2023 PORTLAND STATE FOOTBALL 6 | 2023 Vikings Football defensive back on the Montana football team. Robby Hauck, son of Montana Coach Bobby Hauck, is an assistant coach on Barnum’s Viking staff. • HIGHEST-RANKED OPPONENTS: Portland State is 21-54 all-time against nationally-ranked FCS teams since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996. PSU is 13-26 at home, 8-28 on the road... the highest-ranked team PSU has ever beaten was Montana (ranked second) in 1999, 51-48 in overtime at then-Civic Stadium in Portland. The Vikings beat Montana when it was ranked fourth in 2004 (35-33), also in Portland... PSU has only played the number-one ranked team in the nation once in its history and that was... wait for it... Montana. The Griz were number one in 2002 when the teams met in Portland. Montana won that game, 24-21, over 13th-ranked Portland State. GIANNI SMITH NAMED BIG SKY, NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK Portland State kicker Gianni Smith had the game of his career last Saturday and was honored by the Big Sky Conference as Special Teams Player of the Week, and nationally as the FCS FedEx Ground National Special Teams Player of the Week. Smith, a junior from Oak Park, CA, made a career-high three field goals in the Vikings 3723 loss at UC Davis. Smith kicked a career-long 51-yard field goal in the third quarter. That stood up for less than a half an hour as he came back to kick another career-long - this time from 55 yards – in the fourth quarter. Smith later added a 42-yard field goal to get the Vikings within a touchdown with six minutes to play. The 55-yard kick ties for the second-longest in Portland State history. Smith now owns two of PSU’s 18 all-time kicks of 50+ yards. Prior to Saturday, Smith’s career long field goal was 49 yards. TEAM NOTES • THE FACTS OF THE MATTER: Portland State is averaging 390.2 yards and 37.2 points per game (2nd in the Big Sky, seventh in the nation)... PSU’s 229.9 yards per game on the ground ranks second in the Big Sky and seventh in the nation... PSU is converting third downs at a rate of 49.2%, which ranks second in the Big Sky and sixth in the nation. • CATCHING ON: PSU has 15 total receiving TDs by seven different receivers this season... SR WR Jermaine Braddock leads the receiving group with 42 receptions for 422 yards and six touchdowns. He had a career-high nine receptions against Idaho State (10/21) and a career-high 102 receiving yards against UC Davis (11/4). • DEFENDING THE SHIP: The Viking defense has allowed 393.8 yards (8th in the Big Sky) and 33.6 points per game (9th in the Big Sky) this season... PSU has forced 12 turnovers in nine games. Wide receiver Maclaine Griffin shakes a defender in the Vikings game against Idaho State. Larry Lawson
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