PORTLAND, Oregon — Bruce Barnum talked in the off-season and during the week about the desire of his Vikings to punch Montana State in the mouth. On Saturday at Providence Park here in the City of Roses, Portland State brutalized the Bobcats.
[restrict paid=”true”]The No. 17 Vikings held no punches with No. 16 MSU in town. Behind a career day from senior tailback David Jones and a rushing attack that piled up a school record 465 yards on the ground, Portland State scored on its first eight possessions and nine of its first 10 en rout to a 59-42 victory in front of 8,110.
“This win is unbelievable, honestly,” said Jones after rushing for 285 yards and three touchdowns. “We just battled through adversity. At the beginning of the game, we were going back and forth, blow for blow and honestly, we just never stopped swinging. We knew that the game was going to work itself out if kept playing as hard as we could.”
In Montana State’s first trip to Portland since 2011, the Bobcats offered little resistance defensively in losing to PSU for the first time in eight contests under ninth-year head coach Rob Ash. The PSU win snapped an eight-game losing streak overall to Montana State and was the first win by Portland State over a school from Montana after 16 consecutive losses.
“I’m 1-0 against Montana State so I didn’t take any of that stuff into account,” PSU junior quarterback Alex Kuresa, a junior college transfer, said after piling up 268 yards of total offense in the win. “Most of our guys didn’t either. They are just another team we have to go out and beat on Saturday. The Big Sky is a tough conference. We aren’t favoring anybody or putting a star by any team. Every game is a big game.”
The victory moves Portland State to 2-1 in Big Sky Conference play, 5-1 overall. The loss is Montana State’s third in three road games this season and the seventh in its last nine games away from Bozeman. The Bobcats are on a five-game road losing streak. MSU is 2-2 in league play, 3-3 overall, including 2-3 against Division I competition.
“We have to win out,” MSU junior quarterback Dakota Prukop said after throwing for 211 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 102 yards and three more touchdowns. “The Big Sky Conference is a crazy conference. Right now, we have to focus on the next game. Our backs are against the wall and I’m excited for that because we play extremely well with our backs to the wall.”
With five games remaining on its schedule, including a non-conference game next week against first-year FCS participant East Tennessee State, Montana State will likely have to run the table to stay alive in the Big Sky title race. The Bobcats will need to win all five remaining games to get to seven Division I wins, a benchmark for FCS playoff consideration.
“If we win out, we will be one of the hottest teams in the nation and you have to hope that can happen,” Ash said after falling to 7-1 in his career against PSU. “Hat’s off to Portland State. They did a good job today, executed well. They have a good football team.
“We know we have to win out. Everyone is down as you might expect. I’m down like you would expect. We will fight back. That’s just the character of this team. There will be no division on this team. I didn’t have to say it but I did. These guys will fight back.”
In MSU’s previous two Division I wins, the Bobcats won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. Each time, Montana State scored on its opening drive, sparking momentum that led to victories over Cal Poly and Sacramento State. On Saturday, the Bobcats again won the toss and again took the ball.
Three plays into the action, Prukop ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run in which he broke two tackles to give MSU a 7-0 lead 81 seconds into the game. On Portland State’s first offensive snap, Jones took a draw play and bumped it outside before showing off his formidable speed on a 79-yard touchdown.
Montana State responded with a dominant 11-play, 87-yard drive that included first down plays like 19 and 13-yard completions from Prukop to sophomore Mitch Herbert, an 11-yard burst by junior Gunnar Brekke, a 12-yard toss from Prukop to Mitch Griebel and an 11-yard first down burst by junior Chad Newell. Prukop capped the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run sprung by a nice block from redshirt freshman Connor Sullivan to take a 14-7 lead.
Portland State responded with a methodical drive of its own, driving 78 yards in 11 plays, highlighted by a 21-yard catch and run from Kuresa to junior tight end Cam Sommer. Junior Nate Tago capped the drive by following 320-pound junior offensive guard Cam Keizur into the end zone.
In the second quarter, the Bobcat offense was not able to respond as the Portland State lead swelled to 28-14 thanks to a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Paris Penn and a 24-yard touchdown catch by senior Thomas Carter III. Prukop’s third rushing touchdown cut the lead to a single score but Portland State answered with a nine-play, 86-yard drive capped by a three-yard Kuresa touchdown run to give PSU a 35-21 lead with 26 seconds left in the half.
So porous was MSU’s defense that the Bobcats elected to onside kick out of halftime. The Vikings recovered and Jones scored his second touchdown on a 26-yard run to give PSU a 42-21 lead. MSU true freshman Logan Jones answered with a 100-yard kick return, the fourth 100-yard special teams TD in school history. But David Jones again provided a dagger to the heart of the Bobcats. His 56-yard touchdown run gave PSU a 49-28 lead with 11 minutes still to play in the third quarter. Penn would add his second touchdown as Portland State piled up 56 points in the first three quarters.
“We were trying to find ways to take advantage of their formations,” said Keizur, the right guard who provided running lanes all afternoon for an offense that averaged 7.2 yards per carry on 65 total rushes. “We schemed them up pretty good. It was basically just hard running by the running backs. We just treated their front like a four-down, blocked it up and did what we wanted.”
The Vikings threw the ball just 14 times for 217 yards in piling up 682 yards of total offense. PSU notched 32 first downs, including 21 by running the ball. The Viks converted 11-of-14 third downs and possessed the ball for more than 38 minutes.
“From today’s observations without having watched the film yet, one was, we over-pursued, somebody came out of the gap, got their eyes on that jet sweep motion or tiger fake or whatever, not being able to stay home in that backside gap hurt us,” Ash said. “On the draw play for the touchdown (Jones’ first run), there was someone not in their spot. Missed tackles is the other thing. It was very difficult for us to get off blocks. They sustained their blocks very well.”
Mitchell Herbert’s four-yard touchdown catch with 1:35 left in the third quarter cut the Viking lead to 56-42. On the ensuing Portland State possession, the Bobcat defense came up with its first stop after eight straight PSU touchdown drives. MSU sophomore Mac Bignell stripped Kuresa and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Tucker Yates recovered.
On Montana State’s next possession, the Bobcats pushed to the PSU 13-yard line. Prukop threw incomplete to junior tight end Austin Barth then hit senior tight end Beau Sandland for a two-yard gain. Prukop scrambled on third down but was tackled for no gain by PSU sophomore Davond Dade. On fourth down, Dade and senior defensive tackle Junior Alexis swallowed up Prukop. The Vikings marched 77 yards in 12 plays, eating up 6 minutes, 42 seconds and capping the drive with a 29-yard Jonathan Gonzalez field goal to cap the PSU scoring.
“I had a communication error with the sideline,” Prukop said. “We wanted to check to something, something we hadn’t really worked but if we checked to it, we would’ve had a successful play. But when they were yelling the check, I thought (offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey) was pointing at that area to read it. I tried to stay in the pocket but I got out wider and they had two guys spying me. Great job by Portland State. They had a good defensive line, especially with the spies. The best situation there is not my feet.”
Miscommunications and misalignments have become all too common for a Bobcat team that continues to flounder under high expectations. MSU was the preseason selection by the Big Sky’s coaches to win the conference. Despite scoring at least 42 points in five of six games and averaging 561 yards per game overall, including 440 on Saturday, the Bobcats find themselves with their backs against the wall.
“It’s frustrating to lose and we lose as a team,” Prukop said. “I’m the captain of this team and I’m the captain of the defense too so when we lose, we lose as a team.”
The last time MSU played in Portland, a stuffed PSU two-point conversion attempt by Zach Minter helped MSU preserve a 38-36 win. The Vikings went 7-4 that season, likely missing the FCS playoffs because of the loss to MSU. Portland State could never find momentum with Nigel Burton at the helm thereafter. PSU posted a 21-36 record in Burton’s five seasons, including 14-32 in the four seasons outside of 2011. Burton was fired in November.
The PSU administration promoted Barnum, Burton’s offensive coordinator, giving him interim status and a contract that expired on December 31 of this year. After PSU’s 4-1 start — a streak that included wins over FBS Washington State and North Texas — Barnum was awarded a five-year contract. On Saturday, the Vikings affirmed themselves as legitimate Big Sky title contender.
“We were supposed to win one game this year so every game, we are trying to prove that we are the real deal,” Kuresa said. “It doesn’t matter if you beat Montana State or you beat Washington State. People are asking how will we beat Cal Poly (in San Luis Obispo next week)? How will we beat Montana (in Portland on October 31)? We have to prove week in and week out that we can. We are set to make a statement and we did today.”
“It’s a landmark win,” Jones added. “This is a very special days for us.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
