Upset Win Comes With A Loss

Southern Utah’s stunning 45-35 non-conference win over Big Sky Conference favorite Montana last Saturday came at a dear price.

The Thunderbirds lost senior fullback Brook Madsen for the season when he broke his arm diving into the end zone on a 35-yard touchdown run that decided the game with 3:08 remaining.

“That’s a major blow to our offense,” Southern Utah coach C. Ray Gregory said of Madsen, who ran for 145 yards and four touchdowns before getting hurt. “Somebody else is really going to have to step up.”

But before the violins start playing, consider this: Gregory has a pretty decent runner in sophomore quarterback Matt Cannon, who rushed 34 times for 209 yards in handling the Grizzlies only their second home loss in the last four years.

Montana coach Mick Dennehy, whose team was ranked No. 3 in the nation heading into Saturday’s game, hinted that his Grizzlies may not have given Southern Utah the respect it deserved.

“The feeling I had on the sidelines was we did not go out there with the idea that these guys were as good a football team as they are,” Dennehy said. “I don’t think we were at our best today.”

What upset?

Another Big Sky coach who did not consider Southern Utah’s win over Montana much of a surprise was Eastern Washington’s Mike Kramer.

“They led the nation in rushing two years in row,” he said of the independent Division I-AA team from Cedar City, Utah. “Southern Utah is the real deal, and I suspect that if they play that way the rest of the year, baby, you’d better win the Big Sky championship to get in the playoffs, because second place won’t get you in.

“The polls tell me the Eastern I-AA teams are playing pretty well right now - McNeese, Northern Iowa, Youngstown State. So I’m saying if you’re in the West, you’d better buck up, because Southern Utah’s planning on getting one of those seeds from our region.”

Wildcats’ woes

First-year Weber State coach Jerry Graybeal didn’t have much but the final score to be happy about following last Saturday’s 41-12 non-conference home win over Humboldt State.

During the game, the Wildcats lost starting quarterback Steve Buck indefinitely with a dislocated ankle and starting linebacker Ron James for the year with a knee injury.

“We suffered a lot of problems for that win,” said Graybeal, whose Cats are 2-0. “But this team isn’t going to quit. We’re going to work harder and try to keep this winning streak going.”

Promises, promises

OK, so they didn’t exactly promise the world.

But the Cal State Sacramento Hornets still managed to raise some eyebrows - and a few “sure-you-will” snickers - when they made a preseason promise to their fans that they would win more games this year than last.

Two games into the season, that promise has been fulfilled, thanks to last Saturday’s 22-14 win over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

The win over the Mustangs, who finished 10-1 last fall, improved Sac State’s record to 2-0. Last year, the Hornets finished 1-10.

What made the victory even more impressive, however, was that it came with third-string quarterback Scott Towne under center.

Towne, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound sophomore who is also listed as a wide receiver, played the entire second half after starter A.J. Bernhardt was knocked out of the game with a concussion and backup Paul Carrillo suffered a separated shoulder.