@UNCBEARSFB Host Another Top 10 Opponent in #9 Portland State

Bears Notes
Vikings Notes
Big Sky Notes

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Game Time
- Northern Colorado (4-4, 2-4 Big Sky) is back at home facing another ranked opponent in #9 Portland State University (7-1, 4-1 Big Sky). The Bears will look to hand the Vikings their first road loss of the season on Saturday as PSU sits at 4-0 in games away from Portland. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m. (MT) For information on the game please visit our GAMEDAY CENTRAL.

Century Mark

- For the first time since week 2, redshirt freshman RB Trae Riek was on an unlimited snap count and it showed. The back broke into the century mark with 127 rushing yards on just 17 attempts (6.6 ypc) and had two touchdown runs of 36 and 22 yards in the loss at NAU. It's the second time this season that he has totaled over 100 yards on the ground.

Wrong Reads

- Redshirt freshman quarterback Jacob Knipp threw 2 INTs in the loss at Northern Arizona. It was the first time he'd thrown multiple interceptions since week 2, where he threw three against Southern Utah.

Sack Lunch

- Junior Defensive end, Mik Dubose now has 5.0 sacks on the season, ranking him 3rd overall in the conference. He also has 10.0 tackles for a loss this year, which is 5.0 tackles away from the D1 program record.

That's A Lot Of Points

- The Bears gave up 63 points at NAU last Saturday in the 63-21 loss. The 63 points are the most any opponent has scored on the team since 2007, when UNC lost at #23 Hawaii, 63-7.

Forecast

- Weather.com reports it will be 53 degrees and sunny for kickoff on Saturday. There is 0% chance of rain and a slight 5 mph wind blowing out of the southwest

Even Steven

- This is the first time in Collins' tenure that one of his teams has been 4-4 this late in the season. His best record of 5-6 came in 2012, but the team was 2-6 heading into week 9.

Break Ups Are Hard

- Both junior Safety Taylor Risner and senior corner A.J. Battle have five PBUs on the season with four games left to play. They both need just five more to tie the Division I record set in 2014 by former corner Courtney Hall, who holds the record with 10 PBUs in one season. Hall is also the career PBU record holder in Division I program history with 21.

New Month, New Records

- Collins is 4-8 all-time in the month of November when leading the Bears, including a 1-4 home mark and 3-4 away record.

Series Matchup

- UNC matchups against Portland State for the first time since 2012 when Northern Colorado rolled out of Oregon with a 38-32 victory. Despite the most recent win, the Vikings still own a 7-3 series lead (1-4 home, 2-3 away). The last time UNC beat PSU at home came on homecoming in 1979 pulling out a 21-20 win.

Young Guns

- UNC has a new starting lineup for offensive specialists. The Bears have two redshirt sophomores (Onic, Deggs) and a redshirt freshman (Wesley) at wide receiver, a redshirt freshman (McCauley) at tight end, a redshirt freshman (Knipp) at quarterback and a redshirt freshman (Riek) at running back.

Ways to Watch

- This Saturday's contest will be live on the internet, streamed by EverSport.TV. EverSport is the new official streaming provider of the Big Sky Conference. All conference games this season can be viewed on EverSport at no cost.

Sound Tackling

- Junior safety Taylor Risner is still the team's tackling leader. He now has 78 tackles (24 solo, 54 assisted) on the season, which ranks him 5th in the Big Sky. If Risner should reach the century mark in tackles, he would be just the third player in D1 history to do so and the first since 2011 when Clarence Bumpas recorded over 100 tackles, with 145.

Punt Game

- Freshman punter Keifer Glau averaged 44.1 yards a punt on nine attempts, netting 397 yards in the loss at Northern Arizona. He had three punts of 50+ yards and three that were inside the 20 yard line, including his long of the day of 56. Both the attempts and the net yards were career-highs for the freshman and helped move UNC to 17th in the FCS in Net Punting.