Thoughts on the Northern Colorado football game

by Allison Whited, Vanguard staff

I'm going to continue my new tradition of providing personal commentary about the week's football game in a very relaxed way. I apologize for missing last week, but it was a hectic weekend with family coming in.

At the two practices I was able to attend this week, there was a different tone than that of weeks past. It was as if everyone had a chip on his shoulder, which I suppose they really should.

Offensive coordinator Jim Craft was ripping into his guys for a variety of reasons, mostly I think, because of some poor execution and failed follow-through.

One of the more interesting things I saw was a skirmish between receiver Ray Fry and defensive back Daniel Kinney. Fry was angry about a hit Kinney put on a receiver along the sidelines, and he definitely let Kinney know about it. 

In the end, they had to be separated and I noticed Fry missing from practice the next day.

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I didn't notice anything new at practice, but there did seem to be an emphasis on execution. If something wasn't done properly, it seemed like it was repeated until it was—and then it was done again. I was glad to see this, because it is symbolic of how I feel about the team: All the talent is there, but the job doesn't get done.

Injuries are going to hurt the team this week. Without linebacker Erik Pedersen, someone is going to have to deliver in a big way. I think Jermaine Jacobs could have a big day, especially against a flimsy Colorado offensive line that has given up 16 sacks in their five games —the most in the Big Sky.

Northern Colorado doesn't have much of a running game, but Sac State didn't either and they gained 142 yards. On this week's conference call with the media, Glanville repeatedly said how much he likes what Bears quarterback Bryan Waggener is doing. He's almost to 1,000 yards on the season.

I found it amusing that, during the call, Glanville stated he was glad Waggener wouldn't be able to play next year, since he’s exhausted his eligibility.
 
The Viks and the Bears are on fairly even footing in the conference. They are within one place of one another in conference statistics in the following categories: kickoff returns, field goals, interceptions, scoring defense, rushing offense and both third and first down conversions.
 
The teams also enter with the same records of 1-4, both 0-3 in Big Sky games, and have identical turnover margins with eight takeaways and eight giveaways.
 
The one thing they differ greatly on is passing offense versus passing defense. Portland State has the top-ranked passing offense in the conference, and is second in the nation. Meanwhile, Colorado has the conference's top-ranked pass defense. When it comes down to it, I think the Portland State offense will come out on top.

To me this game has an atmosphere of desperation surrounding it. The game is the halfway point for the season, and both teams need a win now to keep their season together. A loss here will surely be difficult to recover from.