TELEVISION: None
RADIO: Freedom 970 AM, www.freedom970.com • Pregame Show: 5 p.m. • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Analyst: Mike Lund
INTERNET: Live stats: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/gametracker/ • Live video stream: http://www.WatchBigSky.com

THE SERIES RECORD
All-Time Series: Portland State leads 8-4 • PSU leads 5-2 in Portland • PSU leads 3-2 in Davis
Big Sky Conference Series: Portland State leads 1-0 • PSU leads 1-0 in Davis

Sept. 14, 1974: UCD 50-21 @ Davis
Nov. 15, 1975: PSU 32-21 @ Portland
Nov. 21, 1992: PSU 42-28 @ Portland (NCAA II playoffs)
Oct. 7, 1995: PSU 40-13 @ Portland
Oct. 12, 1996: PSU 32-27 @ Portland
Nov. 20, 2004: PSU 38-21 @ Portland
Sept. 10, 2005: PSU 14-12 @ Davis
Sept. 8, 2007: UCD 26-17 @ Portland
Sept. 13, 2008: UCD 38-24 @ Davis
Oct. 24, 2009: UCD 34-31 @ Portland
Sept. 11, 2010: PSU 41-33 @ Davis

Big Sky Conference games
Sept. 27, 2012: PSU 49-21 @ Davis

LAST YEAR: Portland State 49, UC Davis 21
Viking linebacker Ian Sluss forced four fourth-quarter turnovers as Portland State pulled away for a 49-21 win at UC Davis. Sluss made two interceptions and two fumble recoveries to lead an all-around Viking effort. He returned one interception 31 yards for a touchdown. Following the game, he was named the National Defensive Player of the Week. 

Meanwhile, the offense ran up 530 yards, 280 on the ground and 250 in the air. Quarterback Kieran McDonagh completed 12-21 passes for 250 yards and a score, and ran nine times for 57 yards and two scores. DJ Adams added 139 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. David Edgerson and Jaycob Shoemaker each had nine tackles to lead the Vikings.

STORYLINES
• UC Davis is a football-only member of the Big Sky Conference.
• Ron Gould is the new Head Coach at UC Davis. He followed Bob Biggs, who was the Aggies Head Coach for 20 seasons. Gould was the defensive backs coach at Portland State in 1992, then followed Pokey Allen to Boise State from 1993-96. Since then, he has been an assistant coach at California.
• Portland State and UC Davis have played 12 times previously, seven times since 2004. PSU has won two in a row, including 49-21 last year at Aggie Stadium. It was the most points and largest margin of victory by PSU team against UCD.
• The Vikings' 41-33 win in Davis on Sept. 11, 2010 was the first in the head coaching career of PSU's Nigel Burton. Burton has two of his five career road wins at UCD (2-0).
• PSU has scored 90 points in its two wins over the Aggies in the Nigel Burton era.

PSU FACES FIRST FCS OPPONENT AND BIG SKY CONFERENCE FOE
The true litmus test for the Portland State football team comes this week when the Vikings face UC Davis in a non-conference game at Aggie Stadium. The Vikings are 2-1 after wins over lower division schools and a close battle with Pac-12 California. UC Davis (0-3) presents the first Football Championship Subdivision competition of the season. And, although the Aggies are members of the Big Sky Conference, the game will be played as a non-conference contest.

Saturday's game will be a 6 p.m. kickoff in Davis, CA.  The game is not televised, but is available via live video stream at www.WatchBigSky.com. It airs on the radio at Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com, with a pre-game show at 5 p.m.

The Vikings bring one of the top offenses in the nation into this week's play. PSU averages 615.7 yards and 43.3 points per game. Meanwhile, the Aggies have struggled offensively, scoring only 24 points in three losses this season. UCD's competition has been though, with road losses at South Dakota (10-7) and Nevada (36-7), and a home loss to nationally-ranked Northern Arizona (21-10).

The Vikings are 0-1 on the road, while the Aggies are 0-1 at home. PSU has won the last two meetings between the schools, 49-21 last year in a conference contest, and 41-33 in 2010 in a non-conference game.

PSU Head Coach Nigel Burton is 2-0 against the Aggies. The 2010 win was his first career victory as a head coach.

Saturday's game is the fourth and final non-conference contest this year for Portland State which is playing its' first-ever 12-game regular-season. The Vikings have an all-California September, playing Cal, Humboldt State, UC Davis and Cal Poly (Sept. 26). 

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
UC Davis, under first-year Head Coach Ron Gould, is 0-3 on the season. The Aggies have played low-scoring, low-offense games. While UCD's offense has been able to produce only 24 points in three games, its' defense has played well, allowing just 337.3 yards and 22.3 points against solid competition.

The Aggies had a 10-7 lead on 25th-ranked Northern Arizona last Saturday before giving up a pair of long interception returns for touchdowns in the fourth quarter. UCD held NAU to just a 191 yards of total offense and only 66 on the ground. The 21-10 Lumberjacks' win featured a total of 20 punts.

UC Davis averages 269.3 yards and 8.0 points per game on offense. The Aggies have given away five turnovers this season. Gabe Manzares and Tavior Mowry (250 combined yards) have led the running game. Tom Hemmingsen has 13 receptions for 153 yards and a score this year. Quarterback Jimmy Laughrea has completed 35-70 passes for 382 yards, four interceptions and a touchdown.

Nick King had three quarterback sacks against Northern Arizona and leads the team with four this season. Aaryn Jones has a team-high 24 tackles and a two pass breakups.

GOULD WAS A VIKING: UC Davis Head Coach Ron Gould is one of three Big Sky Conference Head Coaches that formerly coached at Portland State. Gould was an assistant under Pokey Allen at Portland State in 1992. Northern Arizona Head Coach Jerome Souers - who has the longest tenure of any head coach in the league - was a one-time assistant under Don Read at Portland State in the early 1980s. Cal Poly Head Coach Tim Walsh was the Vikings' Head Coach from 1993-2006... and of course, Nigel Burton was an assistant under Tim Walsh at PSU in 2001-02. He took over as Vikings' Head Coach in 2010. 

SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE: VIKING QUICK NOTES
WINS AND LOSSES: Portland State is 2-1 on the season, 2-0 at home and 0-1 on the road... the Vikings are 8-5 at home since the start of 2011, 4-8 on the road... Head Coach Nigel Burton now has a 9-8 home record, 5-14 road record... the Vikings have eight winning records in 17 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference... PSU is 59-34 in home games since moving to the NCAA I level, 29-69 on the road... PSU is 57-74 all-time in Big Sky Conference games in its' 17 seasons as a member. The Vikings are 35-31 at home, 22-43 on the road in BSC games.

THE OFFENSE ROLLS ON: Portland State's offense continues to impress through three games this season.
• The Vikings are averaging 615.7 yards of total offense to rank second in the nation.
• PSU's 20.0 yards per catch leads the nation.
• The Vikings are fourth in rushing offense (295.0) and eighth in passing offense (320.7).
• The Vikings are averaging 43.3 points per game to rank seventh in the nation.
• PSU leads the Big Sky Conference in scoring, total offense, rushing offense and first downs (81).
• SR RB DJ Adams ranks 29th in the nation in rushing (94.3) and 10th in scoring (10.0)
• SO QB Kieran McDonagh leads the nation in yards per completion (20.9), ranks fifth in total offense (328.7) and pass efficiency (181.9). He is 12th in passing yards (285.0).
• JR WR Kasey Closs is fifth in the nation in receiving yards (127.3).

"He is really, really, really, really good": That is what Head Coach Nigel Burton said about his quarterback Kieran McDonagh after the 43-6 win over Humboldt State. McDonagh posted career-high for passing yards (377) and total offense (441) in the game. That came after setting a personal record for passing yards (308) and totaling 368 yards at Cal the week before. McDonagh is among the nation's top quarterbacks early in the season, averaging 328.7 yards of total offense. He has passed for five touchdowns and run for a sixth.

SACK MASTERS: Portland State made eight sacks against Humboldt State, easily the most in recent memory (the school record is 11 vs. Idaho, 1987). SR DE Bryant Long was credited with 2.5 sacks to lead the team. .. in all the Vikings had 18 tackles for loss in the game, with SR LB Jaycob Shoemaker garnering three tackles for loss, one of which was a safety on HSU quarterback Kyle Morris... Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference with 14 sacks this season.

HANG ON: One bad mark on the Viking offense this season has been the number of fumbles lost. PSU lost four more fumbles against Humboldt State and now has nine on the season. The Vikings lost only eight fumbles in all of 2012.

KASEY'S CONTRIBUTION: JR WR Kasey Closs had 10 receptions for 205 yards and a touchdown against Humboldt State. It was the first time a Viking has had a 200-yard receiving since Tremayne Kirkland had 225 yards against Northern Arizona on Oct. 6, 2008... Closs leads the team in receiving with 16 catches for 382 yards and three scores in 2013. He averages 23.9 yards per catch. Closs is fifth in the nation in receiving (127.3 per game).

THE TOUCHDOWN MAKER: SR RB DJ Adams only had 10 carries for 37 yards in the big win over Humboldt State. He did not hit paydirt for the first time this season. However, he still has five touchdowns on the season and 17 in his PSU career on 213 carries. Counting his two seasons at Maryland, Adams has 32 career rushing touchdowns on 320 carries. That is one end zone trip for every 10 totes.

YOU'RE NOT GETTING OLDER, YOU'RE GETTING BETTER: JR P Kyle Loomis has an interesting story (see below) as a veteran of one season of football at Oregon State (2006) and nearly four years in the US Army. With a 26th birthday looming for Loomis on Sept. 30, he is the oldest Viking, but also one of the most effective so far this season. After seven years away from football, Loomis is averaging 48.9 yards per punt (at sea level) to rank third in the nation. Of his 11 punts, six have gone 50+ yards and five have been downed inside the 20... Loomis boomed a season-best 67-yarder against Humboldt State.

1000-YARDERS: Both SR RB DJ Adams and JR RB Shaquille Richard passed 1,000 career rushing yards against Eastern Oregon (8/29). Adams totaled 967 yards last season for the Vikings. He now has 1,250 career yards on 213 carries, and 17 touchdowns. Richard had 908 career rushing yards prior to the season, and now has 1,075 yards on 235 carries with six touchdowns.

A GAME OF INCHES: Having 6-foot-6-inch JR WR Victor Dean on the team makes him a valuable target for SO QB Kieran McDonagh. But Dean has proven to be valuable in another way. Dean blocked two Humboldt State field goals while leaping from the second row.

GETTING DEFENSIVE:
• The six points allowed by the Viking defense to Humboldt State were the fewest given up since a 52-0 win over Southern Oregon in the 2011 opener (a span of 24 games).
• Portland State has forced eight turnovers in three games.
• The Vikings lead the Big Sky Conference with 14 quarterback sacks.
• PSU has 35 tackles for loss in three games.
• SR S Dean Faddis leads the Vikings with 24 tackles this season.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE: Portland State has received eight voting point in the FCS Coaches poll. They are the equivalent of 34th in the nation in the voting.

IT'S A TEAM GAME: A total of 64 Vikings got into the game against Eastern Oregon. Eleven players made their first career starts at Portland State: FR LT Kyle Smith, SO TE Cam Thompson, JR WR Kasey Closs, SO WR David Jones, JR DT Joe Lopez, SO LB Brandon Brody-Heim, SO LB Jeremy Lutali, JR LB Corey Crowder, SR S Dean Faddis, JR CB Mishawn Cummings, and JR P Kyle Loomis... against California, SO DE Sadat Sulleyman made his first career start as a Viking... SO S Demetrius Jackson got his first career start against Humboldt State.

CLEAN IT UP: The downside of PSU's first two games was 25 penalties. The good news is PSU has dropped its' penalty total each game, from 16 to 9 to 5 against Humboldt State. Still, the Vikings rank 12th among 13 teams in the Big Sky Conference in penalties with 10.0 per game... PSU was heavily penalized last year as well, averaging 8.6 penalties for 75.3 yards per game.

TASTY, YET INSIGNIFICANT, TIDBITS:
• SR RB DJ Adams and JR RB Shaq Richard have each passed 1,000 career rushing yards this season, while SO QB Kieran McDonagh has now passed 3,000 career passing yards.
• The 57 points scored by the Vikings against Eastern Oregon is the most ever in a season-opening game in the 67-year history of the PSU program.
• The Vikings are 13-0 against lower division teams since moving to the Big Sky Conference in 1996.
• Portland State is now 4-0 all-time in Thursday games.
• Portland State has now appeared on television locally in Portland 51 times since joining the Big Sky Conference. PSU is 19-32 in those games, 12-10 at home, 7-22 on the road... PSU is 0-1 in televised games this year.

VETERANS: Among Portland State's returning players, SR RB Justin Lilley has appeared in the most career games (35), followed by SR C Mitch Gaulke (30) and SR DE Bryant Long (30)… Gaulke has the most career starts (30), followed by SR OL Mitchell Van Dyk (24) and SR LB Jaycob Shoemaker (16).

CAPTAINS: The Portland State team selected a lineman on each side of the football as the 2013 team captains. SR C Mitch Gaulke and SR DE Bryant Long were named as Viking captains prior to the first game.

VIKING ONE-LINERS (and sometimes two)
• JR CB Davon Dunn's father, David, played seven seasons in the NFL.
• FR K/P Marcus Kinsella is a native of Australia. He follows Thomas Duyndam, the first Australian ever to play for PSU. Duyndam was a four-year starter at punter (2009-12).
• JR WR Kasey Closs was a walk-on to the Viking program. His father, Rob, was a star basketball and baseball player at the University of Oregon back in the 1970s.
• FR RB Steven Long had brain surgery in April to remove an infectious lesion. He was back on the field for the opening of practice in August (See below). Long's father, Jeff, played at Portland State from 1978-81.
• JR P Kyle Loomis has been away from college football for seven years. He spent four years in the Army and will be 26 on Sept. 30 (see below).
• SO QB Kieran McDonagh placed eighth in the balloting for the 2012 Jerry Rice Award, given to the nation's top freshman football player at the NCAA I FCS level. McDonagh averaged 235.7 yards of total offense per game. He completed 171 of 314 passes for 2,187 yards, 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. McDonagh ran 89 times for 406 yards and nine touchdowns.
• SR QB Collin Ramirez broke the touchdown passing record of Aaron Rodgers at Butte JC in 2011 (30 TDs).
• SR LB Jaycob Shoemaker is one of 11 children in his family.
• FR TE Cam Sommer's older brother, Carl, played defensive end at Portland State (2009-11).
• SO DE Sadat Sulleyman was born in Accra, Ghana. He has also lived in Europe and New York.
• FR DT Savali Talalemotu is from Saipan. He attended high school in Beaverton as there was no high school football in Saipan, living with his uncle, Ina. Ina Talalemotu played on Portland State's Division II national runner-up teams in 1987 and 1988.
• JR WR Roston Tatum's parents were both top sprinters at TCU during their college days. His father was a two-time national champion in the 4x100 meters and five-time All-American.
• FR RB Rey Vega has written, sung, mixed and filmed numerous songs (look him up on You Tube).
•  SO LB Zach Walen's father, Mark, was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year at UCLA in 1985.
• Viking Defensive Coordinator Jaime Hill was a member of Tim Walsh's defensive coaching staff at Portland State from 1993-97.
• Head Coach Nigel Burton was the cornerbacks coach on Tim Walsh's PSU staff in 2001 and 2002.
• Of those on the Viking coaching staff, three were players and are alums: Steve Cooper (WR, '09), Matt Leunen (TE/OL, '09), and Adam Kleffner (OL, '12).
• Portland State has 16 players that were formerly members of FBS programs.
• SO WR Thomas Carter, JR WR Josh Milhollin, SO WR David Jones were all high school quarterbacks.
• Returning Vikings who won Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors are SR OL Mitch Gaulke, JR WR Alex Toureen, SO LB Brandon Brody-Heim, SO LS Kameron Canaday, and SO DE Jacob Nall. Gaulke also earned NCAA I FCS Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star and CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 honors.

2013 HIGHLIGHT REEL
DYNAMIC DUO: Portland State's 57-17 opening-night win over Eastern Oregon (8/29) was led by a pair of dynamic offensive performers. SR RB DJ Adams rushed 17 times for 107 yards and three touchdowns in little more than two periods. SO QB Kieran McDonagh completed 7-11 passes for 170 yards a two scores while playing just the first half. In all the Vikings had 672 yards of total offense (10th-most all-time), and 405 yards rushing (4th-most all-time).

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Portland State totaled 280 yards in the first quarter and 434 by halftime in a 37-30 loss to California (9/7). The Vikings jumped to a quick lead and led for half of the game. SO QB Kieran McDonagh hit JR WR Kasey Closs on an 81-yard touchdown pass on the game's second play. McDonagh went on to total a career-high 308 passing yards. With 60 rushing yards and a touchdown, McDonagh had 368 yards of total offense, was responsible for two touchdowns and earned Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week. PSU totaled 553 yards of offense in the game.

A COMPLETE GAME: Portland State had a slow start, but ended up with a fast finish in a 43-6 rout of Humboldt State (9/14). The Vikings totaled 622 yards of offense, including career-best marks of 377 passing yards and 441 total offensive yards by SO QB Kieran McDonagh. He threw two touchdowns passes while JR RB Shaq Richard and SR RB Justin Lilley each ran for two touchdowns... the defense made 18 tackles for loss and eight sacks in the win, holding Humboldt State to the fewest points by a Viking opponent in 24 games.