In 28 all-time meetings with NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision-level teams, the Portland State Vikings have came away with just two wins, including a 0-9 mark against teams from the Pac-10 Conference.
This week, the Vikings (1-1) will have their hands full with the No. 5 Oregon Ducks in both teams’ final tune-up before starting conference play.
So far this season, Portland State has been outscored by its opponents 87-50 and has tallied less total yards in two games (691) than Oregon posted during its week one demolition of New Mexico (720).
Portland State will give Oregon its first look at the pistol formation on offense, but the Ducks have matched up with their own shotgun sets during the offseason.
“We’ve played against shotgun all fall camp,” sophomore linebacker Michael Clay said. “And I mean they run the pistol … and they’ve just got different concepts and different packages then our offense, but we’re feeling pretty good with our defense and our schemes.”
The Vikings have a fairly balanced offensive attack, rushing for 18 first downs and passing for 17 more.
As an offense, Portland State has reached the end zone just three times in two games.
Junior running back Cory McCaffrey has paced the Viking ground game with 26 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown.
McCaffrey spent his first two years at Portland State at the slot receiver position, before making the move back to his natural home in the backfield this offseason. The Sisters native amassed 8,460 yards during his career at Sisters High School, which ranks No. 16 the on the all-time national high school list. McCaffrey’s total is more than 3,000 yards better than the next best total in Oregon history.
Fellow junior quarterback Connor Kavanaugh has thrown for 324 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, on 27 of 46 passing. Kavanaugh has also run the ball 22 times for 64 yards.
“Our job as a defense is to just get off the field as fast as we can and get the ball back in our offense’s hands,” Oregon free safety John Boyett said.
Portland State will look to give the Duck defense its first test of the season.
But for a team that relies heavily on the passing game, the Vikings have struggled with turnovers.
In addition to Kavanaugh’s two interceptions, backup Tygue Howland has thrown two picks of his own, and the team has also fumbled four times, two of which they’ve recovered.
Arguably the most consistent performer on the Portland State roster, sophomore kicker Zach Brown, is considered to be one of the best kickers in the Big Sky Conference this season.
Brown rewrote the Portland State record books last season, setting the school’s top mark with 18 fields goals in a season, and has picked up right where he left off.
Through two games, Brown has scored 26 points for the Vikings, which is 20 points better than his four teammates tied for second with six.
Brown has converted on seven of his eight field goal attempts this season with his only miss from beyond 50 yards out.
Brown was responsible for all of Portland State’s nine points during the Vikings 54-9 blowout loss at Arizona State during week one.
For his efforts, Brown was named Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week following that game and earned the honors again after the Vikings 41-33 win over UC Davis last week.
He made four field goals, three extra points, and ran in a two-point conversion during the contest.
In Brown’s 13 career games, he’s been the Big Sky’s Special Teams Player of the Week four times.
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