Scouting The Lumberjacks' Homecoming Opponent Portland State

After allowing 443 yards on the ground against Weber State last week, including 328 to Wildcat sophomore Josh Davis, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will have work to do this week against the Portland State Vikings.
 
Last week in a 38-30 victory at Northern Colorado, Portland State (5-3, 3-1 Big Sky) rushed for 344 yards as a team. Leading the way was former Northern Arizona signee Sirgeo Hoffman with 221 yards on 28 carries. Vikings quarterback Davis Alexander added another 60 yards himself as Portland State scored four times on the ground.
 
Northern Arizona has seen little of Portland State over the years, with the teams last playing in the Walkup Skydome in 2012. The Lumberjacks came away with a 42-20 victory in Portland during the 2017 season, and held on 21-17 on the road in 2014.
 
Very few current Vikings made an impact in the 2017 meeting while Case Cookus torched Portland State with 347 yards passing and four touchdowns, though just 15 of those yards went to a Lumberjack currently playing this season.
 
UNDER CENTER
 
Alexander enters his third season starting with the Vikings. Seeing his first significant playing time two weeks after Northern Arizona and Portland State last met, Alexander has since developed into a much more of a dual threat quarterback while standing 5 feet, 11 inches.
 
Just 45 passing yards away from topping his season total across 11 games last season, Alexander enters Saturday's game with 1,739 yards through the air and 401 on the ground. The junior has thrown just three interceptions on 206 attempts this season while hitting 15 touchdowns and rushing for another four.
 
The four touchdowns on the ground have come in the past four contests against Big Sky opponents, with 275 of his rushing yards coming in the past month as well.
 
MIXING UP THE ATTACK
 
Portland State has done well to give Alexander a variety of weapons in the past two seasons, with seven Vikings scoring on the ground this season and eight through the air. Additionally, five players have at least 150 yards rushing and six reached the same mark in the passing game.
 
Hoffman's 221-yard outburst against Northern Colorado easily set a career-high for the senior, who has 440 rushing yards in four Big Sky games. Announced as a member of the 2017 signing class, Hoffman did not join the Lumberjacks and is now in his second year with the Vikings after two years at Pima Community College.
 
Junior college transfers Malik Walker and Evyn Holtz, as well as senior Carlos Martin, rotate with Hoffman in the backfield and have combined for 511 yards rushing.
 
Spending nearly all of their time on offense with three wide receivers on the field, the Vikings deploy four primary receivers all in their second season of college football. Sophomores Davis Koetter, Beau Kelly and Mataio Talaemotu have started a combined 17 games while junior Emmanuel Daigbe has started six others.
 
Koetter leads the way with 430 yards and five touchdowns followed by Daigbe's 382 yards and four touchdowns. Kelly and Talaemotu each have at least 240 yards, as well as three and two touchdowns respectively.
 
THE KEY ON OFFENSE
 
Though the Vikings rely heavily on players in either their first or second year with the program, All-American senior tight end Charlie Taumoepeau remains a key cog for Portland State. Taumoepeau has just 239 yards receiving and one touchdown this season, but combined for 73 catches, 1.253 yards and eight touchdowns in the past two years.
 
More important than his statistical totals this season is Portland State's ability to use the 6-foot, 3-inch Taumoepeau in a multitude of ways. While the Vikings typically rely on 11 personnel on offense, using just one running back and one tight end in addition to three receivers, Taumoepeau allows the grouping to offer multiple looks against a defense.
 
The Vikings have used Taumoepeau as a traditional in-line tight end, an H-back lined up behind an offensive tackle, slot receiver and wide receiver. At times, the Vikings will empty the backfield within 11 personnel, sending three receivers to a trips set on one side of the field while Taumoepeau lines up wide with a receiver inside him in the slot.
 
A size mismatch for some corners on the outside, Taumoepeau also allows Portland State to match its running back up with a linebacker or even motion him back into the backfield at the snap to run while in a no-back look. Daigbe too has seen rush attempts via a motion into the backfield, as the receiver has 10 carries for 60 yards and a rushing touchdown.
 
With no other tight end replicating Taumoepeau's skill set, the Vikings also can use the 6-foot, 2-inch Koetter, the son of Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, in some of Taumoepeau's alignments while Kelly, Talaemotu and Daigbe serve as the trips receiver set.
 
MAKING SPACE
 
Portland State's offensive line returns two full-time starters from 2018, with left tackle Korbin Sorenson starting 29 straight games for the Vikings and center Garrett Stauffer starting 18 games between last year and 2019. Portland State has managed to stay mostly healthy this season, with left guard Larry Brister and right guard Babak Ghadaksaz starting all eight games this year. Right tackle Shiloh Ta'ase has started the past five games after playing in the opening three.
 
STRONG NUMBERS UP FRONT
 
Portland State's rotation of its four down linemen on defense has produced strong numbers for many of the players seeing time on the field. Seven Vikings have at least four tackles for loss, with four of them already past six.
 
Senior starting defensive tackle Kenton Bartlett and senior defensive tackle Anthony Del Toro each have 6.5 tackles for loss while starting defensive end Jake Porter and defensive tackle Semise Kofe have six.
 
Additionally, the team has 21 sacks in eight games led by senior rush end Shawn Richard's 4.5 sacks. Porter, Del Toro and Bartlett all enter Saturday with three sacks each. While four players typically play on the defensive line for the Vikings, Portland State has also put one of its linebackers, Nicolas Ah Sam or Moses Finau, up on the line to serve as a rush option as well. In some instances, this has led Porter to drop into coverage where he has a pair of pass breakups this season.
 
STRONG SECOND LEVEL
 
Possibly one of the best defensive players in the Big Sky Conference this season, Portland State sophomore Anthony Adams sits third on the Vikings in tackles while picking off four passes in his eight games and breaking up 11 others.
 
Both Adams and senior rover Romeo Gunt spent time up on the line, playing tight coverage against the inside receiving option or coming off the edge to rush themselves. Portland State's other safety, junior Sam Inos, is second on the team in tackles while adding an interception and four pass breakups.
 
On the outside, senior cornerback Deon Crayon has broken up seven passes while picking off one a year after he recorded five passes defended in 11 games.