The Game Vitals
Game Time – 4:05 CT
Opponent – #16 Portland State Vikings @ Hillsboro Stadium, Hillsboro, OR.
Game Notes – UND
TV – None
Online Streaming – EverSport
Spread – PSU -8. Total = 39
Portland State (3-0) Breakdown
— Offense = Spread, 2-4 wide receivers.
— Defense = 4-3, Cover 2 base
Offensively, Portland State runs primarily 11 and 12 personnel sets out of the pistol. In the running game they run inside and outside zone, but will also run zone read and QB power off the zone read looks. The Vikings will no doubt try to establish the running game early and often. When they do drop back to pass, one concern will be containing their QB on scramble runs when he doesn’t like what he sees on his 1st and 2nd reads. Stopping 3rd down QB scrambles will be huge for UND this week.
PSU’s offensive line is solid and likes to be physical. This will be another battle of wills up front between the UND defensive line and Portland’s 0-line. Everything we have seen and read shows a heavy lean to the run game at about at least a 60/40 rate.
We’ve heard but not been able to confirm a significant injury on the UND defense that was sustained in practice this week. Who it was and how significant remains to be seen.
The Viking offense is led by QB Alex Kuresa, a BYU transfer, who has thrown for 294 yards a TD, but also is their leading rusher with 211 yards and 2 TDs. Portland State’s leading receiver is Thomas Carter, who has caught 5 balls for 47 yards. Kuresa is pretty athletic and can do some damage scrambling. Herein lies the challenge for the UND defense on Saturday.
Defensively, the Vikings are mostly a 4-3 team, much like UND’s first four opponents. Like UND, they have been outstanding this season vs. the run, giving up only 64 yds/game. With that being said, they have not faced a true rushing team yet as their first three opponents have all been heavy passing teams (Washington State, Idaho State, and Western Oregon).
The Vikings defense doesn’t bring much pressure and that is by design. They play the run with their front four and let the inside linebacker fly around and make plays. They obviously like their back seven enough to let them “read and react” vs. putting them on before the play.
The PSU secondary has been outstanding thus far in 2015. They already have seven interceptions and have done a great job defending those pass heavy teams on their early schedule. The secondary is led by #38 CB Xavier Coleman. The 5’11”-190 junior from Portland has three of those interceptions and shows excellent cover skills. He will undoubtedly be matched up one-on-one most of the day with UND’s wide receivers.
Linebacker #30 Jeremy Lutali is a guy UND will need to be aware of on Saturday. Lutali is a very active, high-motor type of LB with 28 tackles and an INT in three games.
Teams have show in recent weeks that they are going to man up on UND’s wide receivers and play a single-high safety over the top. This allows them to focus on the run up front and feel confident their secondary is better than UND’s WR corps.
North Dakota Keys to the Game
- Rev up the running game, once again. UND found the running game and some last week vs. UC Davis. The Vikings defense is better than the Aggies, yes, but it is very similar in that they play straight up and don’t bring a ton of pressure.
- Portland State has not faced a running team yet. UND needs to impose their will and get the true freshie’s loose again this week.
- Get Keaton Studsrud comfortable early. Short stuff early but take a shot long, too. Get him settled in on the road, much like they did out in Wyoming.
- Defensively, make Portland State throw the ball by putting them in 3rd and long situations.
- On pressure down and distances, make sure to contain the PSU QB from scrambling and picking up big, momentum-gaining 1st downs.
Prediction
A win here for UND on the road against a ranked opponent would go a long ways not only for this season’s Big Sky and playoff implications, but for the program moving forward. We believe the last time that happened was 2011 at Southern Utah, then ranked #17 in the country. The meat of UND’s schedule comes in the 2nd half of the season, so taking care of business now against opponents similar to them is critical. This is a game against a very tough Big Sky opponent that UND seems to match up well with and needs to win. We think they will win in a tight, close, hard-fought game and have some momentum heading into homecoming week against Idaho State.
UND 23
PORTLAND STATE 21
