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In a weekend sure to resonate come December when the FCS playoff picture becomes clearer, many of the Big Sky Conference’s contenders came up just short. But the Montana Grizzlies posted a signature victory over a Missouri Valley Conference for a second straight season.
The Big Sky and the Missouri Valley, arguably the two premier conferences in the FCS, played a slate that included four non-conference matchups with heavy post-season implications. No. 14 Montana emerged as the only victor among Big Sky teams, posting a 20-14 win over No. 3 Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls on Saturday afternoon. No. 8 Eastern Washington went toe-to-toe with top-ranked and five-time defending national champion North Dakota State but fell 50-44 in overtime. No. 19 Northern Arizona encountered all it could handle in falling to No. 19 Western Illinois, a playoff team last season, 34-20 in Macomb, Illinois. Weber State scored 28 first-quarter points and led 42-21 in the third quarter against South Dakota but the Coyotes rallied for a 52-49 double-overtime victory in Vermillion.
The Big Sky-Missouri Valley matchups were four of the 13 games involving Big Sky teams on Saturday. Portland State turned the ball over six times and fell 66-35 at FBS San Jose State. North Dakota missed a two-point conversion try with 13 seconds to play to fall to FBS Bowling Green 27-26 in Ohio. Ten years after he led Montana State to an upset win over Colorado in Boulder, Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer and his Bengals fell 56-7 to the Buffs.
Reigning Big Sky champion Southern Utah earned a hard-fought victory over Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana, 28-23. Montana State forced five turnovers and overcame an anemic offensive performance to down Bryant 27-24 in Bozeman. Cal Poly rushed for 354 yards in a 38-16 win over San Diego in San Luis Obispo. Northern Colorado moved to 2-0 for the first time since moving to Division I in 2006 with a 55-52 win at Abilene Christian.
UC Davis hosted 2014 NAIA champion Southern Oregon on Saturday. Sacramento State played at FBS Fresno State. Neither game was final as of press time.
No. 1 North Dakota State 50, No. 8 Eastern Washington 44 — Eastern Washington quarterback Gage Gubrud passed for 450 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for 49 and a touchdown in a losing effort. He led the Eagles on four second-half scoring drives after Eastern lost senior wide receiver Cooper Kupp for the game with a shoulder injury. Before his injury, Kupp caught two touchdowns, giving him 61 in his illustrious career, more than any wide receiver in FBS or FCS history.
In Kupp’s place, sophomore receiver Stu Stiles caught eight passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. Two sophomore linebackers also filled in for injured starters, and Ketner Kupp and Kurt Calhoun combined for 21 tackles in their starting debuts.
“I’m just proud of our players, and I’m not caught up in the end result with how I feel about how these guys came in here and battled,” said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin after his team fell to 1-1 on the heels of a45-42 upset of Washington State last week. “It was a game either team could have won and came down to the wire. Give them credit, they found a way to win. We’ll be back swinging next week.”
After trailing most of the game, Eastern took a 44-41 lead with 4:32 to play after a 53-yard drive. But NDSU came back to knot it with a field goal, and Eastern’s Jordan Dascalo missed a 49-yarder that could have won it. After a Gubrud interception in overtime, a 25-yard run by Lance Dunn on the first play of the ensuing possession by the Bison ended the game.
“From a broad perspective in how we competed, our attitude and our effort, I loved how it felt the entire game,” said Baldwin. “I know we got down 10, but we never rolled over. We kept fighting and threw punches on both sides of the ball. We got some key stops late and made some big plays to score some key points.”
Eastern had 556 yards of offense, and had scoring drives of 82, 75, 85, 75, 62 and 53 yards. Eastern had 450 passing yards, while the Bison finished with 280 on the ground and 257 through the air for a total of 537. EWU senior wide receiver Kendrick Bourne had the sixth 100-yard receiving game of his career, finishing with eight receptions for 133 yards.
No. 14 Montana 20, No. 3 Northern Iowa 14 — Montana failed to score in the second half, but it didn’t matter. A dominating defensive performance led the Griz to their first road win over a Top 5 opponent since 2011.
The Grizzlies (2-0) held their own defensively against UNI (1-1) quarterback Aaron Bailey, holding the dual-threat quarterback in check, holding the vaunted runner to just eight yards on 20 carries and to 16-of-37 passing for 194 yards. All told, Montana gave up just 157 yards to Northern Iowa’s vaunted option attack, allowing 3.1 yards per rush. The Montana defense also notched nine tackles for loss and five sacks in the signature victory.
“We didn’t want to let the quarterback sit back there and have time so we brought a little pressure,” Griz linebacker Connor Strahm said. “Our defensive coaches brought in a great game plan to try to get him on the run and try to make some plays.”
Montana allowed 351 total yards to the Panthers and stuffed UNI on all three fourth-down attempts. Third downs helped the Montana defense as well, limiting Northern Iowa to just six conversions on 19 attempts.
“When our defense has a long field to defend, it is tough to score on us,” coach Bob Stitt said.
Over 12,000 fans packed the dome, eagerly awaiting Northern Iowa’s return home after they started the season with a 25-20 victory against FBS Iowa State on the road in week one. The crowd and atmosphere made it tough for Montana, but escaping the hostile environment with a win gives Stitt confidence moving forward. The stellar defensive effort overcame an offense that mustered just 12 first downs as senior quarterback Brady Gustafson mustered just 118 yards passing and Montan gained just 206 total yards.
“This game gives us confidence that we can play against anybody on the road,” Stitt said. “This is a tough place, they haven’t lost very many games here just like we don’t lose very many at our place… I think that was very Montanan, to come into this place and come out with a win.”
The Griz gained an early lead early as Gustafson hit Josh Horner for a 34-yard touchdown less than four mijnutes into the game. The UM lead swelled to 10-0 after Tim Semenza’s 47-yard field goal with 8:20 left in the first quarter set up by a 29-yard punt return by redshirt freshman Jerry Louie-McGee.
Louie-McGee took a punt 81 yards for a touchdown to put UM up 17-7 and the Griz never looked back.
“I couldn’t tell you how it all happened, but it was pretty awesome scoring my first touchdown,” Louie-McGee said. “I had some great and it lined up all the way to the end zone, it was pretty cool.”
On the final drive of the game, Northern Iowa had just over a minute left and no timeouts. They neared Grizzly territory, but a couple of penalties pushed the Panthers back, forcing a desperation hook-and-ladder final play that Montana stopped for the win.
“I’m not worried about what people are going to say, that we didn’t have any points in the second half or not enough yards or whatever, I don’t care, we got the W,” Stitt said. “That is the ultimate goal every week, how do we put these kids on the field and get the win.”
No. 18 Western Illinois 34, No. 19 Northern Arizona 20 — The Lumberjacks screamed out to a 13-3 lead as Case Cookus threw touchdowns of 42 yards to Elijah Marks and 37 yards to Emmanuel Butler in the first quarter. But the WIU trio of quarterback Sean McGuire, running back Steve McShane and wide receiver Lance Lenoir proved to be too much as the Leathernecks piled up 539 yards of total offense in the win.
McGuire completed 22-of-31 passes for 336 yards and touchdowns, including 11 completions for 231 yards to Lenoir, who scored a 10-yard touchdown to cap the scoring. McShane added 155 yards on 24 carries, including touchdowns of 62 and four yards as the hosts totaled 28 first downs and averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
“The control of the line of scrimmage…we didn’t have it,” NAU head coach Jerome Souers said after his preseason Big Sky favorites fell to 0-2. “They pressured our passing game, their offensive line took control and did a great job protecting their quarterback. I thought they ran the ball pretty effectively, but the hardest part was dealing with their receivers, particularly (Lance Lenoir). I thought he had a great game today.”
Following Butler’s touchdown, WIU poured on 24 unanswered points to put the game away. Cookus threw an 18-yard touchdown to John Baldwin to cut the lead to 27-20 with seven seconds left in the third quarter but Lenoir’s TD with 8:50 sealed the win.
Southern Utah 28, Southeastern Louisiana 23 — The Thunderbirds posted touchdowns in all four quarters of their home-opener against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions to seal the victory. Two years ago, SUU fell to the Lions 41-14 on the road.
The Thunderbirds trailed 17-14 at the half before putting up a touchdown in the third to capture the first SUU lead of the game at 21-17. The teams split for a touchdown each in the final quarter as the T-Birds secured the win, 28-23.
The win marks Demario Warren’s first win as a head coach.
“It was a great team win, but first of all, I want to thank the crowd. The crowd was loud, and I appreciate that,” Warren said. “We needed the offense, we needed the defense, and we needed the special teams. Everyone was making huge plays throughout the entire game. I’m just proud of the guys. They really rallied around each other.”
Malik Brown led the Thunderbirds offensively, rushing for 156 yards. Making his first start as a Thunderbird, quarterback transfer Patrick Tyler threw 18-28-0 for a total of 188 yards.
Taylor Nelson plowed the way defensively for the Thunderbirds with nine tackles. Jarmaine Doubs and Junior Tufuga each added six. In total, the Thunderbirds compiled 11 tackles for a loss of 29 yards.
Bowling Green 27, No. 25 North Dakota 26 — No. 25 North Dakota was a two-point conversion away from pulling off back-to-back wins over FBS opponents, but Bowling Green survived the late rally by the Fighting Hawks to register a 27-26 victory at Doyt Perry Stadium.
Sophomore Keaton Studsrud drove his team down the field on an 11-play, 65-yard touchdown drive in the final minute to leave head coach Bubba Schweigert with a decision to make. The third-year skipper opted to go for the win on a two-point conversion, but Studsrud and Stetson Carr, who had connected on the scoring play to make it a one-point contest, could not do the same and the Falcons (1-1) escaped with their first win of the season.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end. I felt like we had the momentum and it was the right call to make at the time,” UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We just have to make a play there.”
Studsrud capped the drive with a 3-yard strike to Carr, who hauled in his first collegiate touchdown in dramatic fashion. It came on a 3rd-and-goal pass with 13 seconds left on the clock. After the failed two-point try, UND went for the onside kick, but Bowling Green recovered and ran out the remaining time.
After both teams traded three-and-outs on their opening possessions, Bowling Green struck first and in a hurry as James Knapke connected with Scott Miller on a 71-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the Falcons’ next series.
Ronnie Moore would put BGSU up 14-0 on the home team’s next possession with a 3-yard touchdown run. The 14-point advantage would be the largest of the day for the high-octane Falcons.
Studsrud finished 21-for-36 for 219 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore John Santiago rushed 18 times for 119 yards and a touchdown to pace the UND offense, but it was the Fighting Hawks’ defense that gave the visitors a shot in the final quarter.
The teams would exchange missed field goals before Reid Taubenheim put UND on the board with a 36-yard field goal after Deion Harris had the first of his two interceptions on the day. Harris returned his second of day 61 yards for the Fighting Hawks’ first touchdown of the game. The junior’s pick-six made it a 14-10 contest with 1:49 left in the first half, but the visitors would keep the momentum for only 44 seconds.
Knapke returned to quarterback for BGSU and once again found Miller on a deep scoring strike. This one came from 51 yards out and gave the sophomore four catches for 150 yards in the opening 30 minutes.
UND would run out the final minute of the half and going into the lockerroom trailing 21-10.
Santiago got the offense rolling in the third quarter as he set up a 21-yard touchdown run with a season-long 32-yard scamper on the opening drive. Santiago’s 100-yard rushing effort was the 10th of his young career and first of the season.
Sophomore Tyus Carter came up with his first career interception on BGSU’s next possession and Taubenheim would get UND within a point once again, this time connecting on a 44-yard field goal that made it a 21-20 contest with 9:48 remaining in the third quarter.
Knapke would drive his team down the field once again connecting with Miller on an 11-yard strike. Miller finished with five catches for a career-high 161 yards. BGSU would miss the extra-point, leaving the Falcons up 27-20.
Neither team would score again until the final minute when Studsrud and company executed the two-minute offense to perfection.
UND will return home next Saturday for its home opener against South Dakota in the 51st annual Potato Bowl. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CT at the Alerus Center.
South Dakota 52, Weber State 49, 2 OT — The Wildcats held a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter before South Dakota scored three touchdowns in the final frame to force overtime. USD’s Miles Bergner knocked down a 34-yard field goal in the second overtime to seal the win.
“This one hurts but we have to keep our heads up and move on,” Weber State head coach Jay Hill said. “We played like a really good football team for a while but had some things happen late that we have to fix. We didn’t take care of the ball and made mistakes and you can’t do that and win games.”
In a wild first quarter, the two teams combined for 42 points. The Wildcats got off to a hot start, scoring three touchdowns in the first 6:30, two on defense. Landon Stice returned an interception 63-yards for a touchdown to put the ‘Cats up 7-0, just 4:31 into the game. It was the sixth longest interception return in Weber State history.
On the next possession, Dre Snowden recovered a fumble at the five-yard line an on the next play Drew Batchelor found Jadrian Clark for a 6-yard TD pass and the ‘Cats led 14-0 with 9:05 left in the first. Just 35 seconds later, Cardon Malan recovered a South Dakota fumble and the one yard line and ran it in to make it 21-0 Weber State with 8:30 left in the first quarter.
The Coyotes finally got things going offensively as they scored back-to-back touchdowns by Chris Streveler to make it 21-14 with less than a minute to play in the quarter. On the final play of the quarter, Treshawn Garrett ran for a 71-yard touchdown to close the quarter at 28-14.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 35-21 early in the third quarter when Clark found Darryl Denby for a 47-yard touchdown pass. With under 5:00 left in the third, Cory Thomson added a one-yard touchdown to make it 42-21.
The Coyotes scored on a 42-yards pass to cut it to 42-35 and then converted on a fourth and 12 for a 26-yard touchdown to tie the game at 42 with 32 seconds left.
South Dakota scored first in the first overtime with a 10-yard touchdown. Weber State followed when Clark found Andrew Vollert for a 25-yard TD. Taylor Hintze missed a 37-yard field goal attempt in the second overtime before Bergner’s field goal sealed the win.
South Dakota totaled 491 yards of total offense, compared to 373 for Weber State. The Coyotes had 29 first downs and converted on 16 of 28 third downs. USD rushed for 310 yards.
Jadrian Clark threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns but threw two interceptions. Andrew Vollert led the way with six catches for 86 yards and one touchdown. Cameron Livingston had five catches for 36 yards. Treshawn Garrett led the rushing attack with 22 carries for 141 yards and one touchdown.
San Jose State 66, Portland State 35 — The upset magic that Portland State produced in 2015 went missing as the Vikings moved up to play FBS-level San Jose State. The Spartans combined a dynamic offense while taking advantage of six Viking turnovers to come away with a resounding 66-35 win.
Last season, Portland State toppled Washington State 24-17 and blasted North Texas 66-7 during a historic campaign that resulted in the first playoff seed in PSU history.
Saturday marked the most points Portland State has allowed in six seasons, and the most turnovers in recent memory. With the loss, PSU drops to 1-1 on the season and has a date with the eighth-ranked Washington Huskies on Sept. 17 in Seattle.
The Spartans totaled 642 yards of offense, including 409 on the ground. A pair of long touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, totaling 161 yards boosted that number late.
Despite the six turnovers, the Vikings were able to still produce a decent offensive output with 458 yards and 35 points. But a three-and-a half minute stretch at the end of the first half turned a 14-14 game into a 28-14 halftime lead for the Spartans. The Vikings could never recover from there.
“The turnovers just crushed us. You are not going to win any games with six turnovers, especially against a team like San Jose State. They were faster than us up front and in specials teams,” said Viking Coach Bruce Barnum.
“I will tell my team that this game does not define us. There are some silver linings here. The sky is not falling for us. San Jose State has a talented football team and they had a perfect day. Kudos to them.”
San Jose State took charge with a 75-yard scoring drive in their first possession of the game. Quarterback Kenny Potter hit tight end Billy Freeman on a 36-yard touchdown pass just three minutes into the game.
The Vikings responded with some trickery. Quarterback Alex Kuresa threw a lateral pass to wide receiver Josh Kraght who surprised the Spartans defense when he threw the ball back across the field to Kuresa. Led by a host of blockers and a confused defense, Kuresa rambled down the left sideline for a tying touchdown of 78 yards.
On the first play of the second quarter, Potter scrambled for an eight-yard touchdown and the Spartans had the lead back at 14-7.
Following another Viking trick play – a fake punt that resulted in a 43-yard pass play – PSU had a chance to tie it again. But Kuresa was picked off in the end zone on a third-and-goal play.
Later in the second quarter, Viking running back Paris Penn put his stamp on the football game. Penn had consecutive runs of 22 yards, six yards, then went 36 yards for a touchdown. That tied the game at 14-14 with 6:14 left in the first half.
Then, late in the half, the the Spartans took control of the game. A one-yard TD run by Potter got San Jose State a 21-14 lead with 3:27 remaining the second quarter. After getting the Vikings to go three-and-out on their next offensive series, the Spartans closed out the half with another quick scoring drive. SJSU ran six plays in 40 seconds with Potter throwing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Tre Hartley with two seconds left in the half. San Jose State led 28-14 at halftime and never looked back.
The Spartans extended that lead to 42-14 with two quick touchdowns in the third quarter. At that point, the Vikings faced their largest deficit in two seasons and were unable to come back.
Penn caught a 22-yard touchdown pass mid-way through the period, but the Spartans tacked on 10 more to lead 52-21 going into the fourth.
Each team scored twice in the fourth as San Jose State cruised to the win.
Penn rushed 14 times for a career-high 137 yards and the one touchdown. He also caught three passes, including the 22-yarder for a TD. Kuresa was 10-22 for 135 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
For the second week in a row linebacker Anthony McNichols led the Vikings in tackles with eight. He also had a sack.
San Jose State is now 1-1 on the season. Kenny Potter completed 14-20 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two scores. Deontae Cooper rushed 18 times for 126 yards and a TD.
Cal Poly 38, San Diego 16 — Senior quarterback Dano Graves passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as Cal Poly overcame a 13-10 deficit late in the second quarter to defeat the University of San Diego 38-16 in a non-conference football game Saturday afternoon in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Graves connected with Kyle Lewis on a 57-yard pass with six seconds left in the first half, hit Kori Garcia with a 27-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the third quarter and rambled 33 yards through a big hole at left tackle for the final score of the game for Cal Poly.
The decision left both teams with 1-1 records. Cal Poly is now 5-0 in its all-time series against San Diego.
Junior fullback Joe Protheroe earned his second 100-yard game of the season and sixth of his Mustang career, rushing for 131 yards on 18 carries and scoring Cal Poly’s first touchdown of the game on a five-yard run with a minute to go in the opening period.
Coupled with Casey Sublette’s 39-yard field goal, Cal Poly opened up a 10-0 lead before San Diego mounted its rally.
Ross Dwelley caught a pair of touchdown passes from Anthony Lawrence spanning 1 and 13 yards in the second quarter as the Toreros took the lead from the Mustangs, 13-10.
Cal Poly, however, outscored San Diego 28-3 the rest of the way.
Protheroe contributed to the Mustang uprising with a one-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.
San Diego’s only points of the second half came on a 21-yard field goal by Patrick Murray 96 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Graves came close to the 100-yard mark for the second time this season. Rushing for 140 yards a week ago at Nevada, Graves added 98 yards on 14 trips against San Diego. He also completed five of eight passes for 130 yards and two scores.
Northern Colorado 55, Abilene Christian 52 — After Northern Colorado quarterback Jacob Knipp went down with a shoulder injury the Bears sideline was left motionless. It only took a few seconds for the energy to come surging back as second stringer Kyle Sloter proved more than capable of leading the offense. Sloter made his mark, throwing for 408 yards with 6 TDs passes, leading UNC to a 55-52 win over Abilene Christian.
Knipp was under center for just three snaps until a hard hit from ACU took him out of the game, but it was as if he never left with Sloter at the helm of the offense.
The senior QB came out guns blazing, opening his night 7-for-7 with 136 yards passing and two TD passes, just in the first two drives.
The Bears were able to put up 21 of their 55 points in the first quarter thanks to catches from Stephen Miller, Alex Wesley and a three-yard scamper from Trae Riek.
Wesley finished the night with a career-high 112 yards on three catches with two TDs. Miller complimented Wesley with 89 yards on four haul-ins and one touchdown reception.
It quickly turned into a dog fight after ACU scored three straight TDs to make it 28-28 shortly before halftime.
With momentum swaying the Wildcats way, UNC got a breath of fresh air late in the second quarter on a roughing the kicker penalty that gave the Bears a new set of downs and a ball spot in ACU territory.
Northern Colorado made the most of the situation, scoring four plays later on a 20-yard pass to Riek to make it 35-28 at half.
The second half was just as thrilling as each team matched one another blow-for-blow.
ACU took its first lead of the second half in the third quarter on a touchdown after a Sloter INT, his only of the game, to go up 49-48.
Trailing 52-48 in the fourth after an ACU field goal, the QB shrugged off the pick and drove the offense 75 yards in three plays, capping it off with a 59-yard TD pas to Wesley. The touchdown was eventually the game winner as the defense held the Wildcats to just a field goal in the fourth quarter.
Colorado 56, Idaho State 7 — Idaho State was held to 96 total yards while Colorado finished with 597. ISU had 35 yards rushing and 61 passing yards. CU had 262 rushing yards and 335 passing.
Colorado led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and then scored 35 second quarter points to lead 49-0 at halftime. Colorado led 56-0 in the third quarter before the Bengals got on the scoreboard.
With five minutes left in the third quarter Christian Holland picked up a fumble and returned it 15 yards to the Buffalo 27 yard line. The Bengals then punched it in the end zone six plays later on a Jakori Ford three-yard run.
Josh Cook had five receptions for 28 yards. Cook set the ISU record for most receiving yards by a tight end. Tanner Gueller completed 18 passes on 35 attempts for 59 yards and one interception.
“This is the way it has been at Idaho State for me since we have had to play these game,” ISU head coach Mike Kramer said. “It is exactly right down the middle of it. You can’t deny what it is. They are way better than we are and we didn’t play well enough at quarterback to be able to stem the tide.”
Joe Martin led the defense with nine tackles and Hayden Stout had eight.
