Conference Teams Start Playing For Keeps

The gloves come off in the Big Sky Conference football race this week as eight of the nine schools kick off league play.

The key matchup takes place in Sacramento, Calif., where Portland State (2-0) faces Cal State Sacramento (2-0) in a battle of nationally ranked teams.

PSU, which is coming off a 45-20 thrashing of Division I Hawaii in Honolulu, is ranked No. 9 in The Sports Network I-AA poll. Sac State is ranked No. 25.

The game will feature the Big Sky’s top two career rushers in CSUS’s Charles Roberts (5,388 yards) and the Vikings’ Charles Dunn (4,528), who moved into the No. 2 spot last weekend.

“They were the best team in the league last year and are just as strong this season,” Sac State coach John Volek said of PSU, which also boasts the nation’s most efficient passer in senior quarterback Jimmy Blanchard, who enters the game with a 242.7 rating against I-AA opponents.

In other league openers, Idaho State (1-0) is Eastern Washington (1-1); Weber State (1-1) is at Montana State (0-1); and Northern Arizona (1-0) is at Cal State Northridge (0-1).

Preseason favorite Montana (1-1) will play host to Cal Poly-SLO in a non-conference game.

“It changes things,” first-year Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff said of the start of conference play. “There’s more pressure.

“The last two years, we’ve opened conference with a loss and we’re battling uphill all year to get back in the race. That’s something we want to avoid this year.”

New set of problems

Even though EWU has most of its players back from the team that held off Idaho State 45-38 last fall, Wulff is concerned about Saturday’s showdown against the Bengals.

And with good reason.

ISU riddled Eastern’s defense for 604 yards last season, and the Bengals did it with the two main offensive weapons on his year’s team - quarterback Troy Griggs and wide receiver/return specialist DeRonn Finley - sidelined with injuries.

Griggs and Finley will play on Saturday and that, according to Wulff, makes them as dangerous as any team the Eagles have played this year. Griggs, a rangy 6-5 senior, threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday’s 58-10 rout of Montana Tech, while Finley hauled in four passes for 47 yards.

“In some ways they’re even more dangerous than Oregon State,” explained Wulff, whose Eagles lost their season opener to the Beavers 21-19. “I think we’re facing a much better quarterback than Oregon State presented, and I think we’re facing a receiver in Finley who is every bit as good as any of the receivers Oregon State had.”

ISU alum alert

The Idaho State Alumni Association will sponsor a 4 p.m. social in the parking lot of Eastern Washington’s Woodward Stadium on Saturday, prior to the Bengals’ 6:05 Big Sky opener against the Eagles.

Tough crowd

Joe Glenn knew Montana fans were a little spoiled when he took over the Grizzlies program last winter.

But he didn’t realize how spoiled until he experienced the fallout from the Grizzlies’ 10-9 loss to Hofstra in their season opener two Saturdays back.

After the unexpected defeat, fans were all over Glenn and his coaching staff about the lack of offensive production.

“It gets a little rough around here, what’s up with that?” Glenn told the Billings Gazette earlier this week after his Grizzlies had bounced back with a 45-38 win over Idaho last Saturday. “I don’t think Hofstra has been given the credit it deserves.”

But last Saturday, the Grizzlies responded by rolling up 553 yards against Idaho as quarterback Drew Miller threw for a career-high 505 yards and five TDs,

“We circled the wagons,” Glenn said. “We were up against the wall a little bit. The kids drew together.”

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Eastern Washington has won eight straight at Woodward Stadium and is 14-1 at home over the past four seasons… . When Portland State stunned Hawaii and Montana knocked off Idaho last weekend, it marked the first time in league history that two Big Sky teams defeated Division I opponents on the same day… . The winner of Saturday’s Weber State-Montana State game will take the lead in a series that is tied at 18-18-1… . Cal State Northridge is 4-0 in league openers since joining the Big Sky… . Idaho State’s backup quarterback ,Kevin McCarthy, a starter last season, threw only three passes in last Saturday’s win over Montana Tech. But he managed to stretch his streak of games with a touchdown pass to 12 with a 7-yard scoring toss to Brett Fowler.