#3 MONTANA STATE BOBCATS (7-0, 3-0)
at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (1-5, 1-2)

Saturday, October 19, 1 p.m., Hillsboro Stadium (7,600), Hillsboro, OR
Television: ESPN+ • Play-by-play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Scott Hermo
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
Game presented by Les Schwab Tires
 

VIKINGS WILL FACE THE BIG SKY'S BEST IN MONTANA STATE

Portland State comes off an exhilarating, and much needed, 42-38 road win at Idaho State on Saturday. The Vikings reward? A matchup with the best team in the Big Sky Conference - and maybe the nation - when they face third-ranked Montana State this Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium. It will be just the second home game of the season for PSU.
           
The Vikings' game with MSU begins a run of four straight games against last season's Big Sky playoff teams, including the Bobcats, Sacramento State, Idaho and Montana. While the Vikings' ridiculously hard schedule continues to be a gauntlet, Head Coach Bruce Barnum prefers to look at the flip side as he has called 2024 "a season of opportunity." Well, what an opportune time for a monumental upset.
           
Montana State (7-0, 3-0) was only seriously challenged in its first game of the season, and that was a 35-31 victory over New Mexico of the Mountain West Conference. Last Saturday, the Bobcats demoralized formerly 10th-ranked Idaho, 38-7.
           
Portland State (1-5, 1-2) can't compare record-wise, but has played very well the past two weeks. And, but for a controversial finish in a loss to UC Davis on Oct. 5, might have been on a two-game winning streak. Obviously, SR QB Dante Chachere, the National Offensive Player of the Week, will be the catalyst for any Vikings' success against the Bobcats. He comes off a 418-yard total offense game with six total touchdowns in the win at ISU. However, PSU's defense will need to play at least as well as it did in the second half against the Bengals (six stops in seven series, three three-and-outs and two fourth-down stops) to have a chance against the dynamic play and running game of MSU.
           
The opportunity arrives for the Vikings this Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
 

STORYLINES

• BOBCATS IN CONTROL: Montana State has won four in a row in the series, and 12 of the last 13 dating back to 2006... PSU's last win was a 59-42 victory in 2015 at Providence Park.
• POWERHOUSE LEAGUE, POWERHOUSE SCHEDULE: Montana State is the third of four Big Sky Conference opponents for the Vikings that have been nationally-ranked. For the second year in a row, the Bobcats are ranked third when facing the Vikings... this week's game begins a stretch of four straight for PSU against last year's Big Sky playoff teams - MSU, Sacramento State, Idaho, Montana.

 

NUMBERS GAME

• 200-200: SR QB Dante Chachere did something never done before at Portland State by passing for 200 yards and rushing for 200 yards in the same game. He had 216/202 in last Saturday's win at Idaho State, and accounted for all six PSU TDs. Chachere was named Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week and Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
• TOUCHDOWN MAKER: With three touchdowns passes and three rushing TDs at Idaho State, SR QB Dante Chachere now has 71 career touchdowns; 44 passing and 27 rushing. That ranks third in Portland State history behind Neil Lomax and Davis Alexander... his 44 passing TDs ranks seventh all-time at PSU, while his 27 rushing TDs ranks sixth.
• BIG PLAY MAKER: FR WR Eric Denham had career highs of five receptions, 127 yards and two touchdowns at Idaho State. He is averaging more than 20 yards per catch this season (16-328-3, 20.5).

 

TEAM LEADERS

• PORTLAND STATE: SR QB Dante Chachere is 84-144 passing for 1,143 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions this season. He also leads the team in rushing with 443 yards (522 positive yards) and eight scores.... FR RB Delon Thompson is second in rushing with 64 carries for 301 yards and a TD. SO RB Quincy Craig has 57 carries for 259 yards and one TD... Craig has the most receptions for the Vikings with 24 for 175 yards and four TDs. JR WR Branden Alvarez has 19 receptions for 262 yards and four TDs, and FR WR Eric Denham has 16 catches for a team-leading 328 yards and three touchdowns... SO LBs Peyton Wing and Michael Montgomery each have a team-high 51 tackles. Wing leads the team with 4.5 tackles for loss. Montgomery has a sack and four pass breakups... PSU is averaging 180.3 yards rushing, 206.5 yards receiving and 386.8 yards per game... the Vikings are allowing 236.7 rushing yards, 329.8 passing yards and 566.5 total yards per game... PSU has a -2 turnover ratio.
• MONTANA STATE: It is certainly difficult to find anything that Montana State is NOT good at. The Bobcats lead the Big Sky Conference in scoring offense (41.3), scoring defense (16.6), total offense (498.6), total defense (288.1), rushing offense (311.4), rushing defense (95.3), third-down conversion rate on offense and defense and time of possession... quarterback Tommy Mellott is extremely efficient, having completed 89-129 passes for 1,179 yards and 14 touchdowns with no interceptions. Mellott also has 387 rushing yards and seven touchdowns... leading the team in rushing is Scottre Humphrey with 792 yards and eight scores... Adam Jones has 74 carries for 477 yards and five touchdowns... Rohan Jones has 16 receptions for 255 yards and five TDs to lead the receivers... McCade O'Reilly leads the team with 40 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss... Brody Grebe has a team-high six sacks.

 

OFFENSIVE NOTES

• THE NUMBERS: Portland State is averaging 386.8 yards of offense per game, 180.3 on the ground and 206.5 through the air... the Vikings average 26.3 points per game and have six turnovers... PSU had its best offensive output of the season against Idaho State with 516 yards, including 300 rushing, and 42 points... PSU's top passing game was a 306-yard effort at Chattanooga.
• DANTE'S DATA: SR QB Dante Chachere has passed for 1,143 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed for a team-high 443 yards and eight touchdowns... Chachere completed 19-30 passes for a career-high 306 yards at Chattanooga (9/29) with one touchdown and two interceptions... he rushed for a career-high 202 yards and three touchdowns in the win at Idaho State (10/12)... Chachere pulled off a PSU first when he passed for 200 yards (216 with three TDs) and rushed for 200 yards (202 with three TDs) in the same game. In the game, Chachere had runs of 62, 48 and 53 yards, and a pass completion of 50 yards. Chachere was named National and Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week... he was nine yards shy of the PSU QB rushing record of 211 yards by Connor Kavanaugh... with three TD passes against ISU, Chachere has seven games of three or more in his career... Chachere has 71 career touchdowns (44 passing, 27 rushing) which is third all-time at Portland State behind Neil Lomax, 1977-80 (13 rushing, 106 passing, 119 total); and Davis Alexander, 2017-21 (25 rushing, 63 passing, 88 total)... Chachere eclipsed 4,000 career passing yards in the game at Chattanooga and now has 4,468 total. He has 6,087 yards of total offense, which is eighth all-time at PSU.
• Q RATING: SO RB Quincy Craig has battled back from a knee injury suffered in game six of 2023 to once again become the Vikings' key offense weapon. Craig has a team-high 470 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns. He is third on the team in rushing (57-259-1) and leads in receptions and receiving touchdowns (24-175-4). Craig has 36 kickoff return yards and a 28-yard pass completion for good measure... with a 10-carry, 103-yard rushing game at Chattanooga (9/28), Craig now has four 100-yard games in his career.
• YOUTH SHALL SERVE: In addition to Craig's production, Portland State's other youthful skill players are shining as well... RS FR Delon Thompson has 301 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards. He led the Vikings with 15 carries for 96 yards at Washington State (8/31) and 12 carries for 68 yards against UC Davis (10/5)... RS FR Eric Denham has 16 receptions for a team-high 328 yards and three touchdowns. He had career-highs of five receptions, 127 yards and two touchdowns in the win at Idaho State (10/12)... SO WR Jaylen Lynch has 10 receptions and 190 yards... even JR WR Branden Alvarez - while an upperclassman - has caught 19 passes for 262 yards and four TDs... SO TE Tanner Beaman missed the game with UC Davis but has 12 catches for 114 yards.
• MORE YOUTH, UP FRONT: Last season, SO OL Isaac Perez earned a spot in the starting lineup as a true freshman. Now, true FR OL Pule Leatigaga has also broken through up front. Perez and Leatigaga now start on the line side-by-side at center and guard, respectively.

 

DEFENSIVE NOTES

• THE NUMBERS: Portland State is allowing 236.7 rushing yards, 329.8 passing yards and 46.5 points per game... the Vikings have 25 tackles for loss, four sacks, and four forced turnovers... against UC Davis, the Viking defense made seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass breakups and forced two turnovers while allowing the fewest points (27) of the season... in the decisive second half against Idaho State, PSU's defense stopped the Bengals on six of seven series, including three three-and-outs, and two fourth-down stops.
• WING STOP: SO LB Peyton Wing is tied for the team lead in tackles with 51 and leads in tackles for loss with 4.5. He had a career-high 13 stops at Weber State (9/7) and led the team in tackles with nine at Boise State (9/21) and 10 at Chattanooga (9/28)... Wing ranks 28th in the nation in total tackles and ranks first in the Big Sky in tackles per game (8.5).
• SWEET 16: SO LB Michael Montgomery had a career-high 16 tackles at Weber State (9/7), which was the most by a Viking in six seasons. Montgomery, named a Freshman All-American by two media outlets last year, is tied with Wing as tackles leader with 51, two tackles for loss, a sack and four pass breakups... he had 10 tackles against UC Davis (10/5) to tie for the team lead... Montgomery is tied for the lead in the Big Sky in tackles per game (8.5).
• CAREER LEADER: SR CB Tyreese Shakir is the Vikings leader in several categories among active players... Shakir had a team-high 10 tackles and three tackles for loss against UC Davis (10/5)... he has 157 career tackles, 12 pass breakups, five interceptions and three fumble recoveries - all of which ranks first among active players. His 11 tackles for loss ranks second and three sacks ranks third.
• DOWN ON THE CORNER: SO Michael Hurst moved from his safety position to cornerback two weeks ago. The results have been good. Hurst had a career-high 13 tackles, including one for loss, two pass breakups and defended the final, decisive play against Idaho State (10/12)... Hurst has 20 of his 33 tackles in the last two games... SR CB Jamal McMurrin did not start against UC Davis, but returned to get a season-high nine tackles with a pass breakup against Idaho State (10/12).
• YOUTH SHALL SERVE, PART 2: Among Portland State's top eight tacklers, six are freshmen and sophomores.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

• FOOTWORK: JR K Mathias Uribe is 5-6 on field goal attempts this season (43, 42, 35, 40, 23)... 13 of his 29 kickoffs have been touchbacks... SO K Fedya Henrichs-Tarasenkov handled all three second-half kickoffs at Idaho State and all three were touchbacks.
• DON'T EVEN TRY: JR P Tony Johnson is averaging 40.8 yards per punt. He bombed a season-best 69-yarder at Weber State (9/7). Most important, Johnson's punts are not being returned with any effectiveness. In 17 returns this season, opponents have netted only 35 yards. Boise State (9/21) had four attempts for -4 yards.
• IT'S A SNAP: FR TE Kristian Ingman has started the five games at long snapper, while FR LS Brock Fleming started in game three.
• YOUTH SHALL SERVE, PART 3: FR RB Jordan Herron surprised everyone when he picked up a UC Davis (10/5) punt on the bounce and raced 40 yards up field before being tackled in his first career play as a Viking. Not a bad start as the true freshman was given the punt returner role against the Aggies.