PSU gets on a run

It’s not as if Portland State took the “shoot” out of its run-and-shoot offense Saturday night.

But the Vikings certainly put the “run” in capital letters.

That unlikely twist and an offensive performance fraught with all manner of hiccups were too much for Eastern Washington to overcome, the 21st-ranked Eagles suffering a 28-21 Big Sky Conference football loss at Woodward Field – their first after opening the season with three wins.

It took an interception in the end zone by PSU’s Tristan Patin on a last-play Hail Mary to actually settle the issue, which suggested that Eastern never ran out of fight. But they didn’t have much in the way of rhythm or consistency, and certainly no answer for the Vikings’ superior play up front on both sides of the ball.

“When we came out (of the locker room), we let the two lines come out first – because they had to win the game,” said Vikings coach Jerry Glanville, whose team improved to 2-3 and shares the Big Sky lead with Montana State. “If the lines didn’t play, we had no chance.”

But it’s unlikely Glanville could have imagined how well they’d assert themselves.

For openers, the offensive line blasted open enough space that fullback Olaniyi Sobomehin ran wild for 141 yards on 25 carries – or just 20 fewer yards than the 230-pound senior had accumulated in PSU’s first four games. Forty-seven of those yards came on the opening possession of the second half, when the Vikings drove 70 yards for a 14-14 tie – but, in effect, took control of the game.

On the flip side, the Vikings’ defense – a lowly 95th in the country statistically – managed to hold Eastern to just 54 yards rushing and sack quarterback Matt Nichols five times. The Eagles had allowed only a single sack in their first three games and were averaging 222 yards a game on the ground.

If it didn’t have its own troubles, the offense may have been responsible for some of the defensives woes, as well.

“Our offense couldn’t relieve our defense,” EWU coach Paul Wulff acknowledged. “We weren’t stringing anything together and it put a lot of pressure on our defense – and eventually, against that offense, you’re going to break down.”

Which, in fact, was the case in the fourth quarter.

First, the Vikings put together an 87-yard scoring drive the old-fashioned way – with senior quarterback Brian White completing 8 of 9 passes, including a lovely third-down lob to Matt Smith, who stretched out his 6-foot-5 frame to complete a 29-yard play. Reggie Joseph got the touchdown on an 11-yard reception, one of 10 he had on the night.

Then the Vikings took advantage of the subpar special teams play that plagued Eastern all night – and bobbled shotgun snap by EWU Nichols that blew up a third-down play – to take over the next time around on the Eastern 38. They were in the end zone in just six plays, Sobomehin rumbling through a huge hole from 12 yards out.

That made it 28-14 with just 3:28 left, and while the Eagles were able to halve that gap in less than a minute – Aaron Boyce winning a jump ball on a 23-yard touchdown pass – there weren’t enough breaks or seconds left to overcome the rest.

In all, the Vikings outgained Eastern 520-417 – and held the ball for nearly 9 1/2 of the last 15 minutes. An inability to corral Sobomehin – who had another 47 yards on five receptions – was a particular problem.

“We thought we were going to make an adjustment in the second half to limit that, but we didn’t respond,” Wulff said. “We had a hard time getting pressure when they threw it and we had a hard time getting off blocks.”

Not that there weren’t hints being dropped in the first half. Eastern held a 14-7 lead at intermission, but thanks mostly to three big plays – the most spectacular an 85-yard catch-and-run by Brynsen Brown, the longest non-scoring play in EWU history, that led to Alexis Alexander’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Later, Terry Mixon, the late addition transfer from Washington State, intercepted a White pass to derail one drive and set up Eastern’s go-ahead score, and Kevin Hatch fell on a PSU fumble after a teammate blasted the ball loose from Sobomehin at the EWU 1-yard line.

Eastern’s rhythm was disrupted by the loss of five starters during the game, including playmaker Tony Davis, who scored the second touchdown before suffering a separated shoulder. But Nichols also shouldered some blame, though he threw for a career-high 363 yards.

“I didn’t play well enough for us to win this game,” he said. “A lot of the (sacks) were the result of indecisiveness by me – me not finding receivers quick enough or moving in the pocket when I didn’t need to.”