Football Welcomes Portland State For Homecoming
Complete Game Notes | Portland State Game Notes | Big Sky Conference Notes
Series Information
The two teams sport identical records as they are 1-4 on
the season and 0-3 in Big Sky Conference action... Both squads are
also riding three game losing streaks... The Bears are 1-5 all-time
against Portland State and have lost the last five... Northern
Colorado is 35-11 all-time in Homecoming games and looking for a
two-game winning streak during the festivities after defeating
Idaho State 29-9 a year ago... This will be just the third meeting
in Greeley between the two teams... In 1979, the Bears defeated the
Vikings 21-20 on Homecoming and lost 31-21 in 2007 at Nottingham
Field... Neither Portland State nor Northern Colorado have any
players from the opposing home state and have no high schools in
common... In each of the last two years against the Vikings, the
Bears have scored 21 points... In three games against the Vikings,
Stephen Michon has two of his four career
interceptions with 26 return yards (of 38 in his career)... Junior
John Eddy has also enjoyed playing the Vikings as
two of his 10 career sacks have come against Portland State (8.0
total yards lost).
AT&T
For Northern Colorado its not a telephone company, its
Alex Thompson and touchdowns. The senior wide
receiver tallied the second-highest single-game total with three
touchdowns against Northern Arizona on Saturday, bringing his
career total to seven. Against the Lumberjacks, he also had 12
receptions, which ties for the second-most in a single game for a
career-best 164 yards. He now has 69 career receptions in 1.5
seasons, needing just 24 to appear on the school's career charts.
He would be one of only two two-year players to rank among the top
10 at Northern Colorado.
Something Has To Give
Both Northern Colorado and Portland State are on three
game losing streaks this season. The Vikings have also lost eight
straight road games, dating back to their win at Nottingham Field
in 2007.
Field Positioning
Redshirt freshman John Burnley can be
counted on to aid the Bears in field positioning on special teams.
In seven kickoff returns, he has advance the ball more than 20
yards in six returns, including a high of 32 in the opener at
Kansas. Burnley is averaging 24.4 yards per kickoff return, which
ranks third in the Big Sky this season.
Battle Of The Pass
Portland State enters the game with the best pass offense
in the Big Sky and second in the nation, averaging 339.2 yards per
game while Northern Colorado leads the conference allowing just
187.2 passing yards per game.
More Thompson
Receiver Alex Thompson has caught at
least one pass in nine straight games for the Bears and in 15 of
his 16 in an NC uniform. The only game in which Thompson did not
make a catch was last year against Montana. He has caught at least
four passes in each game this season and in eight straight.
Third Attempt
Entering the game against Northern Arizona, the Bears were
just 17-for-55 on third downs (.309). Against the Lumberjacks,
Northern Colorado converted 13-of-23 third downs (.565), including
all three in the first quarter.
October 10
Northern Colorado is 7-4 all-time in games played on Oct.
10 and this will be the third straight time the Bears have played
on this date and it has been Homecoming. In 1992, NC defeated
Morningside 21-9, while in 1998 -- the last game on 10/10 -- they
won a 34-3 contest against South Dakota to move to 6-0 on the
season.
Scouting Portland State
The Vikings sport an identical record to the Bears at 1-4
and 0-3 in Big Sky play. The two teams have yet to have any common
opponents on the year. PSU leads the league and ranks second in the
nation in passing offense, averaging 339.2 yards per game. Portland
State has a -10 turnover margin on the season, the worst mark in
the Big Sky. Junior quarterback Drew Hubel leads the league in
total offense (327.4) and passing average (334.0), while junior
receiver Ray Fry averages a league-best 109.6 yards per game and
senior Aaron Woods averages 202 all-purpose yards per game, with
604 of his 1,010 in kickoff returns.
Pinned
Sophomore punter Cameron Kaman pinned
Northern Arizona inside their 20-yard line in four of six punts on
Saturday. He has now pinned the opponent inside the 20 on 8-of-32
punts.
94 More
Senior quarterback Bryan Waggener needs
94 more yards for 1,000 this season. Last year, Waggener became the
second-fastest quarterback at NC to get to 1,000 yards, doing so in
the third quarter of the fourth game. He currently ranks 10th on
the NC career charts with 3,452 yards, needing 407 to take over
ninth.
A Win Would...
- give the Bears two wins on the season and their first Big Sky victory of the year.
- snap a five-game losing streak against Portland State.
- be the second-straight win on Homecoming.
Schools From Oregon
Northern Colorado is 1-5 all-time against teams from
Oregon, facing only Portland State.
Even Stevens
The Bears are even with their opponent in turnover margin
this season, with eight giveaways and takeaways. That mark is
fourth in the Big Sky this year.
Triple Tackled
On Saturday against Montana State, three Northern Colorado
defensive players registered double figures in tackles. It is the
first time since Nov. 26, 2005 against UC Davis the Bears had three
players with 10 or more tackles. Junior cornerback Korey
Askew led the team with a career-best 11 tackles, while
senior safety Stephen Michon and junior linebacker
Matt King each had 10 stops.
Going Backwards
Despite only having 3.0 tackles for loss against Northern
Arizona on Saturday, the Bears still rank second in the league in
conference games only in tackles for loss with 25. Eastern
Washington leads the league with 28. In two of three league
contests, the Bears have recorded double figures in tackles for
loss, tallying 12.0 against Montana State and 10.0 at Eastern
Washington.
Early Scores
The key to Northern Colorado's success might be the timing
of the first score. When the Bears are on the scoreboard first,
they are 4-8 since head coach Scott Downing took
over the program. When the opponent scores first, NC is 0-26. The
Bears are also 0-22 when they trail after the first quarter but 3-6
when they lead after the first 15 minutes of play.
And 1 Makes 29
Senior safety Stephen Michon has the
longest active starting streak on the team at 28 games, almost
double any other player on the squad. The next longest streak is 16
games by Martin Awachie, Dominique
Ceja, Max Hewitt, Cameron
Kaman and Bryan Waggener.
He's Very Active
Senior quarterback Bryan Waggener
currently ranks on the NCAA FCS active career leaders list in
passing attempts per game (6th, 34.4/gm), passing yards per game
(11th, 215.8) and passing completions per game (7th, 19.6).
Sophomore punter Cameron Kaman also ranks 10th in
average per punt among career active leaders (39.91).
Notes From NAU Game
- For the first time since 2004, a Northern Colorado player caught 10 or more passes in a game. Alex Thompson led the Bears with 12 catches for 164 yards. The last time a student-athlete had 10 or more was when Vincent Jackson caught 10 passes against Florida Atlantic on Oct. 16, 2004.
- Thompson also became the first player since 2006 to score three or more touchdowns in a game. The last was Andre Wilson against Western Illinois on Sept. 23, 2006.
- Thompson's 12 pass receptions ties for the second-most in a single game in school history. Two other players, Barry West and Kim Boerema have accomplished the feat with Boerema doing so four times in 1985.
- Senior kicker Michael York is now seventh in school history with 18 made field goals. York made field goals of 19 and 34 yards in the fourth quarter.
- The 292 passing yards by quarterback Bryan Waggener is a season-high for the senior. His 28 completions is the second-highest total in his career behind the 31 against Texas State from 2008.
- The four forced fumbles by the defense is the most since the team began the transition to Division I. Five times previously the Bears had forced three fumbles.
- Junior linebacker John Eddy forced two fumbles in the game, bringing his career total to three against the Lumberjacks and three total.
Defense To Offense
Northern Colorado has forced at least one turnover in 19
of the team's last 20 games against FCS competition. Over those 19
games, the Bears have forced 27 fumbles and picked off 26 passes.
It's An Honor
Junior running back Andre Harris was
named the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week after
rushing for 152 yards in the Bears' 31-12 victory over San Diego.
Harris averaged 7.6 yards per carry, scoring two touchdowns. Harris
also caught four passes for 37 yards, giving him 189 all-purpose
yards. His 152 rushing yards is the most at Northern Colorado since
Andre Wilson rushed for 158 against Western Illinois on Sept. 23,
2006.
Return Policy
Senior Ryan Lutz has tallied 108 punt
return yards this season, already surpassing the team totals from
2007 (77 yds) and 2008 (74 yds). Lutz currently ranks third in the
Big Sky averaging 7.2 yards per return.
Hitting The Mark
- Senior quarterback Bryan Waggener passed 3,500 career total offensive yards against Northern Arizona and now has 3,558.
- Senior cornerback Quincy Wofford recorded his 100th career tackle with his final stop at Northern Arizona.
What To Look For
- Junior Max Hewitt tallied his seventh career interception against San Diego and now has 98 return yards in his career, needing just two more for 100.
- Hewitt is also just two tackles shy of 150 for his career.
- Junior Matt King needs just eight more tackles to match his season total of 44 from each of his first two years.
- Senior Alex Thompson is 88 yards shy of 1,000 receiving yards for his career.
- Senior Bryan Waggener is just 48 yards shy of 3,500 passing yards for his career.
- Senior Quincy Wofford is now just 38 yards shy of 500 all-purpose yards in his career.
- Junior Andre Harris needs just 54 yards for 500 all-purpose yards this season.
- Senior kicker Michael York is seven points shy of scoring 100 in his career.
Preseason Honors
Several Bears received preseason attention from various
publications. Senior quarterback Bryan Waggener
was named a 2009 Consensus Draft Services Preseason All-American
Honorable Mention while senior kicker Michael York
was named to the Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Sky Conference First
Team and junior linebacker John Eddy was named to
the Second Team.
Bears Story Lines
- Redshirt freshman Darin McDonald joins the Bears team after a short stint at Wyoming. Prior to that, he spent three seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league baseball system.
- The Bears return all eight on the depth chart among defensive linemen from a year ago.
- Three players, safety Ryan Lutz, defensive back C.J. Stemo and kicker Michael York have all received their bachelor's degrees and have begun work on their masters.
- Northern Colorado athletics ranks first in the Big Sky Conference in graduation success rate, with last year's rate at 93%.
- Two upperclassmen on the team, junior kicker Zak Bigelow and junior offensive lineman Tim McGraw both have perfect 4.00 grade point averages and are in the Monfort College of Business.
- A total of 13 student-athletes were named to the Monfort College of Business Dean's Citation List and five were from football. Junior Zak Bigelow, junior Matt McDonnell, junior Tim McGraw, sophomore Chuks Nweke and senior Michael York were all honored.
- Junior wide receiver Brandon Smith, senior offensive lineman Ryan Kemp, senior tight end Andrew Emmerling and senior running back DC Wilson are out for the remainder of the season with injuries. James Zapp (OL), Nick Candler (OL) and Dominic Gunn (WR) are also currently out with injuries.
Champions Council
This season, head coach Scott Downing decided to have a
council of players who would lead the team and take more of a
leadership role instead of the more traditional 2-3 captains. Those
players, elected by their teammates are: junior Zak
Bigelow, freshman John Burnley, freshman
Cameron Friend, senior Chris
Jones, senior Ryan Kemp, senior
Ryan Lutz, junior Tim McGraw,
sophomore Chuks Nweke, sophomore Dylan
Orms, sophomore Colby Riggins, junior
James Schrenk, senior C.J. Stemo,
senior Thomas Stuemky, freshman Curtis
Truett and junior Michael Van Portfliet.
