complete notes and stats in pdf

WILLAMETTE BEARCATS (3-3) vs. PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-3)
Game 7 • Saturday, October 22, 2011 • 5:05 p.m. • JELD-WEN Field (18,627), Portland, OR

TELEVISION: None
RADIO: Freedom 970 AM, www.970.am • Pregame Show: 4 p.m. • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Analyst: Mike Lund
INTERNET: Live stats are available at www.GoViks.com. Live video stream with radio broadcast at www.b2tv.com.
 
THE SERIES RECORD: 1st meeting

STREAKS
• Portland State has lost two in a row.
• Willamette has won two in a row.
• SR SS DeShawn Shead has made 39 straight starts.

STORYLINES
• Portland State and Willamette meet for the first time in history.
• This game marks the first time PSU has played two teams in the same season below the Division I level since 1996 - the first year the Vikings moved to Division I. The opponents were Division II teams Sonoma State and UC Davis.
• Since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996, Portland State is 9-0 against lower division programs (Division II, III and NAIA).

PORTLAND STATE vs. LOWER DIVISION SCHOOLS (Big Sky era)
1996: PSU 25, Sonoma State 7 (although PSU was only a provisional Division I program)
1996: PSU 32, UC Davis 27 (although PSU was only a provisional Division I program)
1999: PSU 48, Western Washington 28
2000: PSU 37, Western Washington 20
2003: PSU 34, Texas A&M-Kingsville 21
2004: PSU 38, Western State (CO) 0
2008: PSU 31, Western Oregon 14
2009: PSU 34, Southern Oregon 10
2011: PSU 52, Southern Oregon 0

VIKINGS HOST FIRST-EVER MEETING WITH WILLAMETTE
Portland State returns to JELD-WEN Field after a grueling loss at 14th-ranked Montana last Saturday, looking to heal some wounds and get back on the winning track. The Vikings (3-3) host Division III Willamette (3-3) in a 5:05 p.m. game this Saturday. The game airs on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am with the pregame show at 4 p.m.
    
The Vikings have lost games each of the last two weeks to the top two teams in the Big Sky Conference in heart-breaking fashion (38-36 to #3 Montana State after failing on a late two-point conversion, and 30-24 at #14 Montana after leading 21-7 in the first half). That's a total of eight points difference against a pair of the best teams in the nation. But, close only counts in horseshoes, not football. So, the Vikings will get a chance to bounce back in non-conference game with the Bearcats this week.
    
Willamette has won its last two games and is 2-1 in the Northwest Conference. Willamette is located just 45 miles south of Portland State, but it will be the first time the Bearcats and Vikings have met on the football field. For PSU, it will be a second opponent that plays below the Division I level, marking the first time that has occured since 1996. PSU is 9-0 against lower division opponents since joining the Big Sky in 1996.
    
Portland State will likely face Willamette without star running back Cory McCaffrey, who suffered a left leg injury at Montana.
    
The Vikings get back into Big Sky Conference play next week with a game at defending national champion Eastern Washington. Then, Sacramento State hosts Sacramento State on Nov. 5, plays at Northern Colorado on Nov. 12, then hosts the season finale against Weber State on Nov. 19.     

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Willamette University, a Division III member of the Northwest Conference, comes into this week's game with a 3-3 record. The Bearcats have won two in a row and three of their last four. Head Coach Mark Speckman is in his 14th season at Willamette and has an 81-56 career record.
    
Willamette is renowned for its innovative “fly” offense which, similar to the Pistol, is a difficult to defend run-based attack. The Bearcats average 229.7 yards rushing per game and just over 352 yards of total offense. Willamette seems to have hit its stride, scoring 98 points in wins over the last two weeks.
    
A remarkable 21 players have running plays this season for Willamette. The leading rusher is Jamiere Abney with 71carries for 382 yards and two touchdowns. No other player has rushed for as many as 200 yards.
    
Quarterback Brian Widing is 52-100 passing with five touchdowns, six interceptions and 675 yards. Jake Knecht has a team-leading 18 receptions for 355 yards and three touchdowns.
    
The Bearcat defense has allowed just 17.5 points per game and forced 18 turnovers in six contests. Also impressive is allowing opponents to convert only one of 15 fourth-down attempts this season.
    
Harmon Bruno has a team-leading 44 tackles for Willamette. A former Viking, Dominic David, leads the Bearcats with three interceptions and a fumble recovery.
    
GAME WEEK ACTIVITIES
VIKINGS ON THE RADIO: All Portland State football games can be heard on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am. The Viking Pregame Show begins one hour prior to kickoff each week... Tom Hewitt (play-by-play) and Mike Lund (analyst) call the action.
VIKINGS ON TELEVISION: Portland State and Comcast SportsNet have teamed up to present a minimum of four Viking football games during the 2011 season. The Vikings can be seen on CSN on Sept. 3 vs. Southern Oregon, Sept. 17 vs. Northern Arizona, Oct. 8 vs. Montana State, and Oct. 15 at Montana. There is a possibility that additional Viking games will be televised on CSN and will be determined later in the season... veteran broadcasters Bob Akamian and Rashad Floyd will be on the call for the first two games. Games against Montana State (Max Media) and Montana (KPAX) will be shared feeds produced by the opponents' television partners... Comcast SportsNet is available in the Portland area on Comcast cable systems, channel 37/HD 737. Other metro-area affiliates aside from Comcast are: Beavercreek Cooperative Telephone SD 38/HD 638; Canby Telcom SD 33/HD 733; Oregon Cable Group SD 53/HD 753; Frontier Communications SD 77/HD 577; Wave Broadband SD 37or 45(depending upon location)/HD 737.
VIKINGS ON THE INTERNET: Live streaming video of all Portland State home and Big Sky Conference games can be seen free at www.b2tv.com... Live stats for Portland State home games are at www.GoViks.com.
NIGEL BURTON WEEKLY ON 750 AM THE GAME: Viking football Coach Nigel Burton can be heard every Monday at 1:30 p.m. on the Dave Smith Show on 750 AM The Game. Burton will review and preview Viking football games.
VIKING COACHES' LUNCHEONS: Viking Coaches Luncheons are scheduled for Monday at noon of every home football week. Coach Nigel Burton, Viking players, and coaches representing other sports will be on hand to speak and take questions. Luncheons take place at The Old Spaghetti Factory at 0715 S.W. Bancroft in Portland. The cost is $10.00 per person and includes lunch and a non-alcoholic beverage.
TICKETS: Tickets for all home games can be purchased in prices ranging from $15 to $50, with youth prices as low as $8. Groups of 15 or more get special admission prices. To purchase tickets by phone, call 1.888.VIK.TIKS or 503.725.3307. Tickets are on sale at the PSU Ticket Office, located in Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway. You can also purchase tickets on-line at www.GoViks.com or at all TicketMaster outlets.
SPECIAL EVENTS FOR THIS WEEK: The Willamette game is homecoming at Portland State... the Vik Walk begins on the Park Blocks with the team at 2:30 p.m. The team will walk to JELD-WEN Field and fans are welcome to join... the Last Regiment Drum Line will be performing outside the stadium prior to the game... the Coors Light Viking Tailgate will open three hours before every game and will be located outside the Kingston Saloon.  The tailgate area will feature beer, live television, inflatables for the kids, Voodoo Donuts, and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. DJ O.G. ONE, also the official DJ of the Portland Trailblazers, will be the DJ at all home games... the 2011 Big Sky Conference champion golf team, and Pacific Coast Softball Conference champion softball team will be honored at halftime.

McCAFFREY LEADS NATION IN SCORING, SECOND IN RUSHING
Senior running back Cory McCaffrey remained the nation's leader in scoring after Saturday's game at Montana. He dropped to second in the nation in rushing after leading the past two weeks. McCaffrey had 25 carries for 103 yards and a score in a 30-24 loss to the Griz. That gives him 122 carries for 731 yards and 13 touchdowns in just five games played. He averages 146.2 yards per game and 15.6 points per game.
        
Unfortunately, McCaffrey went down with an injury midway through the fourth quarter to his left leg.
        
The 5-9, 185-pound back is on his way to one of the great seasons in Portland State history. In just 16 games as the Vikings' feature back in 2010-11, McCaffrey has 353 carries for 2,018 yards and 23 touchdowns. He ranks 10th all-time in rushing at PSU, eighth in touchdowns, and fifth in 100-yard games (12) in that short time. McCaffrey has reached at least 100 yards rushing in every Big Sky Conference game he played as the feature back except one (11 of 12). The only time he missed the number was the 2010 season finale against Northern Arizona when he left the game in the first quarter with an injury.
        
In his first two seasons at Portland State (2008-09) under former Head Coach Jerry Glanville, McCaffrey played briefly in 10 games as a slot receiver, making three receptions. He did not carry the ball as a running back.
        
With McCaffrey's injury, it is expected that FR RB Shaquille Richard (59-226-1), SO RB Justin Lilley (17-99-1) and SR RB Willie Griffin (4-(-2)-0) will have to pick up the slack for the Vikings.

FACTS, FIGURES AND CURIOSITIES
WINS AND LOSSES: Portland State's loss to Montana was its' seventh straight to the Grizzlies. PSU now has a two-game Big Sky Conference losing streak... the Vikings are 2-1 at home, 1-2 on the road and now have more wins (3) than each of the last two years (2-9)... PSU is 53-30 in home games since moving to the NCAA I level, 26-62 on the road... PSU is 52-67 all-time in Big Sky Conference games in its' 16th season as a member. The Vikings are 33-27 at home, 19-40 on the road in BSC games.

FINISHING: Portland State's mantra this year has been “finish” as in finish every game strong to secure the win. Last year, PSU had four games that it lost in the late-going in which a stronger finish might have made the difference. This year, PSU has the word finish on the front of every helmet. In PSU's first two Big Sky Conference games, the Vikings made plays late to “finish” and pick up wins against Northern Arizona and Idaho State. The last two weeks, the Vikings have played the top two teams in the Big Sky Conference, nationally-ranked Montana State and Montana, down to the wire. In those two, the outcomes were losses in painfully close fashion. The Vikings lost the two games by a combined eight points. That leaves PSU at 2-2 in conference play and perhaps needing to win out to have a realistic chance at an NCAA post-season berth... in four Big Sky Conference games overall, the total point differential has been 17 - an average of 4.3 per game - emphasizing just how important “finishing” is.

OREGONIAN OFFENSE: Portland State started seven players on offense from the state of Oregon against Montana... They were: Dustin Waldron (Pleasant Hill), Kyle Ritt (Aloha), Mitch Gaulke (West Linn), Connor Kavanaugh (Portland/Lincoln), Justin Monahan (West Linn), Nevin Lewis (Culver) and SR RB Cory McCaffrey (Sisters). The Vikings have started eight in most games this year. In all, Portland State has 35 Oregonians on its roster.

THE NATIONAL CHARTS: In addition to Cory McCaffrey's placement on the national offensive charts, the Vikings place high elsewhere. PSU is third in the nation in rushing this season (277.3 ypg). PSU is 23rd in total offense (416.2) and 20th in scoring (33.0)... SR QB Connor Kavanaugh ranks 19th in the nation and fourth in the Big Sky in rushing at 102.7 yards per game. Kavanaugh has also broken his own PSU record for quarterback rushing in a season. The senior from Lincoln (OR) High School has 80 carries for 616 yards (7.7 pc) and six scores. Last year, he set a PSU QB record with 506 rushing yards... JR K Zach Brown ranks seventh in field goals made this year (10/1.67 per game).

THE DYNAMIC DUO: The dynamic duo of SR RB Cory McCaffrey and SR QB Connor Kavanaugh have been shredding Big Sky Conference defenses when they play together... they combined for an impressive 200 yards against Montana, although they came up short of another 100-100 game against a Big Sky opponent... in five of the nine Big Sky Conference games that Kavanaugh and McCaffrey have started together over the last two years, each has run for at least 100 yards. In one of the other three games (vs. Eastern Washington last year), Kavanaugh went out with a broken hand in the first quarter. If you throw out the EWU game, in the other eight that both have been healthy, they have combined for 2,226 yards and 25 touchdowns. That is an average of 278.3 yards and 3.1 touchdowns per game. Apparently, the Pistol offense works... McCaffrey is just the fourth Viking in history with at least three 200-yard rushing games (there have been 27 200-yard games)... with 2,018 rushing yards the past two seasons, McCaffrey ranks 10th on PSU's all-time list for career rushing. He ranks eighth all-time with 23 career rushing touchdowns... the only time McCaffrey has failed to rush for 100 yards in a Big Sky game was last year at NAU when he went out with injury in the first quarter... with 1,520 career rushing yards, Kavanaugh is PSU's all-time quarterback rusher. His 506 yards last season were a school record for a quarterback. He broke that mark this year now has 616 yards this season.

SOME VERY SPECIAL TEAMS: New Special Teams Coordinator Stacy Collins might be the Viking coaching staff's “Coach of the Year” so far this season. His special teams have been terrific through the first six games. The stellar play continued at Montana. JR WR Nevin Lewis blocked his third punt of the season (and the team's fifth), JR P Thomas Duyndam converted a fake punt with a six-yard scramble, JR K Zach Brown made three more field goals (one from 53 yards) and scored on a two-point conversion.   
• With seven total blocks (five punt, two FG), PSU leads the nation at the FCS level.
• The Vikings had gone five years without a punt block, but now have five this season. JR WR Nevin Lewis has three blocked punts, JR LB Dionte Brooks and FR TE Taylor Martinek have one each... Lewis also made a tackle for loss on a fake punt in the first game.
• The Vikings hadn't blocked a field goal in two years, but now have two in 2011, both by GR DT Myles Wade. Wade's block in the closing moments against Northern Arizona allowed the Vikings to hang on for the win. He also had one against Montana State.
• The Vikings' JR K Zach Brown had a school-record string of 16 straight field goals made, including his first 10 this season. He finally missed one from 53 yards. Brown is 10-11 this year extending his career field goal record to 46.
• The Vikings benefitted from a high snap on a punt attempt in the fourth quarter at Idaho State. FR WR Ronnie Simmons ran down the ISU punter for a 23-yard loss. The Vikings took over and two plays later SR RB Cory McCaffrey scored the game-winning touchdown.
• PSU's kick return team averages 22.9 per return this season. Lewis (25.1) and SR FS DeShawn Shead (24.1) lead the way in that department.
• The Vikings are 4-6 on two-point conversion attempts this year.
• Lewis and Wade have each earned Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors this season.

RELYIN' ON RYAN: SR LB Ryan Rau had perhaps the finest game of his career at Montana. Rau made a career-high 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. His 18 stops ties for the fifth most in PSU history for a game... Rau continues to lead the Viking defense. He has been the team-leader in tackles in five of six games and has a team-high 65 this year. He also has team-leading totals of seven tackles for loss and four sacks. He ranks second in the Big Sky Conference and 17th in the nation in tackles (10.8 per game)... Rau now has 242 tackles in his career and is on pace to finish his career in PSU's all-time top ten for tackles... Rau was also the team-leader in tackles each of the last two years (72 in 2009, 83 in 2010).

ZACH BROWN AND HIS LEG OF RENOWN: JR K Zach Brown hit field goals of 53, 28, and 31 yards against Montana extending his consecutive FG made streak to a school-record 16. He finally missed a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter and is now 10-11 on the season. Brown has a PSU career record total of 46 field goals - one of six records he holds. Brown has made 14-15 extra points for 46 total points this year... with 200 career points he now ranks ninth on the PSU career scoring list... at 46-62 on career field goals, Brown's .742 mark is a PSU record as well.

ZACH BROWN's PORTLAND STATE KICKING RECORDS
Field Goals, Season: 18, twice (2009, 2010)
Field Goals, Career: 46
Field Goals, Consecutive: 16
Field Goal Percentage: 46-62, .742
Field Goals, 50+ yards, Career: 5
PATs, Consecutive: 44 (tied)

LONGEST FIELD GOALS (50+ yards)
1.    55    Pat Moore, 1975 at Eastern Washington
2.    53    Zach Brown, 2011 at Montana
    53    Zach Brown, 2010 at Arizona State
    53    Mike Erickson, 1986 at California Lutheran
5.     52    Zach Brown, 2009 vs. Southern Oregon
    52    Mike Erickson, 1987 vs. Cal State Northridge
    52    John Kincheloe, 1979 at Weber State
8.    50    John Kincheloe, 1980 vs. Weber State
    50    Zach Brown, 2009 at Northern Colorado
    50    Zach Brown, 2010 vs. Eastern Washington

PLAYING LIKE SAMSON: The long flowing locks on JR WR Justin Monahan are reminiscent of the mighty Samson (although most on the team call him “Twilight” for his resemblance to a certain vampire in a famous movie/book series). Monahan played like Samson at TCU, totaling career-highs of nine receptions for 109 yards. His fourth-and-two catch at the TCU one-yard line in the fourth quarter kept a drive alive and led to a FR RB Shaquille Richard touchdown run... for the season, Monahan has caught nearly one-third of the Vikings' receptions. He has a team-leading 23 catches for 305 yards and one touchdown.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Portland State was last in the Big Sky Conference in 2010 in rushing defense, allowing 232.9 yards per game on the ground. Included were 391 rushing yards by Northern Arizona in the 2010 season finale. On Sept 17 this year, PSU held NAU - playing the same two feature backs as last season - to just 79 rushing yards... this year, through six games, PSU is allowing a respectable 141.2  yards on the ground (and 221.5 through the air). The 362.7 yards allowed per game so far is down more than 100 yards from 464.1 last year.

FLAGS, RAGS AND OTHER FLYING YELLOW OBJECTS: Portland State has had problems with penalties over the last three weeks. The Vikings have been penalized 49 times for 448 yards in the three games. PSU had to overcome itself as much as anything to pick up a 42-35 win at Idaho State. The Vikings commited 21 penalties for 209 yards in the game. The 21 flags was a new Big Sky Conference record and two shy of the NCAA I FCS record... in the 38-36 loss to Montana State, 15 penalties for 151 yards played a major role... PSU had 13 penalties for 88 yards at Montana... in the first three games of the season, PSU had just 25 penalties for
219 yards.

LED BY SHEAD: SR SS DeShawn Shead started his 39th straight game against Montana. He is the only Viking to start and play in all 39 games over the last four seasons.

NEW ATTITUDE AT HOME: Portland State hopes to bring a new attitude to JELD-WEN Field. After going 35-9 at home over Tim Walsh's final eight seasons, 1999-2006 (including two 5-0 marks), the Vikings were just 7-13 at home the last four years (which includes 1-3 at Hillsboro Stadium in 2010). The Vikings have started their six-game home schedule 2-1... Head Coach Nigel Burton now has a 3-4 home record.

OCCUPY JELD-WEN: Portland State has a ways to go to fill 18,627-seat JELD-WEN Field, but the Montana State game was a big improvement as a crowd of 9,054 attended. That was the largest PSU home attendance in 15 home games dating to the 2008 season (12,071 vs. Montana on Nov. 8, 2008). The crowd total was an improvement of more than 3,500 over the Northern Arizona game. PSU has three home dates remaining (Oct. 22 vs. Willamette, Nov. 5 vs. Sacramento State and Nov. 19 vs. Weber State).