NAU coach hurt in fight
The second half of Northern Arizona’s Big Sky Conference game at Sacramento State turned sour for the Lumberjacks.
NAU was up 10-3 at halftime, but a pair of lost fumbles allowed the winless Hornets to score two quick touchdowns, and they went on to just their eighth conference victory since 2000, 38-24.
Overall, the Lumberjacks had six turnovers.
It got worse.
With less than 3 minutes to go there was a fight between players, and NAU coach Jerome Souers was caught in the middle.
“Couch Souers was hit inadvertently in the head after trying to break up two players,” Steve Shaff, NAU’s assistant athletic director for media relations said in a school release.
Souers was sitting on the bench when the game ended. He was then taken by ambulance to a hospital for observation.
Souers suffered a concussion and a cut that needed 10 stitches but was released in time to catch the team flight back to Flagstaff.
Griz lose quarterback
Montana quarterback Jason Washington is out indefinitely after suffering a shoulder separation while being sacked by Weber State on Saturday.
That thrusts redshirt freshman Cole Bergquist into the starting role as the fourth-ranked Grizzlies start a tough three-game stretch with a game at No. 25 Idaho State followed by home games against No. 15 Eastern Washington and No. 9 Cal Poly.
UM’s offense struggled under Washington, a transfer from Bowling Green, but even in a blowout win over Division II Fort Lewis and a blowout loss at Oregon, Bergquist had little work. Bergquist had 11 snaps in the win, one series in the loss and later got three snaps against South Dakota State.
In helping the Griz hang on for a 24-19 win over the Wildcats, Bergquist was 2 of 5 for 6 yards.
BCS I-AA style
The first Gridiron Power Index (GPI), the BCS-style ranking for I-AA football, was released this week with four of the Big Sky’s teams in the top 25 and the league ranked No. 1.
Montana was tied for fifth with MSU seventh, Portland State tied for 21st and Eastern 24th.
The GPI helps pick at-large teams for the playoffs.
Idaho State, which beat Eastern, is No. 29, with Cal Poly and UC Davis, non-conference November foes for the Eagles, fourth and 10th, respectively.
Top-ranked New Hampshire is No. 1.
Quick kicks
Montana and Montana State are the only two teams unbeaten in conference play, and both are on the road this week. Home teams are 7-0 in conference games. … UM’s next home game is in two weeks against Eastern. The Griz are 43-2 in conference at home since 1993. … The last four meetings between UM and ISU have been decided by four points or less. … The 91-yard punt return against Eastern by Brendan Ferrigno is the longest in Portland State history. … Sacramento State beat NAU for the first time. … Joe Rubin of PSU leads the I-AA nation in rushing at 170.8 yards a game. … MSU drew 14,127 for homecoming against ISU, its largest non-Montana crowd. … UM had 23,773 for homecoming, its second-largest crowd. … Eastern is outscoring opponents 55-10 in the fourth quarter. … With a conference-high 10 TDs, Ken Cornist has set an ISU freshman scoring record. … Idaho State has 11 turnovers this season, 10 by QB Matt Halger, who has eight interceptions. … ISU is 26 of 29 in the red zone after scoring on all five trips trips inside the 20 in the 30-28 loss at MSU. … Starting tailback Adrian Conway, Weber’s leading rusher with 442 yards, is sidelined after severely spraining an ankle at Montana.