(STATS) – Sometimes upsets don’t seem so big after the fact.That’s the scenario Portland State coach Bruce Barnum and his team are hoping for with their 22-20 win at No. 14 Montana on Saturday.
If so, it would mean the Vikings rejuvenate their struggling Big Sky program and begin to pull off such wins regularly.
But until that happens, the STATS FCS Team of the Week can bask in an upset the host Griz didn’t see coming. True freshman Cody Williams’ 52-yard field goal with four seconds remaining erased a 20-19 deficit to help spoil Homecoming in Missoula.
“These kids work so hard. They keep fighting and believing,” Barnum said. “This win is a good tattoo on them as we continue to build this back to where I want it.”
Portland State (2-4), whose only other win this season was against the College of Idaho – an NAIA program – ended three different double-figure losing streaks: 17 straight against Division I competition, 12 in a row in the conference and the previous 10 on the road.
The Vikings led for much of the game after defensive end Noah Yunker recovered a fumble on Montana’s first play and quarterback Alexander Davis scored from 1 yard out to cap a short scoring drive. They pushed the advantage to 13-0 by halftime and controlled the game clock for over 39 minutes.
The game tightened, though, as both teams helped the other with fumbles. Montana (4-2) went ahead 20-19 with 7:46 left to play and appeared ready to sidestep an upset on Portland State’s third lost fumble. But the Vikings’ Sam Bodine gained a fourth fumble recovery at the PSU 23 with 4:04 left, which jump-started the 13-play drive that was capped by Williams’ third field goal of the game.
“Everything about that was tough for Cody,” Barnum said. “He was on the left hash which is not his favorite spot. And it was that far. Great job by that kid.”
In Portland State’s first win over a nationally ranked opponent since the final regular-season game of 2015 – when the Vikings were a surprise 9-3 and Barnum won the STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award as the national coach of the year – the Vikings held Montana quarterback Dalton Sneed to 159 yards of total offense, less than half of what had been a conference-leading 334-yard average. Dallas House collected two of the four fumble recoveries.
On offense, running back Sirgeo Hoffman gained 130 yards from scrimmage and scored on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter to answer Portland State’s first deficit of the game.
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