By SKYLINE SPORTS & NEWS SERVICES
The fourth week of Big Sky Conference play with the top team in the league, Eastern Washington, idle as the other three top teams earned wins to keep pace.
Montana pushed its streak of unanswered points to 127 before Sac State finally scored, but won for the second straight week, 67-7 over Sacramento State to move to 2-1 in league (click here for Montana story). North Dakota moved to 4-0 in league play, becoming the first team in the league with four Big Sky victories with a 45-23 win over Southern Utah. Cal Poly kept pace out of its bye by manhandling Portland State 55-35 to move to 2-1 in league play.
Northern Arizona won for a second straight week after a 1-4 start that included no Division I win. UC Davis won for the first time in league play with a win over Northern Colorado. Montana State lost for the fourth straight time to remain the only winless team in Big Sky Conference play after a 45-27 loss at Weber State (click here for story)
Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh/ by Brooks Nuanez
No. 19 Cal Poly 55, Portland State 35 — The scene was a familiar one at Providence Park on Saturday: An efficient Tim Walsh offense led his team to a dominant victory.
The problem for Portland State is that Walsh, who led the Vikings for 14 years, now coaches at Cal Poly. Walsh’s coldly efficient, run-oriented Mustangs threw a whole panorama of running backs and a thick book of plays at their coach’s former team and beat the Vikings 55-35.
No. 19 Cal Poly, the Big Sky Conference’s leading rushing team, piled 658 yards of total offense at a young Portland State defense. The Mustangs’ triple-option attack ran for 462 yards, and when the Vikings cheated up to stop the run, senior quarterback Dano Graves threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
Cal Poly, 4-2, had three rushers gain more than 100 yards: Kyle Lewis (158), Kori Garcia (141) and Joe Protheroe (101). The Mustangs never had to punt in the game.
Portland State quarterback Alex Kuresa did the best he could against the Mustangs, throwing for a career-high 275 yards and two touchdowns and running for two more. But the young PSU defense took a pounding against a conference offensive heavyweight.
The Mustangs cruised to a 27-14 halftime lead, throwing 339 yards of total offense at the home team. They had scoring drives of 76, 77, 74 and 82 in the half, all run-heavy, but two ending in touchdown passes.
The Vikings showed they were game though. Just 10 minutes into the contest, PSU had run only three plays and they trailed 13-0. But that turned just as suddenly when junior Kahlil Dawson took the ensuing kickoff at the PSU 17 and started upfield. He found his blockers at about the 35 and cut outside to the right, then outran all the horses for an 83-yard touchdown that put his team back in the game in a matter of 12 seconds.
PSU had 347 yards of total offense in the game. Paris Penn was the leading rusher with 14 carries for 68 yards, but PSU’s running game was taken out of it in the second half when the Vikings had to play catch-up. The Vikings also missed running back Nate Tago, who sat out with a shoulder injury.
Josh Kraght had a career-high six catches for 83 yards to lead the receiving corps. John Norcross made a career-high 15 tackles with the fumble recovery. Beau Duronslet made 12 stops and Tyler Foreman had 11.
The Vikings, now 2-5 on the season including 1-3 in conference play, get a week off before they come back to Providence Park on October 29 to face Northern Colorado. Cal Poly moved to 2-1 in league play and 4-2 overall. The Mustangs host UC Davis next week.
UND quarterback Keaton Studsrud threw a career-high four touchdowns against Southern Utah/ by Brooks Nuanez
No. 22 North Dakota 45, Southern Utah 23 — For the fifth consecutive week, North Dakota finished strong, winning for the fifth straight week and moving to 4-0 in Big Sky Conference play in the process.
Southern Utah senior wide receiver Mike Sharp grabbed a 31-yard touchdown on the first possession of the second half to cut UND’s lead to 28-23 in Grand Forks. But North Dakota scored 17 unanswered points, including two of Keaton Studsrud’s career-high four touchdown passes to win going away.
North Dakota is now 4-0 in Big Sky Conference play, 5-2 overall. Southern Utah, the reigning Big Sky champion, is 2-2 in league play, 3-3 overall.
On Homecoming, Studsrud completed 20-of-27 passes for career bests of 282 yards and four touchdowns. Studsrud threw a nine-yard touchdown to Luke Stanley on the first possession of the game and added a 7-yard touchdown to Noah Wanzek with 23 seocnds left in the first half to give UND a 28-17 lead at intermission. Studsrud hit true freshman Travis Toivonen for a 27-yard score and Demun Mercer for a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to help UND pull away.
“What I like the most about this team right now is we are getting contributions from every position,” UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We overcame some adversity early and I thought we played really well in the second half to put the game away.”
The victory over the Thunderbirds gives UND its first five-game winning streak during the program’s Division I era and first overall since opening the 2007 campaign with six-consecutive victories. That was the team’s final season at the Division II level.
The Fighting Hawks were not only effective through the air as Studsrud and company churned out 500-plus yards for the second-straight game. Junior fullback Kyle Norberg led a group of seven different rushers that accounted for 255 ground yards.
UND’s offense mustered 28 first downs and held a nearly 2:1 advantage in time of possession (39:36 to 20:24) and finished with 537 total yards. Norberg finished with six carries for 73 yards, while sophomores Brady Oliveira and John Santiago rushed for 64 and 55 yards, respectively and each added a second-quarter rushing touchdown.
UND’s defense would settle in, forcing three turnovers and allowing a season-low 51 rushing yards to the T-Birds (116 below season average). Senior Brian Labat accounted for two of those and his second-quarter fumble recovery led to a Wanzek 7-yard touchdown grab in the final minute of the first half.
UC Davis quarterback Ben Scott
UC Davis 34, Northern Colorado 21 — Manu Luuga capped a 10-play, 84-yard drive with Davis’ first touchdown with two minutes to play in the first quarter to give the Aggies a 10-3 lead. The hosts did not trail again.
Luuga rushed for 93 yards and scored two touchdowns, Josh Kelley added 66 yards and a score and Isiah Olave intercepted Kyle Sloter and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown as Davis won its first Division I victory of the season.
UC Davis senior quarterback Ben Scott completed 19-of-24 passes for 194 yards a week after missing last week’s loss to Southern Utah. The Davis defense held Northern Colorado to 2.8 yards per carry and 103 yards rushing. UNC star sophomore running back Trae Riek did not play.
Brandon Cartegena and Darius Graham each scored touchdowns for the Bears, who fell to 1-2 in conference, 3-3 overall. Davis’ Big Sky win means every team in the league besides Montana State have a league victory this season.
NAU quarterback Blake Kemp (10)/by NAU Athletics
Northern Arizona 52, Idaho State 7 — After sputtering to a 1-4 start that included no Division I wins, the preseason Big Sky favorites have won two straight.
A week after beating Montana State 20-14 in Bozeman, senior Blake Kemp completed 23-of-37 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns as NAU rolled. NAU held ISU to 4-of-16 on third downs and just 14 first downs while rolling up 517 yards of total offense.
NAU junior Emmanuel Butler caught six passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Delshawn McClellon caught six passes for 89 yards and a touchdown while William Morehand caught four passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Backup quarterback Hunter Correll entered the game with 10 minutes to play and threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Burton to cap 52 unanswered points from Northern Arizona.
Idaho State quarterback Tanner Gueller completed 21-of-40 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions for Idaho State, who fell to 1-2 in conference play, 2-4 overall. NAU is now 2-2 in league, 3-4 overall. The Lumberjacks host Montana next week while Idaho State hosts North Dakota.
