Defense wins Championships. It has been said before, and it can't be said often enough as far as Vikings Head Coach Bruce Barnum is concerned.
 
So, Barnum had to be at least a little bit pleased with the way his Viking defense performed at Saturday's first fall scrimmage of 2024. In 10 field series' consisting of nearly 70 plays, PSU's defense allowed only one touchdown – and it came on a play that had to be reviewed to confirm. But more on that later.
 
The defense did not force a turnover, but it forced punt after punt by the Viking offense. In total, the "D" had nine tackles for loss, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and the nine series' stops over a total of 65 plays. That's pretty good defense.
 
"I told the team that defense wins championships," said Barnum. "We have had some fun offenses around here but if you look at the playoffs, the great defenses are the ones you see down the road and deep in the playoffs.
 
"You can click back to (Portland State legend and Hall of Famer) Mouse Davis. He scored historic numbers on offense, but he didn't go undefeated."
 
PSU's offense looked good in two first-and-goal situations that opened the scrimmage. The offense had four plays to go 10 yards each time. And each time it scored. One on a run by redshirt freshman Delon Thompson and one on a 10-yard pass from redshirt freshman Gabe Downing to junior transfer Terence Loville. But then the scrimmage proper started, and with it the defensive dominance.
 
At the start, PSU linebackers Michael Montgomery and Peyton Wing, both sophomores, set the tone on defense. "Damn right they did," said Barnum emphatically. "We have to count on them. They have to attack more and play downhill, and I saw that today. It was pretty cool. You didn't see that when they were freshmen. Now they are disrupting and closing on plays."
 
Montgomery made four tackles in the first five plays that he was on the field, including one for no gain and one for a loss. He had three tackles for loss on the day and Wing had two TFLs.

In the first full series, defensive tackle Jordan Tagaloa terminated the offense on a third-and-seven play by forcing a fumble.
 
"It wasn't just one guy making a play, it was linebackers, it was defensive linemen chasing people down, the back end breaking up passes…," he said.
 
Five different Viking quarterbacks took snaps, but saw little success through the air. They combined to go 9-27 for just 36 yards, thanks to three tackles for losses on receptions.
 
The one scoring play was a pass, though. Downing threw a 13-yard ball to the deep left corner of the endzone that sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Lynch leapt high in the air to catch. He was well-defended but came down with the ball near the end line. It was a remarkable play, but created some debate as to whether he was in bounds or out of bounds. Finally, Barnum called timeout and brought in his video coordinator Sierra St. James to look at the drone footage of the play on her small video screen. Barnum got two angles and determined…. Touchdown Vikings.
 
A review in a preseason scrimmage. That was a first for Portland State Football.
 
PSU's offense had some moments behind a run-heavy attack. In fact, Thompson had four carries for 29 yards and junior transfer Jacques Badolato-Birdsell added six totes for 34 yards. The offense was able to move the chains a few times in several of the 10 series', but the defense ended up getting the stop nearly every time.
 
Barnum liked the effort of his four backs who had a majority of the runs on Saturday. "Jacques is a big back that we need. It is nice to see how (senior) Jalynnee (McGee) is running so far in camp. (Christian) Grubb has matured and can help us in a lot of ways, and Delon made some great runs today."
 
The Vikings will take Sunday off, then return to practice on Monday at 10 a.m. A second fall camp scrimmage will take place on Saturday, August 17.