When they square off Saturday at 1 pm at Husky Stadium, Portland State will be no pushover for the Washington Huskies. One thing that can be gleaned from the Portland State Vikings’ season-opening loss to the San Jose State Spartans is that they’re not exactly an explosive offense. Each of their 3 scoring drives chewed up over 7 minutes of the game clock.
Here are some interesting numbers to be aware of heading into Saturday’s matchup.
1. Portland State out-gained the Spartans 395-288. Much of the yardage went to 5-9, 165-pound Beau Kelly who caught 9 balls for 133 yards and a touchdown. His 14.8 per catch average is in line with his career average, with the exception of the Pandemic-related short season where he only 5 receptions.
2. Twice the Vikings had the ball to end the halves but were unable to put points on the board either time. In the first half, PSU drove to the Spartans’ 1-yard line but Andrew Van Buren could not punch the ball in as time expired. To end the game the Vikings got the ball to midfield as the clock ran out.
3. The Spartans punted on their 2nd drive of the second half, pinning PSU on its own 1-yard line. On the ensuing drive, PSU’s third drive of the second half, the Vikings drove the length of the field on 15 plays in 7:31. In the drive they converted two 4th-and-shorts into first downs. They had three 3-and-outs, but they also were 3 for 3 on 4th down.
4. In their four-point loss to San Jose State last week the Vikings drove 66 yards on 9 plays eating up 7 and a half minutes of the game clock. In a well-orchestrated drive, QB Dante Chachere went 4-4 of his passes for 47 yards and one TD. On that drive, there was just one negative yardage play and the Vikings faced 3rd down just once.
5. As we noted earlier, the Vikings out-gained the Spartans by 105 yards. If not for 3 turnovers and a drive that stalled at the SJSU 1-yard line to end the first half, Portland State comes away with the win. The Vikings’ defense forced 5 punts including two 3-and-outs in the second half. Additionally, on those three turnovers, the Vikings’ defense forced 2 punts and a turnover on downs.
6. With his two touchdown receptions, Washington’s Jalen McMillan is tied for 6th in the nation in that category–a ranking he shares with 34 other individuals.
7. As one might expect, with three 7-minute+ drives the Vikings would dominate the time of possession, and they did by 15:36. The Vikings also held an advantage in first downs by 7, 27-17.
8. In his first start in purple and gold, Alphonzo Tuputala didn’t disappoint registering 8 tackles. While the official number of snaps he participated in isn’t known yet, he was in for less than half of the defensive snaps. Projecting his numbers for an average game, it would seem that he could be in the area of 14-15 tackles a game once conference play hits in week 4 against Stanford. In fact, his 8 tackles is 2 more than he had in any of his 3 seasons for Washington.
9. Portland State has had nine days, a full two more days, to prepare for the Huskies than the UW will have had to focus on Portland State. The Vikings kicked off their season at 7:30 pm on September the 1st while the Huskies’ kickoff against Kent State was also at 7:30.
10. As I pointed out in Behind the Numbers segment following the Huskies’ 25-point victory over Kent State, 10 Washington receivers caught passes. What will be interesting to watch in this game is the two 5-9 receivers for both teams. Washington’s Giles Jackson and PSU’s Beau Kelly. While Jackson has 15 pounds on the Portland State wideout he will also be utilized in the running game, the passing game and both return games. He had 7 touches in the Kent State game for 112 yards.
