three-game winning streak that included a pair of 60-point victories, stumbled and fell to the middle of the Big Sky pack with a 45-34 loss at Northern Arizona (2-2 in league, 3-4 overall, click here for recap).
No. 17 Cal Poly 21, UC Davis 16 — Cal Poly junior Kyle Lewis ripped off a 91-yard touchdown run with a little under than three minutes to play to lift the Mustangs to their third Big Sky win in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe on homecoming weekend in San Luis Obispo.
Lewis’ long touchdown gave Cal Poly a 21-9 lead with 2:54 to play. UC Davis sophomore Keelan Doss caught a five-yard touchdown with 44 seconds left but Cal Poly hung on to move to 3-1 in the Big Sky, alone in fourth place behind the three remaining unbeaten teams in league play.
With the win in front of 11,075 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Cal Poly evened the all-time series at 20-20-2 since the first game in 1939.
Davis, which fell to 1-4 in league, 2-6 overall, stuffed Cal Poly’s offensive attack for most of the night, limiting Dano Graves’ passing ability as much as the Mustangs’ triple option attack. Cal Poly rushed for 320 yards but averaged 5.0 yards per carry and managed just 17 first downs. Graves threw for just 44 yards.
Davis held a 9-7 lead to the six-minute mark of the third quarter thanks to a 61-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown by Anthony Baumgart and Matt Blair’s 25-yard field goal. Graves scored a 14-yard touchdown with 6:28 left in the third to put Cal Poly up 14-9 and the hosts never trailed again.
Lewis finished with 141 yards on eight carries, including the game-sealing touchdown, surpassing the century mark for the third time in his career. Fullback Joe Protheroe added 95 yards on 27 carries, but did not have a run for more than nine yards. Graves rushed for 45 yards on 17 carries. Aside from Lewis’ run, Davis allowed 3.6 yards per carry.
Davis’ Manu Luuga rushed 15 times for 118 yards, including a 48-yard spurt. UCD quarterback Ben Scott finished 19-of-35 for 182 yards but was sacked three times and threw an interception as Davis managed just 304 yards of offense.
Cal Poly continues Big Sky play next Saturday night at Sacramento State. Davis takes its bye.
UND quarterback Keaton Studsrud/ UND athletics
No. 19 North Dakota 28, Idaho State 21 — UND turned a 14-14 game at halftime into a two-score lead a minute into the fourth quarter and the Fighting Hawks held on to move to 5-0 in Big Sky Conference play.
Idaho State’s defense found its footing after weeks of struggles, making UND earn all 206 of its rushing yards. North Dakota needed 51 carries to reach the total, averaging 4.0 yards per rush.
K.W. Williams’ first of two touchdowns staked the hosts to a 7-0 lead. North Dakota junior quarterback Keaton Studsrud capped a 10-play drive with a one-yard touchdown run to even the score 7-7 with 13:51 left in the second quarter before hitting Travis Toivonen for a 28-yard touchdown three minutes later to give UND its first lead.
Michael Dean caught a 38-yard touchdown pass, the second of three thrown by ISU sophomore Tanner Gueller, to tie the score at 14 at halftime. Gueller finished with 220 yards passing and three touchdowns for Idaho State, which fell to 1-3 in Big Sky play, 2-5 overall.
North Dakota sophomore Brady Oliveira scored a four-yard touchdown to cap a 15-play, 78-yard, eight-plus minute drive to open the second half and give UND a 21-14 lead and the visitors would not trail again.
“We needed to score seven points and get some momentum in the game,” UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We’re on the road and coming off a hard-fought first half. We needed to play better and our guys came out ran the ball better and we made some plays. That conversion on fourth down led to a touchdown and I was really pleased with that.”
After forcing ISU into back-to-back punts, the Fighting Hawks would move ahead by 14 points and take their largest lead of the game when Josh Seibel hauled in a 17-yard strike from Studsrud early in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals would not go away, however, as K.W. Williams hauled in a 17-yard pass of his own for a touchdown with just 1:23 left on the clock. Williams had a pair of scores for the second straight game against UND, but ISU’s onside kick attempt rolled out of bounds.
Oliveira would barrel his way for 11 yards and game-clinching first down on back-to-back carries as he finished with 46 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore John Santiago posted his 12th 100-yard rushing game of his career and eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark with a 101-yard effort on 18 carries.
UND takes its first six-game winning streak of the Division I era back home to face Weber State, one of three remaining unbeaten Big Sky teams. Idaho State hosts Southern Utah next week.
Weber State 37, Southern Utah 36 — Weber State has spent this season season jolting out to hot starts and hanging on for dear life. On Saturday in Cedar City against their in-state rival, the Wildcats were the ones who rallied.
Weber scored 23 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to rally from a 36-14 deficit to post its fifth straight win and remain unbeaten in Big Sky play after its first win over SUU since 2012.
“I’m so proud of our team for how they fought and found a way,” said WSU head coach Jay Hill . “Our offense made some great plays down the stretch and did a great job. There was a mindset that switched in the second half that we need to get corrected but they pulled it out and now we’ll move on to the next one.”
Weber State is now 4-0 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats are 5-2 overall and tied with Eastern Washington a half game behind 5-0 North Dakota as the only three undefeated Big Sky Conference teams remaining. The loss drops the defending BSC Thunderbirds to 2-3 in league play, 3-4 overall.
Weber State built leads of 21-0 and 41-21 in a 52-49 overtime loss to South Dakota, the last defeat suffered by the Wildcats this season. WSU needed a touchdown in the last two minutes to beat Sacramento State the week before building a 32-10 lead over UC Davis only to hang on for a 38-35 win. Last week against Montana State, Weber exploded out to a 21-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. The Wildcats put the hammer down in that one, extending the lead to 42-14 at half and winning 45-27.
In front of 8,511 at Eccles Coliseum, SUU junior Patrick Tyler scored on a 19-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the game and then hit Isaiah Diego-William for a 37-yard score to give the hosts a 14-0 lead eight minutes into the game. Tyler’s 55-yard touchdown to senior Mike Sharp, who finished with five catches for 90 yards, gave Southern Utah a 23-6 lead at halftime.
Weber State senior quarterback Jadrian Clark hit Cam Livingston for a 15-yard touchdown pass, Clark’s second of four TD passes Saturday, to cut the SUU lead to 23-14 early in the second half. But Tyler’s second rushing touchdown and Raysean Pringle’s 36-yard scoring run gave SUU it’s largest lead, 36-14.
Clark’s third touchdown was a 10-yard scoring pass to Stefan Cantwell with 7:15 to play. SUU forced a safety to cut the lead to 13, then Clark executed a 14-play, 65-yard drive capped by an 11-yard touchdown to junior tight end Andrew Vollert to cut the SUU lead to 36-30.
Weber forced a punt and assumed control with 1:13 remaining. Clark’s 24-yard pass to running back Haini Moimoi got WSU into SUU territory and his 40-yard touchdown pass to Darryl Denby gave Weber it’s first and only lead with 31 seconds left.
Southern Utah ran seven plays but never reached Weber State territory. Southern Utah held Weber to 123 yards rushing but Clark completed 31-of-52 passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns. Clark is the first Wildcat to throw for more than 400 yards since former Big Sky MVP Cameron Higgins did it in 2009.
Weber State plays North Dakota next week in Grand Forks. Southern Utah plays at Idaho State.
Northern Colorado 27, Sacramento State 19 — After handing UC Davis its first Division I win last week, UNC was not about to hand Sacramento State its second.
The Northern Colorado defense held Sac State to 283 yards and 3.3 yards per play. The Bears’ offense welcomed stud sophomore running back Trae Riek back to the fold in rallying from a 10-7 halftime deficit to win going away.
“It was nice to see that we battled back,” said UNC junior wide receiver Hakeem Deggs after catching four passes for 62 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to extend UNC’s lead to 24-13. “Last week we had the same opportunities and we didn’t get it done and this week we did in the second half. The game plan worked we just didn’t execute it in the first half.”
The win pushes Northern Colorado to 2-2 in league play, 4-3 overall. Sac State is now 1-4 in league, 1-7 overall.
“Overall I thought the game plan was awesome,” Northern Colorado head coach Earnest Collins Jr. said. “Our defensive coaching staff did a great job of putting guys in positions to succeed. When you get 85 plays and you hold them to under 300 yards, you had a pretty good day. It’s just about us as a staff figuring out what our kids are good at. It’s a process – I talk to the players all the time about trusting each other and not having to do someone else’s job because you don’t think they’re doing it. You have to trust the man next to you and usually when you do that, you’ll come out on top.”
Sac State took a 10-7 lead into halftime despite Ellis Onic’s 79-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. Quarterback Kyle Sloter threw a 25-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter to give UNC a lead it would not relinquish. Deggs’ 54-yard catch and run turned a 17-13 game into an 11-poit Nortern Colorado lead. Jordan Robinson’s second short touchdown run cut the lead to 24-19 with nine minutes left but Jamie Falloon’s second field goal of the day, this one from 42 yards, provided the final margin.
Riek rushed for 108 yards on 13 carries as UNC rushed for 229 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
“Coaches were just trying to do their best to keep me healthy for next – coming back from a shoulder injury they just wanted to be precautious,” Riek said. “Sac State came out ready to go and came out on fire like UC Davis did last week. Their linebackers were playing really well and we were making little mistakes, but we made great adjustments in the second half that led to our scoring opportunities.
Sac went with walk-on quarterback Nolan Merker, who finished 3-of-15 for 25 yards and was sacked four times before getting pulled. Sophomore Nate Ketteringham, Sac’s normal starter who was pulverized in the Hornets’ 68-7 loss at Montana last week, came off the bench to complete 6-of-17 passes for 83 yards. Robinson rushed for a season-high 128 yards in the loss. Slotter completed 16-of-25 for 203 yards and two scores.
Northern Colorado plays at Portland State next week. Sac State hosts rival Cal Poly.
