"This Week in Big Sky Football" and coaches conference call podcast, Oct. 7

The weekly conference call with Portland State football's head coach Jerry Glanville is available. This week he's the third coach on the podcast after the head's of Eastern Washington and Sacramento State.

The newest installment of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is also up. The guests this week are Northern Arizona's coach Jerome Souers, Montana State safety Kevin Retoriano and David Coulson, the executive director for the Sports Network.

Enjoy!

Weekly media call and "This Week in Big Sky Football"

That's right folks, it's that time of the week!

Audio from the conference call with Portland State football's head coach Jerry Glanville is up. The file starts off with the end of Eastern Washington's Beau Baldwin taking questions, but then includes the head coach from this Saturday's game--Sacramento State's Marhsall Sperbeck--before Glanville fields questions.

Guests on "This Week in Big Sky Football" include Sperbeck, Idaho State wide receiver Jaron Taylor and David Coulson, executive director of FCS football for the Sports Network.

Enjoy.

This Week in Big Sky Football

Another edition of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is up on the Interwebs. Guests on the show this week include Weber State running back Trevyn Smith, Montana State coach Rob Ash and Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner Jon Kasper.

Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville's conference call with the media is also available. Sacramento State's Marshall Sperbeck is on the call before Glanville, so unless you want to hear about the Hornets' bye week, fast forward to the half-way point.


Enjoy!

Weekly conference call with Jerry Glanville

This week's conference call with the media and Portland State football's head coach Jerry Glanville is up.

There's also a new edition of "This Week in Big Sky Football" with Commissioner Doug Fullerton, Northern Colorado's head coach Scott Downing and David Coulson of the Sports Network.

Enjoy.
  

Football practice, Monday, August 10

This post was written by Vanguard writer Allison Whited.

Ahh... Football is back on the Portland State campus. Coach Glanville and company were out for the first practice of the 2009-10 season and it was a great scene to behold. There were some new faces, like new offensive line coach Brad Davis, and some old ones, like newly minted offensive coordinator Jim Craft. But all around, there were smiles and the team seems ready to get the new season under way.

I will be writing a blog entry after every practice I attend, just to make note of a few things that caught my eye and to keep everyone current on the news coming from the field. I will do my best—just remember that far too much goes on for this to suffice as a complete report.

After practice, Glanville seemed very convinced that the level of talent on the field this year is great. This is a sentiment I have heard echoed more than once from the coaching staff. In hand with this belief in the talent on the roster has come a kind of confidence. When asked if he felt like this was finally his team, Glanville said, "Yes, for the first time in three years."

The seniors playing on the team had a lot of confidence yesterday as they carried out their drills. Linebacker Erik Pedersen was quick and controlled when running through the pads. Cornerback Tracy Ford read his receiver all the way and knocked down a guaranteed touchdown pass. Free safety Jordan Brown exhibited some incredible speed, showing that he has come back from the injury last year that kept him off the field.

The newcomers on the team struggled a little bit today. Linebacker Jaycob Shoemaker, who I have heard Glanville is excited about, had some trouble running through the pads when he was hit and he stumbled out at the end of them. Fullback Ben Bowen dropped some balls but tried to redeem himself with strong runs after every one of them.

I didn't cover the team last year, so I am less aware of where they're coming from, but it looks like where they are headed to is a good, solid place. With the first game less than a month away, only time will tell, but after today, I am excited to find out.

Guest Commentary from a Portland State student and fan

Here is another guest blog post from our student contributor Marnix Brinkhoff. In between sessions of working on his jump shot and cheering on the Dutch team at the World Baseball Classic, Brinkhoff gives you his take on the upcoming spring football schedule.

As Spring Football practice begins for the football team, goviks.com is busy wasting our time with beautifully slanted articles about how the upcoming football season will be miraculously different than the last two years.

The article entitled, “Sixteen Returning Starters, Experienced Group Return for 2009 Football Season” fails to understand that those returnee’s are a combined 7-15 (win-loss record) over the past two seasons.

By all means return the entire squad from last year, but the fact remains, we sucked last year!

Even though the athletic department’s propaganda website spins a rosy picture on the upcoming season, I’m hear to explain that it will be just another failing season in the “Almighty” Glanville’s tenure.

The following are points from the article that are expected to be boosts for the upcoming season but they are really just business as usual. That business of late has been losing…

Drew Hubel and Tygue Howland return: YES!!

No one would want to miss out on the drama of who is going to start from week to week. The fact that both of these quarterback’s return doesn’t mean a damn thing, because Glanville and his staff are just going to be as wishy-washy as John Kerry on who there man is going to be.

My take is to just pick one, stick with him, and allow them to get better without fear that next week they are going to be benched!!

McClintock Returns: Wahoo!! We don’t run the ball anyways. Oh by the way, this has been bothersome ever since last year…

Mr. Davis, I realize you are considered the offensive guru, BUT when you play one of the worst run defenses in the NCAA (Washington State last year) maybe just maybe you should try to run the F%$@ing ball!!

Super Mario (D’Ambrosio) is out: And you expect to improve on a season where he was a rockstar?

3 Returning Lineman: For a team that allowed 41 sacks for a yardage loss of 243 yards (Second worse in the Big Sky) this shows promise; because the only thing to do is get better.

The Defense: Expect more basketball scores, because we lost Shantz, McCrae and Jones.

Say whatever you want about the competition in Spring Football, the fact will remain that we will have an inexperienced defense taking the field next season, which means only one thing—lots of scoring…for the other team.

But all is not lost in the Glanville camp.

For those of you worried about Special Teams there is ample competition at the kicker/punter position, which is a good thing since we will probably be punting the ball quite a bit.

Vikings release football schedule: Red Raiders will head to PGE Park

As suspected when we broke the tentative football schedule several weeks ago, the Vikings will head into the 2009 season looking favorably at the schedule.

Portland State will open up the season at Reser Stadium in Corvallis in a game that will likely be televised on FSN. They'll continue their trip through college football in Oregon with a matchup against NAIA Southern Oregon.

The Red Raiders are considering elevating athletics to Division II status where they would be able to compete against Western Oregon and Humboldt State, both more accessible to SOU out of Ashland.

The Vikings will take on Montana in the squads road and Big Sky opener but then will play four of five at home in a stretch that will determine the teams ability to achieve their goal of making the subdivision playoffs.

Unlike last season, the Vikings will likely play just one "cold weather game" when they take on Eastern Washington in Cheney on Oct. 31. They also head to Pocatello for a matchup with the Bengals but will play in a dome in their season finale.

The full schedule is as follows:

Sept. 5
at Oregon State, TBA

Sept. 12
vs. SOUTHERN OREGON, 1:05 p.m.

Sept. 19
at Montana, 12:05 p.m. PT

Sept. 26
vs. WEBER STATE, 1:05 p.m.

Oct. 3
vs. SACRAMENTO STATE, 1:05 p.m.

Oct. 10
at Northern Colorado, TBA

Oct. 17
vs. NORTHERN ARIZONA, 1:05 p.m.

Oct. 24
vs. UC DAVIS, 1:05 p.m.

Oct. 31
at Eastern Washington, TBA

Nov. 7
vs. MONTANA STATE, 1:05 p.m.

Nov. 14
at Idaho State, TBA

Montana- The Cream is Rising

As most of you probably watched on ESPN2 Friday night, the Montana Grizzlies knocked off James Madison to earn a spot in the FCS Championship next weekend.

The Grizzlies managed to force four turnovers from the Dukes and got efficient and timely performances from junior running back Chase Reynolds and senior Cole Bergquist.

Reynolds had 123 yards and two touchdowns and Bergquist threw for three scores. Their performances were impressive enough, but the story of the game was the dominant play of the Grizzlies offensive line and defense. The big guys up front pounded the Dukes all night long and while Montana's defense gave up a few yards they tackled well and kept James Madison out of the end zone most of the night.

Portland State fans will recall that the Vikings played the Grizzlies pretty tough back in November. The Vikings had a bit of momentum after stopping Montana before they converted a fake field goal for a first down towards the end of the third quarter.

I for one think that that game was a great indicator of the progress that Glanville is making and although the result was disappointing for the team and fans alike, the fact that the Vikings competed fairly well with a squad that is going to play for the national title has to be promising.

Montana will play the winner of the Northern Iowa vs. Richmond game next Friday.