Fresh off surrendering leads in the final minute of back-to-back losses, Portland State pulled off a major upset Saturday, grinding out a 35-32 Big Sky Conference win over the fourth-ranked Montana Grizzlies at PGE Park.
Ryan Fuqua ran for 75 yards and a touchdown, Joe Rubin ran for 78 yards and quarterback Joe Wiser threw for two scores and ran for another for the Vikings, who never trailed. A crowd of 8,413, a majority of them Griz fans, seemed to wait for the other shoe to drop. Instead, Montana (3-1, 6-2) fell out of a first-place tie with Montana State (4-0, 6-2) after the Bobcats ripped host Northern Arizona 60-14.
"The last two weeks, we've gone through some stuff," said Portland State coach Tim Walsh. "I've never seen a team work so hard and not get any rewards for doing it. And this is the best reward we could possibly have right now.
"We can't win a championship, but I'm going to tell you what, winning this game against that team, after going through what those kids have been going through the last two weeks? Just letting them enjoy the game, work hard and get something is awesome."
The Vikings rushed for 207 yards, including 42 from Wiser, whose pedestrian statistics coming in - a .463 completion percentage, eight interceptions and seven TDs - didn't set him up to be the player of the game. He was. Wiser wasn't sacked, and he had a couple of back-breaking runs, including a 17-yard bootleg for a touchdown that put PSU ahead 28-17 with 6:23 left in the third period. On that same drive he bounced out of a tackle by Griz linebacker Loren Utterback to pick up a first down on third-and-8 from midfield.
"There were probably four crucial plays where he just out-athleted us," Montana coach Bobby Hauck said of the senior QB. "We were in position to make the play and couldn't. He was just better on those particular plays."
Wiser's lone mistake came on the possession after his TD run, when he was pressured into a pass from his 24-yard line that Griz safety Tyler Thomas picked off.
Thomas returned the interception 16 yards to the Viking 10, and on the next play Montana quarterback Craig Ochs - who threw for 280 yards and two scores - hit Jon Talmage for a touchdown to cut the gap to 28-24 entering the fourth quarter.
Since it came two plays after an 87-yard run by Fuqua was negated by a holding penalty, the time was ripe for PSU to falter. But after the teams traded punts, Wiser guided the Vikings on a nine-play, 60-yard drive for the clinching points. He hit tight ends Adam Whitehead and Scott Weaver for 11 and 29 yards to convert third downs, and Fuqua capped the drive with a 16-yard burst through the Grizzly defense. That made it 35-24 with 4:23 remaining.
Wiser finished 17-for-26 for 195 yards, throwing to seven receivers.
"He's so tough, and he's probably a better athlete than people give him credit for," Walsh said. "We want him using his athletic ability. Instead of forcing the ball and throwing the ball where he shouldn't, use that athletic ability to get a first down running the ball. Nothing wrong with that. And he did that two or three times tonight."
Montana closed to 35-32 on Ochs' 6-yard quarterback draw, plus a 2-point conversion pass to Talmage, with 2:38 remaining. The Griz opted to kick the ball deep and hope the defense could force a punt, but the Vikings ran the ball six times, picked up two first downs and ate up the clock.
Portland State finished with a 9-minute edge in possession time, partly because the Grizzlies' offense got off to such a poor start. On their first three possessions they sandwiched fumbles by Ochs and Justin Green around a shanked Tyson Johnson punt, giving PSU the ball at their 30, 32 and 27. After Green's fumble, Wiser hit Shaun Bodiford on a screen pass that went 27 yards for a 7-0 lead. With 5:27 left in the first quarter, the tempo had been set.
"Absolutely," said PSU defensive end Travis Dorsey, who recovered both fumbles. "It kind of said, 'They're No. 4 in the nation, but they can bleed, they can be beat.' Right away. It kind of got the defense pumped up, you know? Like, 'we can do this.'"
Montana tied the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter on an 8-yard scoring strike from Ochs to Jefferson Heidleberger, who had six catches for 96 yards. But the Vikings took the lead for good at the 11:53 mark, when Wiser hit Whitehead for 7 yards and the score.
After a second shanked punt - Johnson had kicks of 3 and 4 yards among his five punts - gave PSU possession at the Montana 35, the lead grew to 21-7 on a 2-yard run by Allen Kennett.
The Griz went no-huddle after the shaky start, and got a 13-yard scoring run from Lex Hilliard with a minute left in the first half to close to 21-14. A 43-yard pass to Heidelberger on the first drive of the second half set up Dan Carpenter's 41-yard field goal, bringing Montana within 21-17. But the Vikings had the answers.
"We put ourselves in a hole to start the game and it was uphill all night," Hauck said. "I thought our kids were emotional, so flat isn't what I'd say (they were). But I'd say we didn't execute well enough.
"Our special teams weren't good tonight. I am very disappointed in the way our kicking game played - that's generally a huge strength for us, and it wasn't tonight. We always think we're going to win, down to the end, and it was disappointing that we weren't able to get them stopped and they ran out the clock."
Talmage had five catches for 99 yards, and Hilliard ran for 72 yards for the Griz.
Montana 0 14 10 8 - 32
Portland St. 7 14 7 7 - 35
First Quarter
PSU-Bodiford 27 pass from Wiser (Azorr kick), 5:27
Second Quarter
UM-Heidelberger 8 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick), 14:12
PSU-Whitehead 7 pass from Wiser (Azorr kick), 11:53
PSU-Kennett 1 run (Azorr kick), 6:33
UM-Hilliard 11 run (Carpenter kick), 1:00
Third Quarter
UM-FG Carpenter 41, 11:42
PSU-Wiser 17 run (Azorr kick), 6:23
UM-Talmage 10 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick), :04
Fourth Quarter
PSU-Fuqua 16 run (Azorr kick), 4:23
UM-Ochs 6 run (Talmage pass from Ochs), 2:38
A-8,413.
UM PSU
First downs 21 19
Rushes-yards 33-94 45-207
Passing 280 195
Comp-Att-Int 19-30-1 17-26-1
Return Yards 28 15
Punts-Avg. 5-25.8 5-38.2
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 0-0
Penalties-Yards 8-59 14-118
Time of Possession 25:11 34:49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Montana, Hilliard 16-72, Green 11-44, Ochs 6-(-22). Portland St., Rubin 21-76, Fuqua 12-73, Wiser 4-42, Kennett 7-21, Bodiford 1-(-5).
PASSING-Montana, Ochs 19-30-1-280. Portland St., Wiser 17-26-1-195.
RECEIVING-Montana, Heidelberger 6-96, Talmage 5-99, Hancock 5-60, Segars 3-25. Portland St., Bodiford 4-52, Whitehead 3-27, Kennett 3-26, Ferrigno 2-37, Weaver 2-22, Brown 2-22, Fuqua 1-9.
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