Up next: Weber State Wildcats

After last week’s near-upset over 11th-ranked Montana in Hillsboro turned into a last-second

23-21 loss, Portland State football looks to end a two-week losing streak as it heads to Utah to face the Weber State Wildcats.

Records entering the game

Portland State has just one conference win to go with its win over UC Davis, a non-conference opponent. The team is 2-4 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. Weber State has had slightly more success this year, going 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Portland State has already taken on conference heavyweights Montana and Montana State, while Weber State has yet to face either. Both teams have played perennial conference underachiever Idaho State and come away with wins, though the Portland State margin of victory was far wider.

Both teams have also played soon-to-be Big Sky member UC Davis, and each has come away with a win.

Last year’s meeting

The Wildcats came away with the 36-29 win on a sunny afternoon at PGE Park. The Viks came back from an 18-point deficit deep in the third quarter. They had explosive plays on special teams, with a kickoff return for a touchdown and an interception also returned for a touchdown.

The offense engineered a playmaking drive and scored what they thought was the winning touchdown with 1:15 left in the game. However, Wildcat quarterback Cameron Higgins, who will be back in this year’s matchup, engineered a drive of his own.

On a desperate passing play from the PSU 38 yard line, Higgins threw a pass that passed right through defending cornerback Tracy Ford’s hands. What should have been a pick became the winning Wildcat touchdown pass. The loss gave the Viks a hangover that they were unable to shake all season.

It was a game that saw some strong offense. The Viks had 477 yards of total offense and the Wildcats had 499. It was the only game against a conference opponent where the Viks had more rushing yards than their opponent, but still lost.

Scouting the Wildcats

Weber State has been fairly successful over the past two seasons. They made the playoffs both years and shared the conference title with Montana two years ago.

This year, they seem more vulnerable. They struggled against conference co-leader Eastern Washington two weeks ago. Almost every statistic puts the teams at playing an even game, except the one concerning passing errors. Quarterback Higgins threw three interceptions, all of which went on to be Eastern Washington touchdowns.  

In fact, the Wildcats appear highly prone to making mistakes. They have committed 18 turnovers so far this season, partly due to their hot-and-heavy passing game. The Wildcats currently have the top-ranked passing offense in the conference. With nine touchdowns and an average of 277 passing yards per game, their air game is ranked seven places higher than next-to-last Portland State.

In total offense, the Wildcats are second behind first-ranked Portland State.

The Wildcats are near the middle of the pack for passing and rushing defenses. The secondary seem a little thin though with a conference-worst two interceptions.

Scouting the Vikings

All of the work that head coach Nigel Burton and his coaching staff have been putting in is paying off statistically. This week, the Viking offense became the top team in total offense in the conference.  

They have achieved this using a vicious running attack led by junior running back Cory McCaffrey and junior quarterback Connor Kavanaugh. Respectively, they are the second and

fourth-ranked running backs in the conference.

Though Kavanaugh has the second-highest passing efficiency and has thrown no interceptions, the Vikings do not air the ball often. They don’t have a receiver in the top 10 of the conference. In order to compete with the potent Wildcat offense, someone will need to take the reigns off of Kavanaugh and let him try a couple of long passes.  

Making this even more necessary will be the Wildcat defense. They may give up 379 offensive yards per game, but they know how to control play in the red zone. They allow opponents to score only 64 percent of the time they reach that part of the field.

The current Viking defense is much better than the Viking defense of last year—so much better that it is difficult to put into words. They have the fourth-ranked rush defense and the third-ranked pass defense in the conference. If they can get to quarterback like they have been able to do many times this season, they are likely going to force some Wildcat mistakes.

With the Weber State running game almost non-existent, the Viking defense should come into this game well-prepared. Winning this game would be a very important step forward for the program and a nod to the work the coaching staff and players have been putting in. ?

Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, in Ogden, Utah. The game can be watched live on b2tv.com or heard on the radio on KXFL, 970AM. Live stats will be available on goviks.com.