After another wild and unpredictable weekend, two teams remain unbeaten in the 13-team Big Sky Conference.
Eastern Washington won for the fourth straight week overall to move to 3-0 in conference play. Southern Utah is also on a four-game winning streak as a win following its bye moved the Thunderbirds to 3-0.
Weber State continued to surprise with its third win in four outings after three straight two-win seasons. Northern Colorado, a team picked to finish last in the league by both the league’s coaches and the media, already has four wins, more than the traditional power schools from the Treasure State, Montana State and Montana.
Northern Arizona, Cal Poly and Montana all had byes last week.
No. 8 Eastern Washington 45, Idaho State 28 — The Eagles brought the Cooper Kupp show to Holt Arena on Saturday.
Kupp, EWU’s All-America wide receiver, continued to make his case to turn his preseason Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP into postseason affirmation. In Pocatello, the junior caught 14 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass as the Eagles moved to 3-0 in Big Sky play with their fourth straight win.
“It’s a group effort and these players keep grinding and finding a way,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said in an Eastern press release. “It’s a great group to coach, and it will continue to be fun coaching them this next week.”
Kupp broke EWU’s school record for receptions in a career, surpassing Eric Kimble’s total of 253 catches. Kupp needs just seven catches to tie Idaho’s Kasey Dunn for the all-time Big Sky record. Kupp’s 49 career touchdowns are the most ever in the Big Sky. Kupp now has 30 catches for 498 yards and seven touchdowns in three career games against Idaho State.
Eastern Washington’s defense forced four turnovers and forced ISU quarterback Michael Sanders into three interceptions in moving to 30-3 against the rest of the Big Sky after an 0-2 start in league play in 2011. ISU held the Bengals to 381 yards of total offense. Sophomore linebacker Jake Gall had a career-high 15 tackles, including 1 1/2 for losses. He also had a pass broken up to spearhead the defensive effort.
“I loved that so many people were talking and our defense was listening that the first team to eight touchdowns was going to win. Our defense didn’t think that would be the case and came out and played great football. We were led by our defense in this game – it’s a very good Idaho State team and offense, and our defense came to play.”
EWU quarterback Jordan West threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns, including 10 completions to Kendrick Bourne for 102 yards. Sanders threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns while ISU senior Xavier Finney rushed for 107 yards on 23 carries.
The win moves EWU to 4-2 overall. The Eagles play at Northern Colorado next week. The loss drops ISU to 1-3 in league, 2-5 overall. Idaho State plays at Sacramento State next week.
Weber State 25, North Dakota 24 — In Ogden, Utah, Weber State trailed 24-10 with 12:32 to play before mounting a comeback to earn its third win in its last four outings.
WSU junior quarterback Jadrian Clark threw touchdowns to Tui Satuala (38 yards) and Cody Eyolfson (five yards) in the game’s final eight minutes as Weber State improbably moved to 3-1 in Big Sky Conference play. WSU has won two games each of the last three seasons.
UND true freshman running back John Santiago continued his stellar season by rushing for 157 yards on 25 carries. The absence of injured starting quarterback Keaton Studsrud put a hitch in North Dakota’s offensive production as UND lost in comeback fashion for the second straight week. Last week, UND blew a 31-15 fourth-quarter lead in a 37-31 loss to Idaho State.
Clark threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns as Weber moved to 4-3 overall. Daryl Denby caught seven passes for 130 yards, including a five-yard touchdown. Eric Wilkes rushed for 91 yards on 18 carries despite UND’s league-leading rushing defense once again giving up less than 100 team rushing yards. WSU finished with 98 yards on the ground.
In relief of Studsrud, junior Ryan Bartels completed 9-of-20 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. UND is now 2-2 in Big Sky play, 4-3 overall after losing for the second straight week. North Dakota plays at Montana next week. The Grizzlies were idle on Saturday.
Weber State plays at Northern Arizona.
Northern Colorado 56, UC Davis 27 — In Greeley, redshirt quarterback Jacob Knipp and third-year sophomore running back Brandon Cartagena each scored three first-half touchdowns as Northern Colorado jumped out to a 42-0 lead in the first half.
Northern Colorado rushed for 298 on just 32 carries averaging 9.3 yards per rush in scoring seven rushing touchdowns. Cartagena rushed for 112 yards and two scores. Junior running back Darius Graham rushed for 71 yards on 14 carries, Knipp rushed five times for 43 yards and sophomore Hakeem Deggs scored a 75-yard touchdown as UNC moved to 4-2 overall with its second conference victory.
UNC piled up 484 yards on just 48 offensive plays as Knipp completed 10-of-15 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, a 34-yard scoring strike to Cartagena.
UC Davis possessed the ball for 42:45, the second straight week the Aggies held the ball for more than 40 minutes. A week earlier, UCD rushed for 208 yards in a 38-24 win over Northern Arizona. On Saturday, Davis averaged just 3.3 yards in rushing for 118 yards on 36 carries. Davis averaged just 4.8 yards per play in gaining 353 yards of total offense.
Davis quarterback Ben Scott completed 19-of-25 passes for 154 yards before giving way to Keenan Culbertson, who completed 10-of-12 passes for 81 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to Alex Cannon with 51 seconds left.
Northern Colorado plays at Eastern Washington. UC Davis hosts Southern Utah.
Southern Utah 44, Sacramento State 0 — In Cedar City, the Thunderbirds have given up as many points to Big Sky opponents as they have total wins. SUU’s second shutout in Big Sky play means it is one of two Big Sky squads with three wins and no losses, joining three-time defending league champion Eastern Washington atop the standings.
Fresh off a bye, Southern Utah notched five sacks and 14 tackles for loss in posting a second straight shutout. SUU beat in-state rival Weber State by an identical 44-0 score two weeks ago in Ogden. On Saturday, senior linebacker Matt Holley notched 14 tackles and three tackles for loss while James Cowser, Logan Baker, Mike Needham, Frank Sanft and Austin Gumucio all notched sacks as SUU held Sac to 187 total yards and just 10 first downs.
Southern Utah quarterback Ammon Olsen threw for 421 yards and five touchdowns, including three TD tosses in the first quarter. Senior Mike Sharp caught touchdown passes of 10, 32 and 50 yards in finishing with nine catches for 154 yards. Justin Brown added touchdown catches of 40 and 48 yards in finishing with seven catches for 160 yards. Senior Malik Brown rushed for 105 yards on 16 carries.
With sophomore quarterbacks Daniel Kniffin and Kolney Cassel on the shelf with shoulder injuries, Sac State true freshman quarterback Nate Ketteringham completed 14-of-33 passes for 117 yards. Sac finished with 70 yards rushing on 29 carries, averaging 2.4 yards per carry and just three yards per play overall.
