Montana 21, at Northern Arizona 16
Montana running back Lex Hilliard rumbled for 146 yards, ran for his school-record 45th touchdown, and then helped the Griz put the game away with 44 yards on Montana’s game-clinching final drive for the victory. Once again the Grizzly defense flexed but didn’t break.
At several junctures the Lumberjacks committed critical penalties, including a series of three consecutive procedure penalties, nullifying one score and killing several drives.
The Griz controlled the tempo throughout, dominating time of possession by nearly six minutes. This game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
The win was the 50th for UM Coach Bobby Hauck, who needs two more to surpass legendary coach Jack Swarthout for second in career victories behind also legendary Don Reed.
From: The Great Falls Tribune:
Montana coach Bobby Hauck -- "Their schedule is going to keep them out of the playoffs, but they're (NAU) a playoff-caliber team.”
From the Arizona Daily Sun:
NAU Coach Jerome Souers -- "I suppose my epitaph will be 'died trying.' I'm not going to give up."
NAU quarterback Lance Kriesien -- "The setup of the game was perfect. It was like a Hollywood story. It's (too bad) we couldn't come through. We just didn't make enough plays."
Hauck -- "If we hadn't run the ball as well as we did, we probably wouldn't have won the game. You get better as the game goes on, with a back like Lex. Our front wore on them a little bit."
Cal Poly 48, at Idaho State 28
On a day when Idaho State’s suspect defense initially stopped Cal Poly’s vaunted option rushing game, Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally threw for 453 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns and the Mustangs rolled up 687 yards in total offense against the Bengals. Cal Poly had a whopping plus 13-minute margin in time of possession over the Bengals. ISU receiver Jaron Taylor had 149 yards in receptions and two touchdowns.
From: Idaho State Journal:
Cal Poly quarterback Jonathan Dally -- “They gave us the pass, we stuck with the pass, and when they took away the pass it allowed us to run the ball.''
Cal Poly coach Rich Ellerson -- ''We had a heck of a time running the option. But when we needed to be able to run it, when we had to be able to hand the ball off and block some guys, we were good enough.''
Idaho State receiver Jaron Taylor -- ''We can't start off slow. I can't pinpoint it or ID it. It isn't our game plan. It's not the coaching staff. We couldn't get into anything.''
Eastern Washington 38 at Cal Sacramento 30
Four turnovers and two blown scoring opportunities from within the 1-yard line doomed a game Sacramento State Hornet squad which had played evenly with the Eagles throughout much of the contest.
From the Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento State coach Marshall Sperbeck -- "We just haven't closed it out. Something here, something there. Until we get more consistent play, eliminate some of the plays that are hurting us, (then) I think you'll see a turnaround."
Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff -- "I knew coming down here I'd take a win by one. This is a tough place to play."
at Northern Colorado 16, Montana State 13
Two lost MSU fumbles, three interceptions against Cats quarterback Jack Rolovich, three missed field goals, 10 critical penalties and several potential season-ending injuries doomed the 19th ranked Bobcats in Greeley.
The miscues led to a series of “firsts” for Northern Colorado, including the first win against a Big Sky opponent since joining the conference last year, sealed with four seconds remaining in the game by a the first-ever field goal as a Bear by frosh kicker Zak Bigelow.
From the Greeley Tribune:
UNC Quarterback Dominic Breazeale: "Going winless since Texas State last year is the most depressing time of my life. Finally getting this win is a relief. Get that monkey off our back."
From the Bozeman Chronicle:
MSU quarterback Jack Rolovich -- “We might have overlooked these guys. We've got Northern Arizona (next Saturday at home), Portland State and Montana coming, and just didn't even think about these guys (Northern Colorado). It's hard not to do that.”
MSU coach Rob Ash -- “We should have outscored them, but that’s just the way this game turns out sometimes. Our guys are extremely down, and they should be. This is by far the worst game we’ve had for injuries.”
Weber State 73 at Portland State 68
In a game where the score looked more like a good college basketball game, the Wildcats outlasted the Vikings and somehow overcame a Big Sky and PSU record nine touchdown passes by Vikings frosh quarterback Drew Hubel.
The total of 20 touchdowns was three more than the prevous high FCS record 17, and the 141 points broke an all-time FCS record of 125, set by Cal Northridge and Cal Sacramento in 2000.
From the Portland Oregonian:
Weber State Coach Ron McBride -- "What kind of a deal was that?"
Portland State coach Jerry Glanville -- "One day, we're all going to play good on the same day. When the defense plays good and the offense plays like that, we'll have a lot of fun."
From the Ogden Standard-Net:
McBride --"It's like you don't have any control over the game. You hate to be over there thinking if we don't score this time we're going to lose. You have to score on every possession and you can't afford not to because we weren't stopping them."
