Portland State University Athletics

HILLSBORO, Ore. — The first half of Saturday's season opener against sixth-ranked UC Davis showed the promise of the Chris Fisk era of the Portland State football program. High-energy. Belief. Play-making.
 
But the second half showed the growing pains still ahead for the Vikings as the Aggies erased a 21-0 halftime deficit to beat the Vikings 31-24 at Hillsboro Stadium.
 
With the game tied at 24-24 late, an interception with 1:53 remaining set up the Aggies' winning drive. The Aggies (1-0, 1-0) converted a third-and-6 at the start of the drive when Samuel Gbatu Jr., brought in a 24-yard reception from Treynor Cleeland. They got another 30 yards on a 15-yard rush from Jordan Fisher with a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked on. That brought the Aggies down to the 22-yard line, and Cleeland found Laviell Pickett for the winning score from there.
 
The Vikings (0-1, 0-1) got in range for a Hail Mary from the UC Davis 36 at the end of the game, but the Aggies defended it.
 
"It's the challenge of building a program," Fisk said after the game. "We've got a lot of growing to do as a program where we have to learn how to handle the pressure and win those games. That's a playoff team [UC Davis] that's been in this situation before and we haven't. We'll go back and learn from that situation and hope to get better."
 
The sour ending spoiled a game that started with a picture-perfect first half for the Vikings. Defensively, the Vikings held a high-powered UC Davis offense to just four first downs in the first half. They out-gained the Aggies 257-to-84 and dominated time of possession (20:15-to-9:45).
 
The Vikings opened the scoring with a flurry in the final minute of the first quarter. A 38-yard pass from Tyrese Smith to Devon Anderson set up a one-yard touchdown rush for Smith a few plays later. That came with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter. A quick three-and-out then forced a punt, which Cru Newman took back 78 yards for a touchdown as the first-quarter time expired.
 
"I like the way we came out. We started fast and we played with a lot of passion," Fisk said of the team's first half.
 
The punt return came as part of 157 total yards for Newman, as he also set career highs for receptions (7) and receiving yards (66).
 
A 20-yard pass to Newman on third-and-3 helped set up the Vikings' final touchdown of the first half. A beautifully executed 16-play, 87-yard drive that bled more than five minutes off the clock ended with another one-yard touchdown run from Smith with only eight seconds on the clock. Smith scored on fourth down, one of two fourth-down conversions the Vikings had on the drive, the other being an 18-yard pass to Anderson in the flat.
 
Anderson led the Vikings with 99 receiving yards on six catches in his debut game as a Viking.
 
Smith, meanwhile, recorded his first 200-yard passing game as a Viking, going 23-for-36 for 268 yards. He also netted 33 yards rushing for his first 300-yard all-purpose game (301 exactly).
 
"He's got an electric arm. He can run the ball. He's smart. And he's a competitor. And the kids play really, really hard for him," Fisk said of Smith.
 
Momentum shifted to the Aggies in the second half, starting with a botched PSU punt that resulted in a safety. The Aggies took the ensuing drive in for their first touchdown of the game to cut the Vikings' lead to 21-9. A quick stop set up another touchdown drive for the Aggies to cut it to a one-score game.
 
The Vikings pushed it back to an eight-point lead with a 24-yard field goal from Joshua Hossmann Lees at the start of the fourth quarter. Brogan De'Asis then battled a ball up at the line of scrimmage, which Eddie Vega collected for an interception that gave the Vikings the ball back at the UC Davis 32. The Vikings picked up seven yards on third down to set up a fourth-and-3. They opted to go for it, but a pass intended for Tanner Beaman fell incomplete and it stayed a one-score game.
 
Two conversions on third-and-1 allowed the Aggies to tie it up on the ensuing drive. Gbatu Jr. caught a 15-yard pass for the score, while Cleeland found Pickett in the end zone for the two-point conversion.
 
The Vikings got the ball back with 2:14 remaining with the chance to drive for a winning score, but it didn't end up going their way.
 
That's football. Fisk and the Vikings will take the positives with the lumps from Saturday's opener as they hit the road next week for a game at San Deigo State on Sept. 5. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on the USA Network.
 
Game Notes:

• The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Aggies, 11-9, despite Saturday's loss. The Aggies have won five in a row in the series, however.
• The Vikings have lost 17 straight games to nationally ranked opponents. If they had beaten UC Davis, it would have been their first ranked win since 2021 when they beat 24th-ranked Weber State. It also would have been their first win over an FCS Top 10 opponent since beating ninth-ranked Montana State in 2005.
• The Aggie defense held the Vikings to only 89 net rushing yards on 2.4 per carry.
• The Aggies out-gained the Vikings 374-to-357 in total offense despite their slow start in the first half.

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