CAL POLY MUSTANGS (1-6, 0-4) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-4, 2-2)
Saturday, October 30, 2021, 2:05 p.m., Hillsboro Stadium (7,200), Hillsboro, OR
LIVE STREAMING: ESPN+ • Play-by-play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Scott Hermo
LIVE STATS: www.ViksLive.com
Complete notes and stats in pdf
ALL-TIME SERIES
CP leads the all-time series 13-11 • Series is tied 6-6 in Portland • CP leads 7-5 in SLOCP leads the Big Sky series 4-1 • CP leads 2-0 in Portland • CP leads 2-1 in SLO
RESTED VIKINGS WANT TO CONTINUE POSITIVE TREND
After a week off from competition, Portland State wants to come back to the field just as it left it - playing well in all facets of the game. The Vikings won their most recent game on Oct. 16, 31-10 over Idaho State. Another home opportunity comes this week against Cal Poly. The Vikings meet the Mustangs Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium in a 2:05 p.m. game presented by Pepsi.PSU (3-4, 2-2) has won three of its last five games. The Vikings are currently in a five-way tie for fifth place in the 13-team Big Sky Conference. With the second half of league play ahead, they must take advantage of a game against Cal Poly (1-6, 0-4), a team on a six-game losing streak. Down the stretch, the Vikings will face nationally-ranked Weber State (#23), Sacramento State (#15) and Eastern Washington (#7).
Portland State and Cal Poly have not met since 2017. The Mustangs lead the Big Sky series, 4-1, including winning the last two games. Most significantly, they have averaged 40.3 points per game against PSU since becoming a Big Sky Conference member. Those games occured during CP's "triple-option" era when the Mustang program had a dominant running game.
Portland State wins this season have come when the defense has turned in top performances. Most recently, the Vikings allowed a season-low 259 yards to Idaho State while forcing five turnovers. In those three wins, opponents have averaged just 10 points. Meanwhile, Cal Poly comes in with a struggling offense. The Mustangs are averaging only 286 yards and 12.3 points per game this season.
On offense, the Vikings appear to have achieved the balance they have sought. In the last three games, they have averaged 154.7 yards per game on the ground, and 255.3 yards per game through the air.
Portland State goes into Saturday's game with a 2-1 home record. Cal Poly is 1-3 on the road.
STORYLINES
- AFFILIATE: Cal Poly is an affiliate member of the Big Sky Conference competing only in football. PSU led the series 10-9 prior to the Mustangs joining the Big Sky. Since then, CP has won five of six meetings (including a 2014 game played in a non-conference format).
- WHERE YOU BEEN?: This will be the first meeting between the programs in four years and first in Portland in five years.
- DIVISION II COMBATANTS: Portland State and Cal Poly faced one another 16 times between 1977 and 1993. They were Division II opponents in the old Western Football Conference from 1982-92.
- START OF SOMETHING GOOD: SR QB Davis Alexander made his first career start against Cal Poly as a redshirt freshman back in 2017. He threw for 409 yards and a touchdown in a loss. The 409 yards remained his career high until Oct. 9 of this season.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly is 1-6 on the season. After opening with a 28-17 road win at San Diego, the Mustangs have lost six straight games. They have averaged only 9.3 points per game during their losing streak.Cal Poly averages 286.0 yards per game on offense, including 207.0 yards passing and 78.4 yards rushing. The Mustangs give up 39.1 points per game. They allow 207.6 yards rushing and 259.3 yards passing.
Despite losing to nationally-ranked UC Davis last Saturday, they gave the Aggies a competitive game, falling 24-13. Quarterback Spencer Brasch was 23-44 for 291 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Shakobe Harper is the team's top rusher this season with 24 carries for 316 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Coleman has a team-high 24 receptions for 316 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, Matt Shotwell has made a team-high 79 tackles. Elijah Ponder has nine tackles for loss and five sacks this season for the Mustangs.
LAST GAME: A FAST START LEADS TO AN EASY VICTORY
On Oct. 16, Portland State asserted itself both offensively and defensively right from the jump, and came away with a 31-10 victory over Idaho State. The Viking defense produced a season-high five turnovers, including three in the first quarter alone to set the tone. The offense responded by jumping to a 17-0 lead and never looked back... the first quarter could not have gone better for the Green and White. Quarterback Davis Alexander drove the Vikings 75 yards in just three plays to open the game. He found a wide-open Nate Bennett on a 44-yard touchdown pass. The Vikings' Broderick Harrell later forced an ISU fumble that was recovered by Anthony Adams at the PSU 25. Again, Alexander drove the team 75 yards. This time, Malik Walker scored on a two-yard run... defensive end VJ Malo made a strip sack of Bengals quarterback Hunter Hays and it was recovered by linebacker Parker McKenna. The Vikings tacked on a 20-yard field goal by Gianni Smith for a 17-0 lead at the end of the period... on the next series, Idaho State took advantage of a short field and a PSU unsportsmanlike penalty. After taking over at the PSU 45, the Bengals were able to score in six plays. Jared Scott made a nice one-handed grab of a Hays pass, scoring from 12 yards out. Midway through the second quarter, PSU led 17-7... PSU responded though. With less than a minute-and-a-half remaining in the second quarter the Vikings ran off seven plays for 72 yards. Walker opened the series with a 30-yard draw play. Soon, an Alexander to Beau Kelly 10-yard scoring strike made it 24-7 at halftime... the Vikings pushed the lead to 31-7 early in the second half. Tyreese Shakir picked off an ISU pass on the first play from scrimmage. That set the Vikings up at the Idaho State 40-yard line. Alexander again finished the drive with a TD pass to Kelly, a three-yarder... PSU's defense held Idaho State to 259 yards - the fewest by a Viking opponent this season. The Vikings had five sacks, including two by Malo. Nicolas Ah Sam had nine tackles to lead the team... on offense, the Vikings were balanced. Walker had another good game with 97 yards rushing on 17 carries. Kelly, one of the Big Sky's top receivers, caught six passes for 35 yards and two scores. Bennett had four receptions for 81 yards.DEFENSE SETS THE TONE
It's no coincidence that when the Portland State defense is productive, the Vikings win games. In PSU's three wins this season, the opponents have scored just 7, 13 and 10 points, and been under 280 yards of offense all three times. The win over Idaho State was perhaps the best of the bunch.- Portland State forced a season-high five turnovers, including three in the first quarter which helped stake the Vikings to a 17-0 lead.
- SR S Broderick Harrell forced a fumble that was recovered by JR CB Anthony Adams... JR DE VJ Malo made a strip sack of ISU quarterback Hunter Hays, which was recovered by FR LB Parker McKenna... on Idaho State's third series, SR S Ty Apana-Purcell intercepted a pass... later in the game, FR CB Tyreese Shakir intercepted a pass, and SR LB Alex Lozano recovered a fumble.
- The 259 yards allowed Idaho State were the fewest by an opponent this season.
- The Vikings had a season-high five sacks, two of which were strip sacks by JR DE VJ Malo. Malo leads the Vikings with 8.5 sacks this season and ranks seventh in the nation.
MORE DIAMONDS ON DEFENSE
- THREE TIMES FIVE: PSU's defense forced a season-high five turnovers against Idaho State and allowed a season-low 259 yards of offense. The Vikings made five sacks and five pass breakups.
- The Vikings allowed only 106 yards in the first half and 278 yards total in their home-opening win over Western Oregon (9/18). PSU had nine tackles for loss, four sacks and six pass breakups in the game. SR LB Broderick Harrell led the way with 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup.
- Portland State allowed 267 yards in the 20-13 win at Southern Utah. On the T-Birds final drive, they moved to a first-and-goal at the PSU 9. The T-Birds rushed for no yards, then got a quarterback scramble for five yards. With third-and-goal at the four, PSU forced two incompletions. The second came on fourth-and-goal when JR CB Xavier Bell swatted away the pass in the endzone with 3:05 to play... Bell finished with six tackles, an interception and a pass breakup.
- This season, the Viking defense has forced 13 turnovers and made 19 sacks, which ranks fourth in the Big Sky Conference.
- MALO-IFICENT TO OFFENSES: JR DE VJ Malo has 12 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. He is ranks second in sacks and fourth in TFLs in the Big Sky... his 8.5 sacks ranks 11th all-time for a season at PSU... he has the most by a Viking since Adam Hayward had 9.5 in 2006 – and there are four games to play in the regular season.
- FR LB Parker McKenna leads the Vikings with 57 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble... FB LB Justice Pagan has 30 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and two pass breakups... JR CB Xavier Bell also has 30 tackles, a tackle for loss, four pass breakups and an interception.. JR CB Anthony Adams has 30 tackles, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and two pass breakups.
- ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS FOR TACKLES: JR CB Anthony Adams, 143; SR LB Nicolas Ah Sam, 111; SR DT Semise Kofe, 102.
TURNING AROUND THE TURNOVER TABLES
Portland State has won the turnover battle the last two games in a row. Just two games ago, the Vikings had a -6 turnover margin. Now it is even, 13 given up and 13 forced... the Vikings had only 16 in 12 games in 2019 (1.3 pg) and 15 in 11 games in 2018 (1.4 pg). With 13 through seven games, the Vikings are on pace for 21 turnovers (1.8 pg) this season.- JR CB Anthony Adams and FR CB Tyreese Shakir account for more than half of the takeaways. Adams, an All-American, has four (2 INT, 2 FR), while Shakir has three (1 INT, 2 FR).
WALKING THE WALKER
Portland State had been averaging only 88 yards on the ground per game through the first four. However, the Vikings have rushed for 156 yards, 164 yards and 144 yards in the past three games. SR RB Malik Walker rushed 26 times for a career-high 132 yards against Idaho. He has 60 carries for exactly 300 rushing yards over those three games. Walker ranks fifth in the Big Sky Conference with 116 carries for 526 yards and five touchdowns this season.ALEXANDER THE GREAT
SR QB Davis Alexander is climbing the charts among Portland State's all-time passing leaders. And that is no small feat when you consider some of the great signal-callers that have gone through the Park Blocks. Alexander has a chance to finish his career second in virtually every passing category behind Viking legend Neil Lomax. Here is a sample of what Alexander has achieved through seven games this season and 33 career starts.- Alexander is 158-266 passing for 2,008 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Alexander ranks second in the Big Sky in passing yards per game (286.9) and total offense (307.4). He ranks 11th in the nation in both categories.
- Alexander has moved into second place all-time at PSU for total offense behind only Neil Lomax (1977-2000, 13,345). Alexander now has 9,386 yards.
- With 8,148 career passing yards, Alexander is now in third place in PSU history. He trails only Neil Lomax (1977-1980, 13,220) and Jimmy Blanchard (1997-2000, 8,455).
- With 15 passing touchdowns, Alexander is now fourth all-time with 57 in his career at PSU. He has accounted for 79 career touchdowns (including 22 rushing). With 22 rushing touchdowns, he ranks 11th all-time at PSU.
- Alexander has moved into fourth in completions in Portland State history. He is now 600-1,056 in his career.
- Alexander now has eight 300-yard passing games, which ties for fourth-most in PSU history. His three 400-yard games ties for third-most.
BEAU KNOWS RECEIVING, PASSING, RETURNING, RUSHING...
JR WR Beau Kelly continues to be an all-around contributor for the Vikings. He has 757 all-purpose yards for the season (108.2). He has gained yards receiving, rushing and on punt returns. And he is 2-2 passing for 56 yards.- Kelly leads the Vikings and ranks first in receptions (46), first in touchdowns (8) and second in receiving yards (640) in the Big Sky Conference... he also has 15 rushing yards, 102 punt return yards and 56 passing yards this season.
- He ranks 15th in the nation with 91.4 receiving yards per game.
- Kelly leads the Big Sky Conference with a 14.6 punt return average.
- Kelly had back-to-back career games in the first two of the season. He went for 6-132-1 at Hawai'i, then 10-152-1 at Washington State... his third 100-yard game came at Idaho (7-119-2).
- For his career, Kelly has 92 receptions for 1,293 yards and 11 touchdowns in 28 games. He also has 208 career punt return yards, 103 career passing yards (on 3-4 completions), and 70 career rushing yards.
ALL-AMERICAN BOY
All-American JR CB Anthony Adams is having a familiar season. Though opponents have notably stayed away from his side of the field, Adams has 30 tackles, one tackle for loss, two pass breakups, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.- Adams now has 11 career takeaways (3 FR, 8 INT)... his 28 career pass breakups ranks sixth all-time at PSU.
- Two of his takeaways - the fumble recovery at Hawai'i and the interception at Washington State - came when the opponent was inside the Vikings' 10-yard line.
- In 2019, Adams led the nation in passes defensed at the FCS level in 2019 (5 INT, 19 PBU) earning consensus first team All-American honors.
WIDEOUT PRODUCTION
Portland State figured to have a very strong wide receiver group in 2021. That has come to fruition even with some injuries to key members.- JR WR Beau Kelly leads the team in receptions (46), receiving yards (640) and touchdowns (8).
- Though he missed the Idaho game with illness, FR WR Darien Chase has become a starter and has 26 receptions. He has 328 receiving yards and had a 100-yard game at Hawai'i.
- FR WR Nate Bennett has 32 receptions for 460 yards and four TDs and has started all seven games. Bennett ranks in the top 10 in the Big Sky in receiving. He picked up his first 100-yard game with six receptions for 106 yards against Western Oregon.
- JR WR Mataio Talalemotu was unavailable for three games and played briefly at Southern Utah. He came back strong at Idaho, making career-highs of 12 receptions for 196 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yarder. He passed 1,000 career receiving yards at Hawai'i. Talalemotu now has 76 receptions for 1,238 yards and 10 TDs.
- JR WRs Marquis Spiker (7-96-0) and George McCorley (7-108-0) are also gaining traction as receivers.
EXTRA SPECIAL TEAMS
Vikings special teams are strong once again in 2021:- SR P Seth Vernon continues to impress. He has a 46.1 yard average and nine punts of over 50 yards. He ranks third in the Big Sky and fifth in the nation. Vernon had a long of 59 yards at Hawai'i, 56 yards at Washington State, 58 yards against Western Oregon, 55 against Montana State and 65 at Southern Utah.
- JR K Cody Williams will miss the remainder of the season due to a hip injury. Williams started the first 26 games of his career. This season he made 10-10 extra points, extending his school-record streak to 93 in a row... Williams hit a 46-yard field goal at Washington State. That was the 27th successful three-pointer in his career, tying him for seventh all-time in PSU history (Mike Cajal-Willis, 2001-02).
- FR K Gianni Smith took over for Williams late in the Western Oregon game. Since then, Smith has gone 14-14 on extra points and 4-6 on field goals. He made a 41-yard field goal against Montana State, then 35 and 28 yarders at Southern Utah, and a 20-yarder against Idaho State.
- FR CB Tyreese Shakir recovered a pair of fumbles at Hawai'i. The first came in the third quarter when Shakir recovered a muffed kickoff return by the Rainbow Warriors in the endzone. Later in the fourth, when the Vikings were attempting a desperate comeback, Shakir recovered a fumbled onside kick.
- JR WR Beau Kelly had a season-best 30-yard punt return at Southern Utah and averages 14.6 for the season. He leads the Big Sky Conference.
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Cal Poly Comes Calling As Vikings Try To Build Momentum Down The Stretch - Portland State Vikings
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