Mike Kramer has a saying he likes to use every time the calendar turns to November.
“Welcome to big-man month,” Idaho State’s head coach said on Wednesday morning’s Big Sky Conference coaches’ call. “November is the month when the best teams rise and continue to rise. A couple surprising teams this year in November and I hope continued success for those guys who were picked so low and are doing so well.”
Most expected three-time defending Big Sky champions Eastern Washington to be near the top of the league as the season’s final month began. That is indeed the case although Eastern has had to rally to earn four of its five conference wins.
Few expected Portland State and Southern Utah to be in the league title hunt. But one-loss PSU gets a tune-up in Greely before facing SUU and EWU while SUU will try to remain unbeaten like the Eagles with a trip to Bobcats Stadium (See preview here).
Montana is still clinging to playoff hopes as it heads to Pocatello for the first time since 2011 (See preview here) while NAU finds its backs against the wall as well with a trip to Cheney on Saturday. Weber State is gunning for its first winning season this decade while the rest of the teams in the league are simply playing for pride. Six teams, including idle North Dakota, remain alive in the FCS playoff hunt.
No. 10 Portland State at Northern Colorado — The last time Portland State played on the road, the Vikings boarded buses for a journey that totaled nearly 2,000 miles round trip.
PSU bussed from the City of Roses to San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast of California to play at Cal Poly. This weekend, Portland State travels to Greeley, Colorado to take on Northern Colorado. Mercifully, PSU is taking an airplane rather than enduring a 1,200-mile bus ride one-way.
“I actually checked the mileage when we were doing travel plans and I decided I can’t do that to anybody,” PSU first-year head coach Bruce Barnum said with a laugh. “We do have an airplane for this game. For my guys, it will be like being in one of those upper echelon schools. I’m bringing 58. That’s all the commissioner will let me. So I’ll buy 116 meals and let them eat the night before.”
The last time, Portland State played on the road, the Vikings loaded a bus on Thursday to begin their trip to SLO. The team drove 630 miles to San Francisco before spending the day in the Bay Area.
“The bus ride there was probably more enjoyable than people think,” PSU senior cornerback Aaron Sibley said. “We went down to San Francisco and we went on a tour of Alcatraz. That was a great experience. I never in my life thought I would get on a boat, period. I don’t like boats. They found a way to get me on that. Alcatraz was a blast. We learned a lot.”
“You know the guys on your team you have to make go to class? We are actually out there on The Rock and they give this tour and you are allowed to skip things and my guys all had earphones on in the cell block and by God, they were actually paying attention and learning,” Barnum said. “That was kind of cool to see. I bought 89 tickets. That’s 1,000 bucks out of my pocket. My wife hates me right now. But it was worth is.”
The only hiccup in the trip came when the Portland State equipment manager was left on The Rock before PSU reloaded the bus.
“He’s out there looking at Al Capone’s cell and having a soda pop,” Barnum said with a laugh.
This week, Portland State gets a bit of a reprieve against a UNC team in the midst of a two-game losing streak. Northern Colorado took Eastern Washington down to the wire before losing 43-41 on a last-second field goal. Last week, the Bears had a letdown on the road as UNC gave up 42 first-half points and 63 points in the first three quarters in a drubbing at NAU.
“That’s why everyone plays the game: you have to be able to bounce back,” UNC head coach Earnest Collins said. “You have to be able to keep your head level when you win. We have to continue to grind.”
Northern Colorado has seen great production out of its special teams units this season. Ellis Onic leads the conference with 24.5 yards per punt return and he has taken two punts back for touchdowns. Hakeem Deggs is averaging 58.5 yards per kick return on just four returns and has scored two touchdowns on kick returns. UNC has only had 21 total returns as most teams have now concentrated on avoiding the explosive duo.
“Kicking it out of bounds, that’s what we’ll do,” Barnum said. “This is a simple game so we aren’t going to let them touch it. They are good. They have some special kids back there. They are faster than lightning.”
Northern Arizona at No. 4 Eastern Washington — Beau Baldwin has seen some explosive offenses during his coaching career and some of the most prolific have been the ones he fields at Eastern Washington. On Saturday, EWU’s head coach thinks his Eagles are facing off against one of the best in the Big Sky.
“Facing this NAU team, Montana State has an incredible offense that we played earlier but the way NAU is playing right now, I think they are as good an offense as we’ve faced since Oregon,” Baldwin said on Wednesday. “They have all the pieces going.”
Each of the last two weeks, Northern Arizona has used their run-pass option spread offense to put up points in bunches. In a 52-36 win over Weber State, NAU scored 42 points in the first half. Last week, NAU again put up 42 before halftime and piled on 21 more in the third quarter in building a 63-7 lead in a 63-21 win over Northern Colorado.
Northern Arizona is 4-0 at Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff this season. The Lumberjacks are averaging 51.2 points per game at home. But NAU is just 1-3 away from home, including a 38-24 loss at UC Davis that could come back to haunt the ‘Jacks.
“We’ve played well at home and we haven’t played well on the road,” NAU longtime head coach Jerome Souers said. “If you are going to be able to contend in this conference, you have to be able to win on the road.”
Case Cookus has emerged as a candidate for Big Sky Offensive MVP honors as he enters the stretch run of his freshman season. The 6-foot-4 product of Thousand Oaks, California threw seven touchdowns against UNC to earn National Player of the Week honors. This season, he leads the FCS in quarterback efficiency with a rating of 197.4 as he has completed 70 percent of his passes, thrown 26 touchdowns and been intercepted just three times. Cookus has been a key as NAU has scrapped the pro-style offense employed by Souers since he took over in 1998 in favor for a more wide-open attack that is predicated on quick decisions by the man under center.
“Their offense is just at such a high level and the most impressive thing to me is you have a freshman quarterback running the show,” Baldwin said. “He’s not just making talented plays that sometimes freshmen make. He’s making true, true quarterback plays.”
The 5-3 Lumberjacks face what amounts to a must-win on Saturday in Cheney. A loss would mean NAU could not reach seven Division I wins, the usual baseline number for postseason eligibility. To do it, Northern Arizona will look to stay hot while trying to slow down the explosive Eagles.
Eastern Washington is on a six-game winning streak and is 5-0 in conference play thanks to a group that does just enough to win each week. EWU’s average margin of victory is 1.5 points per game as the Eagles have posted second-half comebacks in wins over Sacramento State (28-20), Cal Poly (42-41 in overtime), Northern Colorado (43-41 on a last-second field goal) and Weber State (14-13 last week).
The Eagles have the top passing offense in the league (373 yards per game) as Jordan West has thrown a league-best 28 touchdowns. Junior Cooper Kupp continues to be one of the league’s most dynamic weapons with 91 catches for 1,290 yards and 17 touchdowns already this season.
“What Eastern Washington does offensively is what a lot of teams are trying to do,” Souers said. “Mixing up run and pass, trying to go at a fast tempo, they do it best. They’ve been at it for quite awhile and you can really see it. They are the defending champions for a reason.”
UC Davis at Weber State — Weber State lost a heart breaker to Eastern Washington last week. The one-point loss was hard to swallow within the moment but also because of the repercussions for the rest of Weber’s season.
The loss to the three-time defending league champions likely cost Weber a playoff bid as it handed the Wildcats their fifth loss of the season. But Weber head coach Jay Hill wants his players to believe there is still plenty to play for with one-win UC Davis coming to Ogden on Saturday.
“First and foremost, we have to beat a really good UC Davis team,” Hill said. “Their win over NAU shows you what caliber of team they are because I think NAU is a very solid team. We have to beat them first and if we get past them, we have a chance for a winning record for the year. That’s a huge stride for where this program has been.
“We can’t let Eastern Washington beat us twice. Our players need to move on from that tough loss.”
Weber has not won more two games since a five-win season in 2011, Ron McBride’s final campaign. WSU last had a winning record in 2010 — a 6-5 mark.
Davis’ lone win was a 38-24 triumph over NAU last month. The Aggies are last in the league in rushing offense (113.2 yards per game), a key component for an offense scoring 21 points per game. The pro-style attack is predicated on the run game and the Aggies are averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Weber State is third in the Big Sky in rushing defense, allowing 166 yards per game.
“It’s easy when you are winning to put on a happy face but one of the things I pride my team with is we play for each other and we have another opportunity on Saturday,” UC Davis head coach Ron Gould said. “It’s up to us if we can go play the type of game we need to play to give ourselves a chance to win.
Sacramento State at Cal Poly — For the third week in a row, Cal Poly took a Big Sky front runner down to the wire. For a third straight week, slippery hands cost the Mustangs.
Three weeks ago, Cal Poly fumbled on the goal line on a two-point conversion to lose 42-41 to Eastern Washington in overtime. Two weeks ago, Cal Poly scored a touchdown with 2:34 to play only to see Portland State hit a field goal with 33 second to play in a 38-35 PSU win. Last week, Cal Poly rushed for 508 yards and scored the first five touchdowns Southern Utah has allowed all season but five fumbles led to three SUU defensive touchdowns as the Thunderbirds stayed in first place with a 54-37 victory in Cedar City.
“It’s the same story for us. We’ve played the last three weeks against the top three teams in the Big Sky in Eastern Washington, Portland State and Southern Utah and to be honest with you, I think all three are very good football teams but we beat ourselves,” Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh said.
“We fumbled 12 times in the last two games. We fumbled 12 times a year ago. The staple point for our offense is a ball security. Pretty difficult loss to swallow. You have 35 first downs and 520 rushing yards and you lose? The numbers we are putting up offensively are good enough to be in the hunt for a championship. Unfortunately, the things we are doing with the football on offense are devastating our season.”
Cal Poly leads the country by rushing for 406 yards per game. The Mustangs’ triple option offense is averaging 5.4 yards per carry and have scored 29 touchdowns on the ground. But a brutal schedule and a lack of ball security means Cal Poly is sitting at 2-6 with nothing more than pride to play for. This week, the Mustangs host a Sac State team fresh off a bye. The Hornets posted a 38-13 win over Idaho State the week before the bye, Sac’s first Division I win this season.
Sacramento State is second in the league in rushing defense, allowing 141.5 yards per game on the ground. Sac head coach Jody Sears said the extra week was beneficial for Sac but he is wary of the Mustangs’ physical, explosive offense.
“In theory, yeah but you never get a real look at it when you get their on game day and they hit you in the mouth because the speed of the whole thing is impossible to simulate,” Sears said.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
