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Game 3
COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES (0-3) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (0-2)
Saturday, September 15, 2:05 p.m. • Hillsboro Stadium (7,200), Hillsboro, OR
TELEVISION: None
RADIO: Rip City Radio 620 AM, www.ripcityradio.com • Pregame Show: 1 p.m. • Play-by-play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Mike Lund
INTERNET: Live video stream: Pluto TV (Channel 232), www.pluto.tv • Live stats: www.ViksLive.com
Complete notes and stats in pdf

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THE SERIES RECORD: VIKINGS vs. COLLEGE OF IDAHO
All-Time Series: 1st meeting
 
VIKINGS FINALLY GET CHANCE AT HOME AGAINST YOTES
Following an extremely challenging opening two weeks on the road against a pair of FBS programs, the Portland State Vikings get to play at home for the first time this season. PSU will host College of Idaho this Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium in a 2:05 p.m. game.
     
The Vikings (0-2) and the Coyotes (0-3) each look for their first win of the season. For the Vikings, it is an important time to take advantage of the schedule. They will play Montana State at home on Sept. 22 in the Big Sky Conference opener, but go on the road for two more after that, at Idaho and Montana. With four of the first six games on the road against powerhouse programs, an opportunity to play an NAIA team is one the Vikings need to make the best of.
     
Portland State will play four of its five home games at Hillsboro Stadium, which has played host to Viking home games in the past. PSU played the entire 2000 (4-2) and 2010 (1-3) seasons at Hillsboro due to construction at Providence Park. Including some one-off contests in other seasons, PSU is 6-7 all-time using Hillsboro Stadium as its home field.
     
The other key element for the Vikings will be to erase a lengthy losing streak (15 games) as well as an eight-game home losing streak (seven at Providence Park and one at Hillsboro Stadium). So far this season, PSU has lost games at Nevada (72-19) and Oregon (62-14).
     
Portland State has never played College of Idaho in football. The Coyotes, or 'Yotes, play in the NAIA's Frontier Conference, featuring teams from Oregon, Montana and Idaho. This is PSU's first lower division opponent since 2016 (a win over Central Washington).
     
Saturday's game is not televised, but can be seen on a live video stream on Pluto TV (www.pluto.tv, channel 232) or WatchBigSky.com. The radio broadcast is available at Rip City Radio 620 AM in the Portland area, and www.ripcityradio.com, with the pregame show at 1 p.m. Live stats can be found at www.ViksLive.com.
 
SCOUTING THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO
The College of Idaho is 0-3 this season after finishing 2017 strong. The Yotes were 6-5 last year, winning five of their last six games.
     
Head Coach Mike Moroski's team has been competitive though, losing close road games at Eastern Oregon (24-21) and at fourth-ranked Southern Oregon (35-28).
     
Darius Peterson and Nathaniel Holcomb have split time at quarterback for C of I. They combine to average 201.0 yards passing per game. Peterson started last week at Southern Oregon.
     
Dominic Garzoli is the team's leading rusher (20-134-2) and Connor Richardson is the leading receiver (13-135-1). The Yotes average 300 yards of total offense per game.
     
College of Idaho has given up 429.0 yards and 31.7 points per game. The Yotes have forced six turnovers and made five sacks in three games. Defensive back Jayden Dawson has two interceptions. Linebacker Forrest Rivers leads the team with 29 tackles.
     
Too many penalties (98.7 yards per game) have been troublesome for College of Idaho. The Yotes have also had struggles on third down, converting only 24% on offense, while giving up a 50% conversion rate on defense.
 
STORYLINES
• Portland State and College of Idaho will meet for the first time in history.
• College of Idaho, which competes in the NAIA's Frontier Conference, is PSU first lower division opponent since 2016. The Vikings are 15-0 in games against lower division opponents since moving to Division I in 1996.
• The College of Idaho returned to football competition in the fall of 2014.
 
ON THIS DATE: Sept. 15
Portland State is 3-2 all-time on Sept. 15. The Vikings have played one Big Sky Conference game on the date - a 2007 win over Sacramento State. The most recent game was a 52-13 loss at Washington in 2012.
 
GAME TIME CHANGE FOR NOV. 3
Portland State's home game with Idaho State on November 3 at Hillsboro Stadium will now kick off at 7:05 p.m. The game time has been changed to accommodate an Eleven Sports Television broadcast.
 
QUICK SNAPS
 
SOME NUMBERS THAT NEED ERASING: Portland State went 9-3 in 2015. But, it has been a rough road as the Vikings are 3-21 since then.
• Included in the last 24 games are six losses to FBS opponents, an overtime loss, and six losses by a touchdown or less.
• The Vikings have lost 15 in a row dating to 2016. They have lost eight straight home games and nine straight road games.
 
YOUTH SHALL SERVE:  
• Portland State's first game two-deep included six freshmen, seven sophomores, five juniors and four seniors on offense; three freshmen, five sophomores, seven juniors and seven seniors on defense. Special teams (K, P, LS, PR, KOR) included three freshmen, six sophomores and one junior.
• The Vikings had 12 players start their first game for Portland State at Nevada: FR OL Brady Brick, JR OL Carlos Barraza, FR WR Mataio Talalemotu, SO WR Emmanuel Daigbe, SO WR Easton Trakel, SO DT Semise Kofe, SR LB Houston Barnes, FR S Jared Reed, SO S Sam Inos, FR CB Anthony Adams, JR CB Montre Brown and FR K Cody Williams. Four more players started for the first time at Oregon: SR OL Peter Fisherkeller, FR WR Beau Kelly, JR RB Sirgeo Hoffman and JR S Romeo Gunt.
• 29 of the 55 players that saw field time at Nevada were true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores. 26 of 52 that played at Oregon were TR FR, RS FR and SO.
• Portland State features 56 true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores on the 92-man roster. There are 24 juniors and 12 seniors.
• At wide receiver, the depth chart features all freshmen and sophomores with a couple of junior transfers mixed in. However, in the first two games the eight that played included five freshmen and three sophomores.
• All three Viking quarterbacks on the active roster are sophomores.
 
TOUCHDOWN CHARLIE: Preseason All-American and All-Big Sky Conference selection Charlie Taumoepeau has lived up to the hype after two games. He has posted a pair of 100-yard games against FBS opponents, scoring four touchdowns, two of which were 70+ yards.
• Taumoepeau scored on a 48-yard touchdown reception in the Vikings' first series at Nevada, then had a 75-yard TD scamper in the second quarter (3-130-2 total). Each time he broke at least two tackles then outraced the Wolfpack to the endzone.
• Charlie had a 71-yard TD, and 47-yard reception and a four-yard TD among five catches at Oregon (5-125-2).
• He ranks in the top 10 in the nation in three categories: TD receptions (4, t1st), yards per game (127.5, 9th) and yards per catch (31.88, 3rd).
• In his 24-game career, Taumoepeau has 61 receptions for 1,077 yards and eight touchdowns.
• He has three career 100-yard games with all coming in the last three games: Career highs of nine receptions for 145 yards and a TD in last year's season finale at Eastern Washington; 3-130-2 to open the season at Nevada, then 5-125-2 against the Ducks. That means 17 receptions, 400 yards and five TDs in his last three games with a 23.5 average per catch.
• Named second team All-Big Sky Conference last season with 45 receptions for 673 yards and 3 TDs. It was the most receptions by a Viking tight end since PSU Hall of Famer Barry Naone had 48 in 1988.
• Named to the STATS Preseason 1st team All-America list, as well as preseason All-Big Sky Conference. Taumoepeau was a second-team All-Big Sky Conference performer last season. Phil Steele and College Sports Madness each named Taumoepeau second team All-American and second team All-Big Sky behind Wes Preece of UC Davis on both teams.
 
QUARTERBACK CAROUSEL: All three of Head Coach Bruce Barnum's sophomore quarterbacks have seen playing time through two games. Davis Alexander started the opener and had 244 yards total offense, including 224 passing with two touchdown passes... Jalani Eason started game two at Oregon as a strategic ploy because of his superior running ability. The idea was to run clock and limit the number of possessions by the Ducks (from that standpoint it worked as Oregon had 12 possessions compared to 17 a week prior against Bowling Green). Eason also played well, completing 7-14 passes for 111 yards and tieing his career-best with two TDs (fourth time) without a turnover. He also had 48 positive yards rushing on nine carries, but lost 29 yards on four sacks... meanwhile, Danny Velasquez actually completed the first pass of the season for the Vikings (a 17-yarder at Nevada) and also served as an occasional wildcat quarterback at Oregon... this week's starter against College of Idaho may yet be undecided.
 
WINGIN' IT: SO QB Davis Alexander earned the starting nod out of preseason camp. He made his fourth career start at Nevada, completing 13-32 passes for 224 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
• In four career starts, he is 95-178 (.534) for 1,389 (347.2 per game), seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
• Alexander started the last three games of 2017 and showed a big arm. In his three starts, he completed 82-146 passes (56.1%) for 1,165 yards (388.3 per game), five touchdowns and two interceptions.
• Passed for 409 yards at Cal Poly last season in his starting debut.
 
YOUNG PUPS CHASING THAT FRISBEE: Portland State's youthful wide receiving corps had a decent start at Nevada with nine receptions. Playing in their first collegiate game, FR Mataio Talalemotu (4-23), SO Emmanuel Daigbe (2-38) and FR Beau Kelly (2-28) all had grabs. SO Easton Trakel, the only returning wide receiver with a reception coming into the season (2), had one catch for eight yards... however, in game two as the Vikings tried to keep the ball on the ground, they were seldom targeted, combining for two catches for 29 yards. Head Coach Bruce Barnum has expressed the team's need to establish the wideouts as an alternative to Charlie Taumoepeau and take some pressure off the talented junior tight end.
 
BRIGHT SPOTS ON SPECIAL TEAMS: The Vikings struggled mightily with their special teams play in 2017. They made only 3-9 field goals, missed four extra points, had a punting average of 36.3 and allowed three kick/punt returns for touchdowns. Early returns on the Vikings STs show the specialists are trending in the right direction.
• FR K Cody Williams is 4-4 on extra points and made his only field goal attempt (31 yards) against Nevada. He averaged 66.3 yards on kickoffs against the Wolfpack compared to last season's average of 59.4. Williams was asked to pooch kick against Oregon to prevent returns, shortening his average to 44.0.
• SO P Ben Niesner has averaged 40.7 yards on 18 punts with a career-long of 56 and has twice backed his opponents up to the one-yard line.
• With Williams and Niesner's efforts at Oregon, the Ducks were limited to a total of 31 return yards on four returns.
• The Vikings have already blocked three kicks this season, which is tied for first in the nation and one more than they had all of last season. JR DT Anthony Del Toro blocked an extra point and JR DT Kenton Bartlett blocked a field goal attempt at Nevada, while FR DE Jake Porter got a blocked extra point at Oregon.
 
DEFENSIVE NOTES: Although the Vikings did allow 62 points at Oregon, including scores on nine possessions, they also got three three-and-outs on the other three possessions. That is a stat they hope to improve on over the course of the season.
• New starters on defense SR LB Houston Barnes (11) and SO S Sam Inos (10) were the Vikings' tackles leaders at Oregon. Barnes leads the team for the season with 16... meanwhile SO DE Noah Yunker registered his first career sack at Oregon.
• JR CB Maxwell Howell has the Vikings' one takeaway - an interception in the second quarter at Nevada. It was the second interception of his career.
• SO DT Semise Kofe tackled Nevada's Kelton Moore in the endzone for a safety in game one. It was the first safety by the Viking defense since 2014.
• SR S Artuz Manning is PSU's active career leader in tackles with 122. Both SR LB Kasun Jackett (101) and SR LB Sam Bodine (106) have also passed the century mark in their careers.
 
TAKEAWAY TOTE:  Portland State had a big deficiency in turnover margin last season, committing 21 turnovers while making only 12 takeaways. Although the Vikings have only one takeaway through two games, they have also committed just one.
 
THIRD-DOWN THEORY: Nobody expected it to be easy - and it wasn't - but PSU's two-game run through the FBS proved two things: You have to be able to convert third downs to score points, and you have to stop third downs to prevent points. PSU converted only 7-33 third-down tries (21%) and allowed 11-20 conversions (55%) to their opponents. Those numbers figure to improve as the season progresses. Ideally, the Vikings would get their conversion rate above 40% and hold opponents below 40%.
 
SCHEDULE NOTES:
• Year in and year out Portland State football has one of the most challenging Football Championship Subdivision schedules in the country, and 2018 will be no different. The Vikings open the season with a pair of FBS opponents, Nevada and Oregon, and open Big Sky Conference play against formidable Big Sky Conference opponents Montana State (home), Idaho (road) and Montana (road).
• This is the ninth time that Portland State has played at least two FBS level programs in the same season (the Vikings played three in 2006).
• Portland State will play a lower division school this season (College of Idaho, NAIA). The Vikings are 15-0 in games against lower division opponents since moving to Division I in 1996. PSU last played a lower division school in 2016.
• This is the 72nd season of Portland State football (1947).
• PSU faces only five teams in 2018 that were on the schedule in 2017 (Montana State, Montana, Idaho State, North Dakota, Eastern Washington).
• In the Big Sky Conference's unusual 14-team format in 2018 (Idaho has just returned in football and North Dakota has departed but remains in the scheduling rotation until 2020), Portland State will face just eight of the other 13 members. The Vikings will miss Weber State, Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, UC Davis and Cal Poly in 2018. In addition, the Vikings play Sacramento State for the third straight time on the road and host Northern Colorado for the second straight time (though both instances do not occur in consecutive seasons).
• Due to scheduling conflicts with Providence Park, Portland State will play four of its five home games at Hillsboro Stadium. PSU played the entire 2000 (4-2) and 2010 (1-3) seasons at Hillsboro due to construction at Providence Park. Including some one-off contests in other seasons, PSU is 6-7 all-time using Hillsboro Stadium as its home field.