Northern Colorado head coach Earnest Collins Jr. couldn’t help himself. During his final answer to questions leading up to his team’s game at Northern Arizona on Saturday, Collins made reference to a Halloween Saturday sure to be filled with thrills as the league’s top 10 teams are in action.
“We always know it’s a tall task when we go up there to Flagstaff, the noise and all that good stuff,” Collins said. “So we want to go up there on Halloween and try to scare some people and go home with a W.”
Collins followed the statement with an intentionally eerie laugh. Make no mistake; UNC’s fifth-year head coach sees no jest with his team’s trip to Walkup Skydome. The matchup pits two 4-3 teams fighting for footing in an unpredictable Big Sky race. UNC at NAU is one of five matchups this Saturday as the league’s only three teams with 1-4 records— Idaho State, Sacramento State, UC Davis — all have byes.
Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona put Weber State into a similar situation as itself, UNC and several other teams as the playoffs essentially start on Saturday. The 4-4 Wildcats have a must-win playing at front-running Eastern Washington if WSU wants to stay on the playoff chase.
Southern Utah is tied atop the standings with EWU and the T-Birds have given up only 12 points during conference play. This week, Southern Utah faces the unique test of Cal Poly’s triple option attack. The Mustangs have played seven straight opponents ranked in the STATS FCS Top 25 poll. The Thunderbirds are No. 26 in this week’s STATS poll but SUU is No. 24 in the FCS Coaches’ poll.
No. 19 Montana State plays a crucial game at North Dakota as the Bobcats try to snap a five-game road-losing streak (MSU-UND preview here). No. 17 Montana plays at No. 12 Portland State in another Big Sky matchup between one-loss teams with Big Sky title implications (UM-PSU preview here).
Cal Poly at No. 24 Southern Utah — On Wednesday’s conference call, Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh said he preaches to his players that, playing for a championship or not playing for a championship, to play for each other every time out.
Walsh’s Cal Poly Mustangs are not playing for a championship. Not this year. But they could still have an influence on the rest of the league race, starting Saturday in Cedar City, Utah. The Thunderbirds are on a five-game winning streak that includes four straight Big Sky victories. Cal Poly’s streak of playing teams ranked in the Top 25 of the FBS (Arizona State) or STATS FCS polls technically ends at seven, although Southern Utah is No. 24 in this week’s FCS coaches’ poll.
“We have to get ready for one of the best teams in the nation,” SUU eighth-year head coach Ed Lamb said. “Cal Poly has played a brutal schedule. I can see a similarity in our schedule last year. We had a pretty good football team that had a tough time holding its identity through a really difficult first half of the season schedule (SUU started 0-4). I think Cal Poly is in that same position. No one has been able to stop them. They are very physical, very tough. It’s a tough game to play and a tough game to recover from afterwards. We have our hands full.”
Cal Poly’s triple option offense is averaging an FCS-best 392 rushing yards per game. The Mustangs are averaging 444.5 rushing yards per game in four Big Sky games. The Mustangs rushed for 499 yards in a 58-26 victory over Idaho State but have lost two straight since. CP rushed for 503 yards against No. 5 Eastern Washington but could not come up with the final yard it needed as the Mustangs failed to convert a two-point conversion try for the victory in a 42-41 over loss. Last week, Cal Poly went toe to toe for 58 minutes with No. 12 Portland State but the Vikings kicked a field goal with 33 seconds left for a 38-35 win.
Cal Poly’s 2-5 record comes by an average score of 34-32.
“The last couple of games we’ve played, we’ve won the game for 55 minutes and unfortunately, that doesn’t win the game,” Walsh said. “It happened again at Portland State. We had close to 600 offensive yards if you take away a 35-yard over the head snap. We had 30 first downs (27), 40 minutes (34:57) of possession, all those great things and the bottom line thing was they made plays when they had to and we didn’t. The same thing happened against Eastern Washington. I think we have a good football team. It’s unfortunate we are not winning but I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
Southern Utah’s hot streak has been built on a swarming defense that leads the country with 13 interceptions. The Thunderbirds have not given up a touchdown during Big Sky play and have surrendered just 12 total points to league opponents. Senior defensive end James Cowser leads the Big Sky with 13 tackles for loss and his five sacks are second. The Thunderbirds have 73 tackles for loss, 18 sacks and 17 takeaways overall.
“Their physicality inside and the big man outside (James Cowser) is probably the best defensive player in the United States at our level,” Walsh said. “He’s definitely on our mind and so are some other guys. They have a lot of good players. If I was them, I’d feel pretty good with who I have. That’s probably why they are so good on defense because he (Lamb) feels good about who he is playing with.”
The first half of SUU’s schedule included wins over Northern Colorado, Weber State, Sacramento State and UC Davis. The second half of the league schedule includes Cal Poly, at Montana State, at Portland State and home against Northern Arizona.
“We’ve worked to win every single week so from that standpoint, it’s not a surprise,” Lamb said. “The expectation is to win.
“I’m so pleased with the effort and concentration and focus our guys have had since we started out 0-2 to this point. What we’ve been getting is a direct result of guys working together, believing in each other and chasing the post season.”
Cal Poly senior quarterback Chris Brown will be a game-time decision. He missed last week’s game against Portland State with an undisclosed injury. If he can’t go, Walsh said true freshman Khaleel Jenkins will start for a second straight week.
Weber State at No. 5 Eastern Washington — The Wildcats have been one of the league’s surprise teams. Wins in four of their six games against Big Sky teams sets up Saturday’s must-win against the three-time defending league champions.
The Wildcats are 3-2 in Big Sky play, 4-4 overall, meaning WSU would have to win out and get some help to become a playoff bubble team. But Weber has played a full Division I schedule. A win over Eastern coupled with a win earlier this season over Montana in Missoula would certainly bolster Weber’s resume.
“The thing I see the most when I put the film on is Weber State is a tough football team,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. “They are athletic in a lot of spots, they are aggressive. You don’t see a single guy on that team ever shying away from anything.
“Coach Hill has done a great job because you have to practice that way, you have to think that way, you have to think that stuff constantly to end up putting that product on the field.”
Eastern’s pursuit of a fourth straight league title starts and ends with consistent clutch play and perhaps the most unstoppable player in college football. EWU junior wide receiver Cooper Kupp caught seven passes for 130 yards, a touchdown and six first downs in the fourth quarter alone in Eastern’s 43-41 win over Northern Colorado. Kupp finished the afternoon with 20 catches for 275 yards and three touchdowns. This season, he has caught 82 passes for 1,216 yards and 15 touchdowns. EWU leads the nation in passing offense at 409 yards per game. Junior Jordan West has already thrown for 2,158 yards and 26 touchdowns. Junior Kendrick Bourne has bolstered the passing attack with 50 catches for 676 yards and seven touchdowns.
“They have two of the best receivers in the conference if not the country” Hill, Weber’s second-year head coach, said. “I think Kendrick Bourne flies under the radar sometimes just because of the recognition Cooper gets. But Kendrick is fabulous, fast, athletic and you have your hands full stopping both.”
Weber will counter with a secondary filled with athleticism. Weber has more size and experience than Sacramento State or Northern Colorado, each team with young and talented secondaries that gave EWU problems.
Junior safety Josh Burton and senior cornerback Cordero Dixon have returned interceptions for touchdowns while sophomore safety Jawian Harrison is among the league leaders with three interceptions. Senior Devonte Johnson (six pass breakups) and sophomore Taron Johnson (nine pass breakups, an interception) are also key players in the back end.
But WSU fell victim to deep passes down the field in a 52-36 loss to Northern Arizona. NAU freshman quarterback Case Cookus threw four touchdowns before halftime as the Lumberjacks built a 42-9 lead.
“There are times we have just played fabulous this year and shut down wide outs we’ve played against,” Hill said. “There were stretches in that Montana game and of the NAU game where they were outstanding. And I scratch my head, that first half of that NAU game, I have no idea what we were doing. We had three or four blown coverages and some plays that went for touchdowns where we just lost guys. If we are at the top of our games and the guys execute the way I think they should, I think it will be a heck of a game.”
Northern Colorado at Northern Arizona — Northern Colorado proved it could trade blows with the best in the Big Sky last week in a 43-41 loss to Eastern Washington. This week, UNC faces a must-win if any hope of the post-season exists. The same can be said for a Northern Arizona team that has looked like a juggernaut at home and an inexperienced squad on the road.
“When you lose a game like that that you feel with every fiber in your body that you should’ve won, you deal with it,” Northern Colorado head coach Earnest Collins said. “Come 2:45 p.m., we meet with our kids on Sunday, we talk about it and we put it away. We watch it, you’re done with it. We’ve had some pretty good days of practice. It was an epic ball game on Saturday. You had two teams going blow for blow. It just came down to the best player in the country on any level in Cooper Kupp and (Jordan) West was putting the ball on the money to him.”
“To me, the kid (Kupp) is hands down one of the best players in this country if not the best and he’ll be he next great slot receiver in the NFL with some size. It will be awesome to see him. I hope he leaves this year and it will be awesome to see him in the NFL.”
Northern Colorado had won 12 Big Sky Conference games since joining the league in 2006 entering this season. Collins earned just six conference victories in his first four seasons, including four in 2012 and two last year. Northern Colorado has won a pair of Big Sky games this season and the Bears have four wins overall. For UNC to finish with its first winning season in the Division I era, the Bears will have to find two wins among a remaining schedule that includes NAU, at Portland State, at North Dakota and a non-conference season finale at home against Abilene Christian.
“The thing for me is seeing the growth of our kids with the process that we are going through,” Collins said. “A couple of years ago, you down 28-40, it turns into 55-40 really quick. But now our kids never give up, they never stop fighting. It’s a different ball club here man and our kids are starting to understand that we can hang and compete and beat anybody in this conference.”
Northern Arizona is 3-0 at Walkup Skydome, a venue that has been friendly to the Lumberjacks’ revamped up-tempo spread offense. NAU is averaging 47.3 points per game at home, including a 52-point outburst against Weber State last week. The ‘Jacks also scored 49 in an eight-point win over Montana State earlier this season.
Northern Arizona head coach Jerome Souers won his 69th career Big Sky game, passing Chris Ault for the all-time league record. Souers did not call into Big Sky’s weekly coaches call on Wednesday.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
