RANDOM THOUGHTS IN A DEAD WEEK
November 29, 2011
by Mike Lund, Athletics Media Relations Director
DEAD WEEK
Dead week has veiled the Portland State campus, which usually mean little in the athletics department as there is always something going on. But this week is different. We go five days - FIVE DAYS - without a home event. So that gives me a little time to shake out some random thoughts…
I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD BE SOMEWHERE…
I ran into Viking quarterback Connor Kavanaugh while having lunch at the local Chipotle today. We spoke for moment, and between burrito bites he said wistfully, "It seems like I should be somewhere right now…"
Somewhere…? A meeting? The weight room? Practice? Film session? 7-on-7 summer drills? Road trip? The stadium?
Yes, Connor had been "somewhere" almost every day since coming to Portland State in August of 2007. Not anymore, since his season and Viking career ended on Nov. 19 at JELD-WEN Field.
The sudden finality of it all can be jarring. He seemed a little stunned.
THE OVERLAP IS NOW OVER
The Great Sports Overlap (when all PSU sports are competing at the same time, generally October into early November) have finally come to an end. Fall sports concluded on Saturday night when the Viking volleyball team was defeated in the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship by Northern Colorado.
Head Coach Michael Seemann had his team in the championship match for the fifth(!) straight season. After a slow start to the 2011 campaign, an very young squad got better and better, finally finishing second in league play. Give that coach a raise!
It was a pretty good fall overall with soccer tying for first place in the Big Sky, volleyball placing second and the vastly-improved football team getting third with its best season in five years.
DID YOU NOTICE
Former Viking Jordan Senn, now a linebacker with the Carolina Panthers, had 10 tackles in the his team's win over Indianapolis on Sunday. It was his second career start in his fourth NFL season. Senn had six tackles and a forced fumble the week prior in a start against Detroit. The Beaverton native has a season-high 21 tackles this season and up until recently, his 48-game career had consisted mostly of special teams play and back-up linebacker work.
Great to see Jordan's success. He was one of the top players and good people I ever had the chance to work with at Portland State... and, oh yeah, an Academic All-American.
Another former Viking, Adam Hayward, also has a career-high with 30 tackles this year. He has gotten two starts with Tampa Bay, and now has six starts in his 70-game career (and 110 career tackles).
Good for them… now if we could just get Tim Tebow to stop running so much and throw a pass to Julius Thomas in Denver...
A CHANGE OF SCHEDULE
Expect a different look to the Portland State football schedule in 2012. With the addition of Cal Poly, UC Davis, Southern Utah and North Dakota to the Big Sky Conference, there will be 13 teams in the league and no more round robin. To whit, PSU does NOT play Montana at home next year (and will not until 2015). The Vikings play at Montana in 2013.
Next season, the Vikings open conference play hosting newcomer Southern Utah at JELD-WEN Field on Sept. 22. The Thunderbirds were 6-5 in 2011, beating Sacramento State, Weber State and Northern Arizona in the process (and Mountain West UNLV for good measure). It's a long way off, but the Vikings better be ready for the T-Birds.
In 2012, Portland State will also play at Cal Poly (and former Viking Coach Tim Walsh) on Oct. 20 and at UC Davis on Oct. 27 in conference games.
Northern Arizona, Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Montana State and Eastern Washington will be the other conference matchups.
For the first time in 19 years, PSU will not play Sacramento State. The Vikings also do not play Weber State for the first time since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996.
Two of the three listed TBAs below will be filled with non-conference games.
2012 Big Sky Football Schedule
Sept. 1 TBA
Sept. 8 TBA
Sept. 15 @ Washington (CenturyLink Field)
Sept. 22 SOUTHERN UTAH
Sept. 29 @ Northern Arizona
Oct. 6 IDAHO STATE
Oct. 13 TBA
Oct. 20 @ Cal Poly
Oct. 27 @ UC Davis
Nov. 3 NORTHERN COLORADO
Nov. 10 @ Montana State
Nov. 17 EASTERN WASHINGTON
HERE IS SOME SCHEDULING GOOD NEWS, AND NOT SO GOOD
I am really happy Portland State finally has both Oregon and Oregon State on the men's basketball schedule this year. It has been NINE YEARS since PSU has played Oregon State. Over that span, PSU has met the Ducks six times.
What really stinks is the men DO NOT play Portland this year, ending a stretch of 12 straight years (and 14 games) that the Pilots and Vikings have played.
Yes, these games should be played every year. I have heard lots of excuses why they don't get played - and I am including Oregon and Oregon State here as neither of those two play Portland this year, and have not regularly played PSU, while bringing in no-name schools from all over the country, or other Big Sky schools.
In these economic times, and with the close proximity of all the schools, AND the fact that they are all Division I, why don't they get played (or haven't been played)?
PSU vs. Portland would probably be a little more interesting - and sell a lot more tickets - than PSU vs Linfield and Portland vs. Lewis and Clark, as were scheduled this year.
I'm not pointing fingers, but I will say this with certainty, Portland State wants to play all three schools every year.
I would like to add a special shout out to the Beavers. They will return the game to the Stott Center during the 2012-13 season (get your tickets now for a sure sellout!). That will mark the first time a team from the Pac-12 Conference (or any similar conference of prestige) has ever played in the Stott Center.
Worth looking at this week
• A feature on Viking basketball player Chehales Tapscott, written by John Wykoff
WHAT ARE THE VIKINGS' CHANCES?
November 17, 2011
by Mike Lund, Athletics Media Relations Director
What are the chances?
That is what everyone seems to be asking around the Portland State football program this week: Can PSU, if it wins on Saturday and gets to 8-3, earn an at-large bid the playoff?
To get a better understanding, let's take a look at how the 20-team NCAA playoff field comes together.
Automatic bids, by virtue of winning a conference championship, are cut and dried. And, 10 of the 20 teams in the NCAA football playoffs will receive automatic bids (either Montana State or Montana in the Big Sky). The other 10 teams will be chosen as "at-large" selections - or the ten best remaining (in the judgement of an 11-member NCAA committee made up of Division I athletics directors).
There is no exact answer, as in, "if this team loses and that team wins, then…" In reality, NCAA Tournament playoff selection is an inexact science, just like selections for the 68-team NCAA basketball tournament. But a lot of information is weighed before those selections are made. Things such as overall record, strength of schedule, good/bad wins or losses, etc. One thing to keep in mind is the national polls are voted on by media and coaches, not the NCAA Committee. So, they have no hard and fast value. They are simply an indicator of the strongest teams in the country.
One thing working against the Vikings is the selection committee has never given an at-large bid to a team with fewer than seven Division I wins. Portland State - assuming it can beat Weber State (and it must win to be considered at all) - would only have six Division I wins on its 8-3 record.
The Viking program has played two lower division teams this year due to scheduling quirks based on recent conference realignments that are too complex to go into here.
According to Craig Haley, national columnist for the Sports Network which sponsors FCS football post-season awards, "It appears enough teams will reach the benchmark and have strong-enough schedules to dash the hopes of teams like Portland State and, believe it or not, Wofford (ranked 13th, 7-3) if it loses at Chattanooga. Portland State (7-3, 5-2) is on a four-game winning streak, but a win in its finale against Weber State would only be the Vikings' sixth against Division I competition, so they need the selection committee to reverse that stance."
That's that bad news for Portland State's chances. Here are some good points to consider (and which we hope the committee considers) if the Vikings can win this week and get to 8-3:
• The committee prefers seven Division I wins. That said, it is only one of many methods used to determine a team's qualifications for post season play. By all other criteria, PSU Football is a team worthy of the 2011 championship. It is hoped PSU can be measured by the Division I games it has played and not the ones we didn’t have the opportunity to play.
• Portland State is one of the most improved teams in the nation, coming off a 2-9 season.
• The Vikings will have won five games in a row and be one of the hottest teams in the country at the end of the season. In my humble opinion, this should have a lot of value.
• PSU's only losses were to current number one-ranked Montana State (38-36) and current number seven-ranked Montana (30-24), and Bowl Division TCU, currently ranked 19th. The Vikings led for significant amounts of time in all three games.
• PSU features one of the top running offenses in the nation, ranking in the top five all season (currently 261 rushing yards per game), using the revolutionary new Pistol offense. PSU broke the school rushing record in just nine games (currently 2,606 yards).
• PSU lost the nation's leading rusher and scorer, Cory McCaffrey (146.2 ypg/15.6 ppg), during its loss to Montana, but has still managed to win four straight without him.
• Portland State ranks 20th the nation in total offense (426.4) and and 24th in scoring (32.9).
• PSU quarterback Connor Kavanaugh has set new PSU and Big Sky Conference records for quarterback rushing for a season (1,028 yards) and a career (1,932 yards).
• Kicker Zach Brown leads the nation in field goals made (20 of 23) and has broken his own PSU record for FGs in a season (20).
• PSU's defense has been one of the most improved in the nation, cutting opponents almost 120 yards per game and 14 points per game from the 2010 season.
• PSU's special teams have been 'special.' In addition to the national leader in field goals, PSU special teams have successfully blocked eight punts/field goals and recovered four onside/pooch kicks.
• The Vikings have accomplished all this with their top returning defensive lineman knocked out after one game, the nation's top rusher injured and out after playing only five games, and top offensive lineman injured in the eighth game.
• Portland State has a great venue - JELD-WEN Field - in which to play, one of the largest media markets in the country, and the athletics program will make a bid to host games.
Will these points have any influence in the selections? Maybe. Maybe not. But isn't it great to be in a position once again to be considered?
Here is a look at the potential playoff field, and my uneducated analysis. The aforementioned Craig Haley's analysis has been borrowed from in this breakdown:
The 10 Automatic Bids
Big Sky - Montana State (9-1) or Montana (8-2)
Big South - Liberty or Stony Brook (both 7-3, loser out)
CAA - Towson (8-2)
MEAC - Norfolk State (9-2)
Missouri Valley - North Dakota State (9-1) or Northern Iowa (8-2)
Northeast - Albany (7-3) or Duquesne (8-2, loser out)
Ohio Valley - Tennessee Tech (6-3), Eastern Kentucky (6-4) or Jacksonville State (6-4)
Patriot - Lehigh (9-1)
Southern - Georgia Southern (9-1)
Southland - Sam Houston State (10-0)
(There are four conferences that do not get automatic bids: Great West Conference, Ivy League, Pioneer Football League and Southwestern Athletic Conference).
The 10 Potential At-Large Bids - (These teams seem to be a strong bet to get in)
Montana (8-2) or Montana State (9-3) - Big Sky
Maine (8-2) - CAA
Old Dominion (9-2) - CAA
North Dakota State (9-1) or Northern Iowa (8-2) - MVC
Appalachian State (7-3) - Southern
Central Arkansas (8-3) - Southland
That leaves four spots likely available. Below are the teams that have a chance at an at-large bid based on winning this Saturday. Keep in mind that some of these six-win (soon to be seven-win) teams would have seven Division I wins, more than the Vikings. Some may already have seven Division I wins (and get to eight). Realistically, PSU needs to hope several of these teams lose games. Some of the current 7-3 teams may get in anyway at 7-4.
Tennessee Tech (6-3), Eastern Kentucky (6-4), Jacksonville State (6-4) - OVC
Illinois State (7-3), Indiana State (6-4), Youngstown State (6-4) - MVC
Bethune-Cookman (7-3), Florida A&M (7-3) - MEAC
New Hampshire (7-3) - CAA
Wofford (7-3) - Southern
Portland State (7-3) - Big Sky
THE NCAA PLAYOFFS
Saturday, November 26 - First round (eight teams, four games)
Saturday, December 3 - Second round (16 teams, eight games)
Friday/Saturday, December 9/10 - Quarterfinals (eight teams, four games)
Friday/Saturday, December 16/17 - Semifinals (four teams, two games)
Saturday, January 7 - National Championship, Frisco, TX
NO NEGOTIATING HERE... JUST BASKETBALL
November 9, 2011
by Mike Lund, Athletics Media Relations Director
I have to say I am looking forward to this basketball season more than I can remember in a long time. Both Portland State’s women’s and men’s teams are showing great promise for the coming season, which officially begins this Friday.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Sherri Murrell’s defending Big Sky Conference champion women’s team this Friday against UC Irvine and Sunday against UC Santa Barbara at the Stott Center. The Vikings have been picked to win the Big Sky in 2012 and are probably as deeply talented as any team Murrell has had.
The Viking men open the season at Denver on Friday night. The game will air in tape delay on Root Sports in the Portland area at 10:30 p.m. The Vikings home opener is next Tuesday against Seattle.
Tyler Geving’s team has been picked to place fifth in the Big Sky this year. That’s a jump of two spots from last year. I believe they are athletic and talented enough to finish higher and, after the uber-talented Weber State team, that the conference is wide open.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROAD TRIP
The scheduling gods did me (and radio broadcaster Tom Hewitt) a favor when they put together back-to-back Viking games in the state of Colorado this weekend. On Friday night I will be in Denver to watch the Viking men’s basketball team open the season at Denver University. Then, a late-night drive up to Greeley as we have a quick turnaround for Viking football at noon the next day.
I anticipate a pair of wins. I also suggest you tune in to the basketball game on Friday night on Freedom 970 AM. Special guest Julius Thomas, now a Denver Bronco, will be on with Tom during the game. His Broncos won’t be traveling to a game with the Kansas City Chiefs until Saturday morning.
You can see a picture of JT escorting return man Eddie Royal into the endzone on the front of DenverBroncos.com right now. Julius offered a block on the touchdown return. He may have been the featured player on the Broncos website this week. Unfortunately, quarterback Tim Tebow overthrew him (TWICE!) when he was wide open on plays that appeared they would go for touchdowns in a 38-24 win over Oakland last Sunday.
It has been a slow start to Julius’ career as an ankle sprain had him out for four weeks. But, he is back now and listed as number two tight end on the depth chart. Expect his career to grow over the course of this year and seasons to come.
THE SHORT, BUT SWEET, DOMINANCE OF CORY MCCAFFREY
The injury to Cory McCaffrey’s left achilles meant the end of the line for him at Portland State. It was truly a short - and sweet - run for a running back that treated Viking fans many long exciting plays.
When McCaffrey went down with a torn left achilles tendon at Montana on Oct. 15, the nation’s top rusher saw his season and career come to an end. You can feel nothing but badly for the humble young man from Sisters who ignited the less-than-two year old Pistol offense at Portland State. I received several emails from people at other schools around the Big Sky Conference - the same schools he was torching with his fleet feet - by the end of that Saturday saying how sorry they were to hear about his injury. Everyone we played the past two seasons commented to me afterward just how good they thought McCaffrey was. Opposing coaches sent him notes saying they were sorry to see he was injured. That says a lot.
McCaffrey was leading the nation in scoring and was second in rushing when he went down.
Despite his brief time in the spotlight, McCaffrey was one of the best Viking backs ever. The numbers bear it out. In just 16 games as the Vikings’ feature back he rushed for 2,018 yards - an average of 126 yards per game. That per-game average ranks second to only Chip Dunn (1996-2000) in PSU history. McCaffrey rushed for 100 yards in 11 of 12 Big Sky games that he started at running back (four times he went for more than 200). His only miss was at Northern Arizona last year when he left the game early with a quadriceps injury.
Another sad and ironic element of this story is that many people didn’t realize he is a senior. That’s because McCaffrey spent his first two seasons as a slot back in the Jerry Glanville regime’s Run-and-Shoot (although the offense that Glanville ran in his final year bared little resemblance to the Mouse Davis’ version of the offense). McCaffrey played sparingly in 10 games over two seasons (2008-09) catching three passes. This, after rushing for an Oregon State High School record 8,460 yards at Sisters High School (some 3,000 more than the next highest total!). McCaffrey had 2,925 rushing yards and 46 touchdowns as a senior, leading his team to the Oregon 4A championship game.
When Nigel Burton came to PSU in late 2009, he brought the run-based Pistol Offense, and immediately moved McCaffrey back to tailback. He was number one on the depth chart from the first day of spring practice in 2010.
McCaffrey gained 1,287 yards last season despite having shoulders that were badly beaten up the majority of the season and that final-game quad injury. He completed this year’s win over Northern Arizona on Sept. 17 with 222 yards, four touchdowns and a knee swollen to the size of a softball. At just 5-9 and 185 pounds, he has been a warrior.
No doubt, quarterback Connor Kavanaugh’s abilities were integral to the success of McCaffrey - and vice versa.
It is nice to see that senior Willie Griffin and freshman Shaquille Richard have blended well with Kavanaugh the last three games and speaks well of the Pistol as an offensive system. Griffin, who has started the last two games, has had back-to-back career rushing bests - a total of 176 yards on 35 carries. Kavanaugh has 243 yards rushing in the last two games.
Richard, who appears to be the future at running back, has a similar game to McCaffrey, but he doesn’t (yet) have the same rushing toughness if for no other reason than he hasn’t physically matured to that level. Richard turned 18 in August and weighs in at a dripping wet 170 pounds. The size, strength and toughness will improve over time and a couple of winters in the weight room. Richard has run for 366 yards this season, but his role is just now expanding.
Sophomore Justin Lilley is a nice complement as an excellent blocker and occasional runner.
Those two - and the Viking run game - are being reinforced by news of solid recruiting by the Viking coaching staff.
The future looks great for PSU’s running game and the program as a whole. The present has one sad footnote: McCaffrey’s injury.
This is what I know, though: despite his short, sweet run at tailback, Cory McCaffrey is one of the best football players I have seen in 22 years of working around Viking football.
McCaffrey turned 22 years old on Oct. 30 and he did so on crutches, recovering from surgery to his achilles. That’s too young to be hurt, but it is also a cruel truth about the game of football. Here’s hoping he is soon fleet of foot once again.
THE 2011 PORTLAND STATE FOOTBALL STORY: IN PRACTICE AND ON FILM
November 2, 2011
by Mike Lund, Athletics Media Relations Director
