FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 29, 2022) – Heading back out of Flagstaff for the first time since their victory in Huntsville, Texas against Sam Houston, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will look to continue their road win streak over FCS opponents this Saturday against the Portland State Vikings.
Winners of three straight road games in their level of competition, beating Idaho and Cal Poly last season in addition to this year's victory over the Bearkats, the Lumberjacks are looking to match their best FCS road stretch since the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Beating Sacramento State, Cal Poly and Southern Utah on the road in 2013, Northern Arizona extended the streak to four with a win against Abilene Christian in Texas after opening the 2014 season at San Diego State.
"Our energy has been pretty good on the road," said Lumberjacks head coach
Chris Ball. "This season and last season, we have played pretty well on the road. I think it's about a 30 percent win percentage on the road, so to win on the road is hard. Last season we made an emphasis to do it and this season we made it an emphasis to be better."
Northern Arizona heads to Portland State for the first time since 2017, with the programs no longer facing one another annually as they did from 1996, when the Vikings joined the Big Sky, to 2012 when the conference expanded with the additions of Cal Poly, UC Davis, Southern Utah and North Dakota. The Lumberjacks beat the Vikings 42-20 in 2017 and followed that up with a 31-29 victory in Flagstaff in 2019, with
Luis Aguilar's 38-yard field goal splitting the uprights with four seconds left on the clock.
Winners of four straight over Portland State, a win for Northern Arizona would give the Lumberjacks their longest streak over the Vikings as Big Sky opponents. The Lumberjacks won seven straight to start the series, but the victories in 1978, 1978 and 1981 came before their first meeting as conference foes in 1996. Leading the all-time series 18-5, Northern Arizona is 9-3 all-time on the road against Portland State but has never faced the Vikings in Hillsboro Stadium.
Saturday's game will be available on
ESPN+, as well as
Hulu with a subscription to the Disney Bundle with Matt Richert and Scott Hermo on the call for the stream.
Mitch Strohman and Kevin Stephens will handle the radio call on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. MST.
CAMPBELL TROPHY SEMIFINALIST
Making it three consecutive seasons Northern Arizona has had a player named as a semifinalist, redshirt senior
Anthony Sweeney moved on in his pursuit of the William V. Campbell Trophy, given to the nation's top scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation.
In the previous two seasons,
DJ Arnson was named the semifinals from the Lumberjacks, with Jake Casteel also named as a semifinalist for the award in 2018. Sweeney is one of 156 semifinalists across the FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and the NAIA. A total of 37 nominees came from the FCS, with four of those from the Big Sky. Joining Sweeney are Robby Hauck from Montana, Abel Ordaz from Sacramento State and Jayce Smalley UC Davis.
Having already graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in psychology and ethnic studies, Sweeney also earned a master's degree in applied sociology. The Golden Eagle Top Scholar-Athlete in 2021, Sweeney earned Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete honors five times during his career.
Missing last fall due to an injury, Sweeney spent the 2021-22 academic year interning at a local school and counseling at-risk students. Helping run a portion of the after-school program, Sweeney helped teach the students about the game of football.
A QUICK LOOK AT PORTLAND STATE
Facing one of the toughest starts to their season among the Big Sky Conference's 12 football members, Portland State took on a pair of FBS opponents before heading to Missoula for a game against No. 2 Montana last week.
Narrowly defeated by San Jose State, 21-17, to open the season, Portland State then fell to No. 15/18 Washington 52-6 before taking a bye week ahead of their Big Sky Conference opener. Portland State fell to 0-3 with a 53-16 loss last week, with Saturday finally being Portland State's home opener and the first of three straight at Hillsboro Stadium.
The three challenging games to open the season mean Portland State has led for just 14:49 of their 180 minutes played this season. Scoring first against San Jose State, Portland State retook the lead early in the fourth quarter before the Spartans scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:11 remaining. Scoring first again against Montana, Portland State led for a few minutes before the Grizzlies took control with 17 straight points.
"They have a good defensive line, good receivers and a quarterback that is really mobile," Ball said. "They had San Jose beat, and San Jose had to score with about a minute left to take the lead. They have played some tough teams, some really tough teams. They played Washington who is really good, and then Montana who is really good."
Voted to finish ninth in the Big Sky Conference by the coaches and eighth by the media, Portland State ranked just behind Northern Arizona's seventh-place result in both polls. Now in his eighth season as the head coach of the Vikings, Bruce Barnum is seeking the program's first winning season since 2015. The Vikings are 9-6 at home over the past three seasons, including a 3-2 mark a year ago when they finished 5-6 overall.
The Vikings return a trio of the Big Sky's best players at their respective positions in receiver Beau Kelly, defensive end VJ Malo and defensive back Anthony Adams.
Playing with first year starting quarterback Dante Chachere, Kelly has 12 catches, 163 yards and two touchdowns through three games. Finishing with 981 yards, 69 catches and 10 touchdowns in 2021, Kelly ranked third, second and first in the Big Sky respectively while needing just 11 games to do so compared to the 13 or 15 contests the other leaders finished the season playing. Joining Kelly with postseason honors, Nate Bennett earned All-Big Sky Honorable Mention and has 12 catches for 139 yards through the air this season.
Also a member of the All-Big Sky Preseason Team, defensive end VJ Malo finished with 20 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and three forced fumbles to earn All-Big Sky Second Team honors. Through three games this year, Malo has seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks.
Portland State's All-American defensive back Anthony Adams missed last week's game, but still ranks fourth on the team with 15 tackles and two pass breakups. Currently listed third on the depth chart at cornerback, Adams was an All-Big Sky First Team selection last fall and an All-Big Sky Preseason pick this summer.
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