PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (0-5, 0-2)
at IDAHO STATE BENGALS (3-3, 1-1)

Saturday, October 12, 4 p.m. MT/3 p.m. PT, ICCU Dome (11,500), Pocatello, ID
Television: ESPN+ • Play-by-play: Scott Gross • Analyst: Kody Graves
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
 
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS
Head Coach: Bruce Barnum (Eastern Washington, 1987)
PSU Record: 35-61/10th year • Big Sky Record: 25-40 • vs. Idaho State: 3-4
 
IDAHO STATE BENGALS
Head Coach: Cody Hawkins (Colorado, 2010)
ISU Record: 6-11/2nd year • Big Sky Record: 4-6 • vs. Portland State: 1-0
 

VIKINGS GO BACK ON THE ROAD, LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK

Portland State will be in a familiar scenario again this week; playing a road game. The Vikings travel to play at Idaho State on Saturday afternoon for their fifth road game in six starts this season. PSU and the Bengals will kick off at 4 p.m. MT/3 p.m. PT at ICCU Dome in Pocatello in a game televised on ESPN+. Both teams come off games decided on the final play last Saturday.
           
The Vikings (0-5, 0-2) will spend their preparation week dealing with the emotion of a final-play loss to ninth-ranked UC Davis last Saturday. PSU led the entire game, but saw a pass play by the Aggies as the clock struck 00:00 ruled a touchdown. The ruling came after a lengthy review. It also came after it appeared the game had ended on the previous play as time expired. However, the officials ruled that one second remained and put it back on the clock, allowing one more play. That gave UCD a 27-26 victory and Portland State a bad case of heartburn.
           
The Vikings might take solace in the fact that they battled a top-10 program to the final play, and  that their defense set the tone early with some key plays, allowing the offense to get out on top. But of course, there are no moral victories in a college football, just the real ones, and that is what the Vikings seek this week at Idaho State.
           
The Bengals come into the contest following a 41-38 victory at Cal Poly. Gabe Panikowski kicked a 24-yard field goal on the final play of that game to break a tie and solidify an Idaho State win. With that victory, ISU is now 3-3 on the season, 1-1 in Big Sky games. The losses have all been to formidable foes: Oregon State, North Dakota and Montana.
           
Idaho State beat the Vikings, 38-24, last season at Hillsboro Stadium and has won four of the last five meetings. The Bengals are a rare opponent for PSU this season that is not (or will not be) nationally-ranked.
 

STORY LINES

• HELLO, OLD FRIEND: Portland State has played Idaho State 47 times in the past. Along with Montana (also 47), Idaho State is PSU's most common opponent of all-time.
• VIKINGS IN POCATELLO: PSU has five coaches who have previously worked at Idaho State, including: Bruce Barnum (1998-2006), Bryant Thomas (1998-2006), Mark Rhea (2000-06), John Ely (1997-98) and Korey Rush (2023).
• WALK OFFS: Both teams come off games decided on the final play last week. Idaho State kicked a 24-yard field goal to win at Cal Poly, 41-38. The Vikings lost 27-26 on a final-play touchdown pass by UC Davis.

 

NUMBERS GAME

• RUSH WEEK: Portland State has compiled the first, third and fourth-most rushing yards in a game in school history against the Bengals (531, 2016; 437, 2012; 436, 2011). The Vikings also had a 395-yard game in 2013. Head Coach Bruce Barnum was the offensive coordinator in all four of those games.... in 2012, the Vikings compiled 758 yards of total offense in a 77-10 victory. That is the most total offense for PSU ever in a Big Sky game, and second-most in school history.... in 2016, when PSU set the single-game rushing record, the team was also 0-6 passing for 0 yards - the fewest passing yards in school history. PSU won the game 45-20.
• TOUCHDOWN MAKER: With three touchdowns passes against UC Davis, SR QB Dante Chachere now has 65 career touchdowns; 41 passing and 24 rushing. That ranks fourth-most in Portland State history... his 41 passing TDs ties June Jones for ninth all-time at PSU, while his 24 rushing TDs also ranks 9th all-time.

 

TEAM LEADERS

• PORTLAND STATE: SR QB Dante Chachere is 72-118 passing for 927 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions this season. He also leads the team in rushing with 241 yards (308 positive yards) and five scores.... SO RB Quincy Craig is second in rushing with 48 carries for 238 yards and one TD. FR RB Delon Thompson also plays a big role with 50 carries for 229 yards and a TD... Craig has the most receptions for the Vikings with 21 for 156 yards and four TDs. JR WR Branden Alvarez has 17 receptions for 200 yards and three TDs, and FR WR Eric Denham has 11 catches for a team-leading 201 yards and a touchdown...  SO LB Peyton Wing has 45 tackles and four tackles for loss to lead the team in both categories. SO LB Michael Montgomery has 43 stops, two tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup... PSU is averaging 156.4 yards rushing, 204.6 yards receiving and 361.0 yards per game... the Vikings are allowing 240.6 rushing yards, 338.6 passing yards and 579.2 total yards per game... PSU has a -2 turnover ratio.
• IDAHO STATE: Idaho State likes to throw the football as evidenced by the 42 pass attempts per game. The Bengals are averaging 289.9 yards passing as a team. Quarterback Koby Tracy threw for 425 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's win at Cal Poly... main receiving targets have been Jeff Weimer (32-485-4), Ian Duarte (32-318-3) and Christian Fredericksen (29-370-4)... Dason Brooks leads the running game with 34 carries for 257 yards and two scores... Idaho State averages 31.5 points and 411.2 yards per game overall. The only weakness has been 12 turnovers... on defense, the Bengals have forced seven turnovers and made 12 sacks. They allow 33.8 points and 412.7 yards per game. The weakness has been giving up 235.3 rushing yards per game... defensive linemen Cortland Horton (5) and Logan George (4.5) have combined for nearly 10 sacks... linebacker Nathan Reynolds has a team-high 43 tackles... kicker Gabe Panikowski is a perfect 7-7 on field goals this season.

 

OFFENSIVE NOTES

• THE NUMBERS: Portland State is averaging 361.0 yards of offense per game, 156.4 on the ground and 204.6 through the air... the Vikings average 23.2 points per game and have six turnovers... PSU's best two offensive outputs were 30 points and 449 yards at Washington State (8/31), and 30 points and 463 yards at Chattanooga (9/28).
• DANTE'S DATA: SR QB Dante Chachere has passed for 927 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for a team-high 241 yards and five 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 season-high 76 yards on 13 carries (despite two sacks) at Boise State (9/21)... with three TD passes against UC Davis, Chachere has six games of three or more in his career... Chachere has 65 career touchdowns (41 passing, 24 rushing) which is fourth all-time at Portland State. The list: 1) Neil Lomax, 1977-80 (13 rushing, 106 passing, 119 total); 2) Davis Alexander, 2017-21 (25 rushing, 63 passing, 88 total); 3), Jimmy Blanchard, 1997-2000 (6 rushing, 63 passing, 69 total); 4.) Dante Chachere, 2019-24 (24 rushing, 41 passing, 65 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 408 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns. He is second on the team in rushing (48-238-1) and leads in receptions and receiving touchdowns (21-156-4). Craig has a 14-yard kickoff return 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 229 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 11 receptions for a team-high 201 yards and a touchdown... SO WR Jaylen Lynch has 10 receptions and 190 yards... even JR WR Branden Alvarez - while an upperclassman - has caught 17 passes for 201 yards and three TDs... SO TE Tanner Beaman missed the game with UC Davis but has 11 catches for 110 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 has started two at guard and three at center, while Leatigaga has started the last three at guard.

 

DEFENSIVE NOTES

• THE NUMBERS: Portland State is allowing 240.6 rushing yards, 338.6 passing yards and 48.2 points per game... the Vikings have 21 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.
• WING STOP: SO LB Peyton Wing is the team leader in tackles with 45 and tackles for loss with four. 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 19th in the nation in total tackles and ranks second in the Big Sky in tackles per game (9.0).
• 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, ranks second on the team with 43 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup... he had 10 tackles against UC Davis (10/5) to tie for the team lead... Montgomery ranks fourth in the Big Sky in tackles per game (8.6).
• 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 153 career tackles, 11 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.
• 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)... 11 of his 25 kickoffs have been touchbacks.
• DON'T EVEN TRY: JR P Tony Johnson is averaging 40.6 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 14 returns this season, opponents have netted only 19 yards. Boise State (9/21) had four attempts for -4 yards.
• IT'S A SNAP: FR TE Kristian Ingman has started the four 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.