Â
|  GAME 8: Northern Arizona (3-4, 1-2 Big Sky) vs. Portland State (5-3, 3-1 Big Sky) |
Â
NAU FOOTBALL GAME NOTES -Â VS. PORTLAND STATE (PDF)
NAU OPENING DRIVE
- The 'Jacks return to the Skydome this Saturday to defend their perfect 3-0 home record with a homecoming clash against Portland State in a 4 p.m. MST kickoff.
- NAU owns a three-game winning streak in the series with the Vikings - winning those four contests by an average of 13.3 ppg.
- Saturday's game will mark Portland State's first trip to Flagstaff since 2012 and only third since 2010. Â Each of the last two meetings in the series and three of the last four overall have been played in the City of Roses.
- Senior quarterback Case Cookus enters Saturday's game just four touchdown passes (96) shy of becoming only the second signal caller in Big Sky history to reach 100 career TDs.
- Cookus leads the top ranked passing offense in the FCS (374.7) and ranks fourth nationally among all FCS signal callers with 2,434 passing yards and tied for fourth nationally with 22 TD passes. Â Cookus is also second in the FCS with 345.8 passing yards per game.
- Junior punter DJ Arnson ranks seventh nationally among FCS leaders at 45.2 yards per kick.
- Junior kicker Luis Aguilar ranks ninth among FCS leaders in field goals per game (1.57).Â
NAU RETURNS TO THE SKYDOME FOR HOMECOMING CLASH VS. VIKINGS
The Lumberjacks will look to stay perfect at the Skydome this Saturday, Oct. 26 when they battle Portland State in the annual Homecoming Game beginning at 4 p.m. MST.
The 'Jacks are a perfect 3-0 at the Dome this season and have outscored their opponents by a combined 133-67 over the opening three contests on the home turf.
Saturday's game with Portland State will be aired on Your Phoenix CW, NAU-TV and Pluto TV (channel 539) with
Mitch Strohman (play-by-play), Kevin Stephens (analyst) and Ryan Perretti (sideline) on the call.
NAU's showdown with the Vikings can also be heard on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 3 p.m. MST.
COOKUS WATCH
NAU senior quarterback
Case Cookus is already the program's all-time leader in touchdown passes with 96 entering Saturday's game vs. Portland State - but he is also on the verge of rising the ranks in a number of other NAU and Big Sky statistical career categories.
Cookus by the Numbers - Entering Saturday's game vs. Portland State
4 - # of passing touchdowns shy of becoming the second player in Big Sky Conference history with 100 TD tosses
14 - # of touchdowns tying Vernon Adams (Eastern Washington) Big Sky Conference record of 110 career passing touchdowns
296 - # of passing yards shy of passing Greg Wyatt (10,697) for third place on the NAU career passing yards list & of cracking the Big Sky top-10 career list for all-time aerial yardage
325 - # of passing yards shy passing Jason Murrietta (10,717) for second place on the NAU career passing yards list & ninth place among Big Sky all-time leaders.
999 - # of passing yards shy of passing Travis Brown (11,400), the current NAU all-time leader.
27 - # of completions shy of passing Jeff Lewis (784) for fourth place on the NAU career leaderboard
LEADING THE NATION
Entering the eighth week of the season, the Lumberjacks are leading the nation in passing offense with an average of 374.7 yards per game.
The 'Jacks also rank 16th among FCS leaders in scoring offense at 37.1 ppg and eighth in total offense with 471.9 yards per contest.
Senior quarterback
Case Cookus also ranks high among FCS leaders in a number of passing categories including:
2nd  - Passing yards per game (347.7)
4th - Passing yards per completion (15.7)
T-4th - Passing TDs (22)
13th - Passing efficiency (155.6)
T-9th - Points responsible for (132)
20th - Completions per game (22.1)
SERIES VS. PORTLAND STATE
NAU leads the all-time series vs. Portland State 17-5 and have won each of the last three games in the series by an average of 13.3 ppg.Â
Saturday's game will mark the first meetings between the programs since the 2017 campaign - which saw the Lumberjacks claim a 42-20 win at Providence Park in Portland.Â
It also will be the Vikings first trip to Flagstaff since 2012 and only third since 2010. Â Each of the last two meetings in the series and three of the last four overall have been played in City of Roses.
The Lumberjacks own a record of 8-2 vs. the Vikings in games played in Flasgtaff entering Saturday's clash and have not dropped a home meeting since a 34-26 decision in 2006.
The first meeting between the programs came back during the 1978 season.
LAST TIME VS. PORTLAND STATE
The Lumberjacks capitalized on a pair of critical third quarter interceptions and rolled up 28 unanswered points in the second half to seal a 42-20 victory at Portland State in the last meeting between the programs on Oct. 14, 2017.
then-sophomore quarterback
Case Cookus directed the 'Jacks attack and finished with 347 yards and four touchdowns through the air, while completing 23-of-39 passes. Â
Senior receiver
Elijah Marks was Cookus' top target as he hauled in six receptions for 173 yards and a touchdown – at the time his fourth consecutive game with more than 100 receiving yards.
Junior
Cory Young led NAU on the ground as he totaled 109 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries for his second 100-plus rushing performance of the season.
Junior safety
Wes Sutton led a NAU defense that limited Portland State to just 152 yards passing for the game with 10 tackles.
The 20 points for Portland State marked the fourth consecutive game that the 'Jacks have limited their opponent to 20 points or less – the longest streak for the program since 1995.
MORE ON CAPTAIN COOKUS
Entering Saturday's game vs. Portland State, NAU senior quarterback
Case Cookus has played in 36 career games, thrown for 96 touchdowns and well over 10,000 yards - below are some interesting facts about his run in Flagstaff to date:
3 - # of games in career without passing TD
2 - # of those games he was either ejected (at Montana/2017) or injured (Eastern Washington/2018) before the end of the first quarter
1 - # of game played in full w/o a passing TD - at Arizona (2017)
23 - # of players he has thrown a TD pass to in career
15 - # of different stadiums in which has thrown a TD pass
21 - # of different opponents he has thrown at least one TD pass against
58 - # of touchdown passes thrown in the Skydome
14 - # of TD passes of 50 yards or more
4 - # of Big Sky stadiums Cookus has not thrown a TD passÂ
(Sacramento State, Northern Colorado, Idaho State, Idaho)
THE SKYDOME IS OUR HOME
Since 2013, the 'Jacks have won 28 of 36 games in the Walkup Skydome and are a perfect 3-0 on their home turf this season.
Overall, the Lumberjacks boast a record of 161-79 in games played at the Skydome since it opened in 1977 - a winning percentage of 67 percent.
SENIOR JALEN COOK LEADING D
Senior defensive back
Jalen Cook leads the Lumberjacks in tackles through the opening seven games of 2019 with 46.
Cook posted six stops in the season-opening win over Missouri State and followed that with a team-high eight tackles at Arizona on Sept. 7.
He added three stops and a blocked punt in week three vs. Western New Mexico and six tackles and a forced fumble at Illinois State. Â He tabbed seven stops in the Oct. 5 win over Northern Colorado and most recently made a career-best nine tackles at No. 4/5 Weber State.
Entering 2019, Cook had totaled 29 tackles over his previous 30 games.
BROOKLYN STRONG AT LINEBACKER
Sophomore
Brooklyn Hardiman seems to be settling into the inside linebacker role as he has registered a combined 20 tackles while leading the 'Jacks in that category over the last two games vs. Northern Colorado and Weber State.
Hardiman currently ranks second on the squad with 39 stops, including 4.0 TFLs and 1.5 sacks.
The Concord, Calif., native made his first career start at Weber State on Oct. 19 and responded with a career-high 11 stops - the most by any Lumberjack in a single game this season.
DEFENSIVE TURNOVERS KEY SCORES AT WEBER STATE
The Lumberjack defense played a pivotal role in setting up two of NAU's scoring drives in its loss at Weber State on Oct. 19.
NAU senior linebacker
Harrison Beemiller helped set up the first score for the 'Jacks with his first career interception at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter.Â
Â
The offense capitalized on the gift two plays later when
Case Cookus connected with
Stacy Chukwumezie for a 63-yard scoring strike to deadlock the score at 7-7.
The defense aided the offense once again as senior
Khalil Dorsey forced a Weber State fumble by Josh Davis that was recovered by
Eloi Kwete deep inside Wildcats' territory at their 21-yard line.
Â
Cookus connected with freshman
Hendrix Johnson from 12 yards out just two plays later to even things up at 14-14 with 10:08 left in the second.
COOKUS BECOMES NAU CAREER TD LEADER IN STYLE
Senior quarterback
Case Cookus hit junior
Stacy Chukwumezie for a 94-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left in the second quarter on Oct. 19 at Weber State to pass Jason Murrietta as the Lumberjacks' all-time leader in touchdown passes - with his 96th overall.
The 94-yard pass marked the longest completion and touchdown pass in his career surpassing an 87-yard strike to
Elijah Marks on Sept. 3, 2016 at Arizona State.
BIG PLAY CHUKWUMEZIE
Junior wide receiver
Stacy Chukwumezie has scored a touchdown in six of NAU's seven games this season - six receiving and one rushing.
Chukwumezie has recorded a five catches over 40 yards this season - each went for scores and ranks for the team lead with
Brandon Porter for most plays over 20 yards with 10.
WEAPON X AND TOUCHDOWN CHUCK
Freshman wide receiver
Hendrix Johnson and junior
Stacy Chukwumezie each nabbed a pair of touchdown grabs at Weber State on Oct. 19.
Hendrix snared a 44-yard and 12-yard TD, while Chukwumezie went long twice from 63 and 94 yards out. Â It marked the first multiple touchdown game for either player.
The pair have combined for 1,115 yards and 10 receiving TDs over the first seven games this season.
Â
