Void of everyone except a few trainers picking up water jugs, the Stott Community Field still had one Portland State player occupying its turf minutes after football practice ended Monday morning.
With the concentration of a student on test day, junior wide receiver Mario D’Ambrosio meticulously placed his cleats on the field’s white hash marks before dashing off and making a precise cut or two.
Sure the field was nearly vacated, but D’Ambrosio’s mind was not, as the Vikings leading receiver still had the 41-31 loss to Sacramento State and the resulting 1-3 record for Portland State ruminating in his head.
And part of the reason he was putting in the extra work was to make the feeling dissipate–not through exhaustion but rather by adhering to the team’s mantra that “every week is a must-win.”
“We had a serious talk as players,” D’Ambrosio said. “We know we have to come together as a team.”
D’Ambrosio said that he and fellow junior wide out Tracy Ford were speaking about the need for a players-only meeting, then senior linebacker Andy Schantz became involved and the plan came to fruition.
The players met for an hour in the Stott Center team room Sunday afternoon, giving everyone an opportunity to “express their feelings” and “get on the same page.”
“It felt different walking into the locker room today,” D’Ambrosio said. “There was a new vibe.”
Junior quarterback Tygue Howland echoed D’Ambrosio’s sentiment, stating that improvement is a matter of practicing harder and cutting down on little mistakes during games. “That was really a big sign that we need to practice harder and make big plays,” Howland said of the loss to the Hornets.
Howland, who passed for 394 yards and three touchdowns Saturday, criticized his play because he felt he was too inconsistent, pointing out that he overthrew his receivers on a couple key plays.
The mistakes Howland speaks of have plagued the Vikings in each of their three losses this season.
Howland characterizes them as “little” mistakes that often cost Portland State a victory. A missed assignment here. A dropped pass there. An occasional overthrow.
“We’ll get the right coverages, and then I’ll overthrow a receiver,” Howland said. “On defense, we’re all in the right spots, and we miss a tackle.”
The offense and defense are committing a lot of the same mistakes, Howland said, which is why he is not ready to place any blame on the Vikings’ defense, even though his offensive unit put up 31 points Saturday.
“In this offense, we’re capable of scoring 50 or 60,” Howland said. “I have all the confidence in the world in my defense.”
Head coach Jerry Glanville looked a bit beaten up Monday morning after three consecutive road losses.
Glanville agrees with the players that mistakes, errors and miscues have stolen away a couple of winnable games. But he also believes that his team’s struggles are a matter of a bunch of young players playing like they are young and inexperienced.
“It’s four or five errors that change the game,” Glanville said, focusing primarily on his defense, which has allowed an average of over 42 points a game in their three losses. “On defense, we absolutely gave them four big plays.”
Heading into a crucial matchup with Eastern Washington Saturday, Glanville feels his team is about where he expected before the season began and is not caught off guard by their performance thus far.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not discouraging,” Glanville said of his team’s three-game losing streak. “Am I surprised? No. Did I know we would go through this? Yes. Does that make it any easier? No.”